Welcome To The Forum

[Steve]

Welcome to the new freighter travel forum. Since this is day 1, things are obviously pretty empty, so please don't be afraid to jump in and start a topic of your own!

About Me

My name is Steve and I'm based in the UK. I've had an interest in freighter travel for some time and decided to set up this website after searching the internet for a similar forum community without much success.

I'd like to claim that I'm a seasoned freighter traveller, with lots of first hand experience to pass on to you - but in fact, I have yet to make my first trip - so I am looking forward to learning all the inside knowledge myself!

About The Site

In time, I hope to expand these forums and eventually encourage booking agencies and shipping lines to join the community, to keep us all up to date with the latest freighter news.

You will also be pleased to know that I plan to keep this website free of pop ups, flashing banners and other kinds of intrusive advertising - I hate all that stuff and I'm sure you do too!

FreighterTrips.com is still very much work in progress, but I will gradually be adding further content to the site in the weeks and months ahead.

I hope to talk to you in the forums soon!  

[throbi]

Hi Steve!

It seems that not too many are interested in traveling by freighters... But I do want to try it, so I need advices from experienced people.

A this time I live in New York, US. I was thinking for a long time of going back home to Europe not by plane, but by some kind of boat. Cruisers are too expensive, freighters I know nothing about, so please, help me!

I'm pretty flexible with time & route, I only need to keep the costs as low as possible. I can depart from anywhere on the east coast of US. The destination has to be somewhere in Germany, France, Italy or Greece.

Please send me some contact info and advices where to start this trip.

All your replies will be highly appreciated.

Robert

[Steve]

Hi Robert

Firstly, let me assure you that there are plenty of people interested in freighter travel - although it's far less popular than regular cruising of course.

The good news is that you will have no trouble finding a freighter departing from New York and heading for Europe - it will be more expensive than flying, but probably cheaper than a regular cruise ship - especially if you wanted a single cabin.

Head up to the top of this page and click the bookings link - you will find contact details for the booking agencies there - they will be able to give you specific advice about prices etc

[erehwon]

Hello Steve,
It is great to find this site and forum.
I find out in 5 days time if I get accepted on a ship,as it,s only got one passenger room,so I,d be the only passenger!!!!! So,I do hope there will be no bigger offer than mine!
I so hope so,I love the idea of freighter travel,and travelling by myself is no problem to me!!!!!!
Most people whom I tell this about to just simply havven,t ever heard of such a thing,and are generally very interested when I tell them about it and my plans,so I think that it,s not that it,s so unpopular as you said,but more that it simply isn,t so well known.
So.aren,t we the lucky ones!!!!!
Anyway,do please wish me luck with my bookng! And all the best for your plans! It is nice to find this forum!
Best wishes,
Jon.

[Steve]

Hi Jon

Welcome to the forum.

Your trip sounds interesting - like you are in some kind of auction for the 1 available cabin - I'd love to hear more about it!

Are there no alternative ships available if you don't get it?

You are right to say that freighter travel is not unpopular - most people are pretty enthusiastic about the idea when they find out about it - but hardly anyone knows the option even exists.

It will always stay a very small sector of the travel industry though - purely because of the limited number of ships accepting passengers. I believe there are currently only around 400 freighter ships worldwide that accept passengers.

Having said that, there is plenty of room for expansion - many of these ships sail with empty cabins - it is only the most popular routes, during peak season, that are fully booked up 12 months in advance.

It is also worth noting that the figure quoted above of 400 ships, represents only about 1% of the total number of freighter ships sailing - so there is plenty of room for expansion there too, if shipping lines can be persuaded of the economic viability of taking on passengers.

[erehwon]

Hello,Steve,
Thankyou for your welcome.And the interesting information about the No. of Carge ships.EVERYONE that I have told about this is interested.I,ll keep a journal to share later,although it is only 3 weeks onboard.
Yes,I got the cabin! Just confirmed.It leaves from Welington to Singapore,about 3 weks via Indonesia.I guess they were holding out on the best deal as there is only one cabin for passengers.....but only I seemed interested,so it is mine! So,I have a double cabin to myself,a great price too.I don,t mind being the only passenger at all,as I,m not the lonely or bored sort......in fact,I perhaps relish the idea of being in enviroment of everyone working,except me!!!!!!!
There is a Travel Agent IM luckily found in NZ especially for Freighter travel via  NZ if it helps any one,.www.freightertravel co nz......I was originally not sure how to go about info,so their discovery was great,as I didn,t know how to go about info or dealing with Shipping companies,etc.
Any more plans to travel again soon,Steve?
It,s great to see this site,I,ll foward it on to interested souls,very helpful.
All best wishes,Jon.

[Steve]

Jon

Good news about the cabin - hope you have a great trip!

The agent you referred to is FreighterTravel (NZ) - they can be emailed directly from the booking form on this site.

At the moment, I'm too tied up trying to get various internet projects off the ground, but I'd love to fit in a freighter trip myself soon.

Steve