Starport Customs

Overview

There is some confusion over how starport customs works in Traveller and there are a number of ways to cut this cake. This is my take. YMMV.

There are three main areas:

·       Berths

·       Main starport area

·       Mainworld

Each of these areas have their own law levels, and hence their own customs to ensure that nothing goes between them which would break the law level.

·       Starport customs (between Berths and the Starport)

·       Planetary customs (between Starport and Mainworld)

The law level in the berths is virtually zero, although this has a number of caveats. For example if someone had a plasma cannon in their berth, the starport authorities likely wouldn’t take too much interest as long as it didn’t affect the starport. If this was an Imperial Starport then the port authorities would likely let the Imperial Navy know about this, and they would likely take an interest. A fair reason for carrying a plasma cannon on a ship might be that they are licensed mercenaries, or the crew is travelling through pirate infested systems. Either way, it would not be the purview of the port authorities to intervene (although they might station a few marines near this berth just to make sure).

The law level in the starport is usually about 4 or 5. Typically a sidearm is allowed which does not have the Auto trait, but nothing further than this.

The law level of the mainworld varies.

The aforementioned plasma cannon would be stopped at Starport Customs.

If a mainworld has a high law level, sidearms would be stopped at Planetary Customs.

The “starport” in this diagram could be a passenger concourse, hotels, shops, etc.

The “mainworld” here could be an outer part of the port, like a startown or a residential part of a highport.

Berths

Does this mean we can move from one berth to another without going through customs? Likely yes, although this will depend on the starport itself. It is also likely that each ship’s berth will be secure, so unauthorised visitors would not be able to gain access to the berth or the ship.

However, if our friend with the plasma cannon wanted to sell it to a crew in another berth then no-one would really intervene, provided both parties are happy to meet and conduct business.

Anyone wanting to access another berth without permission would need to contend with security technology, like card locks, etc. Only valid crew and passengers would have access.

Freight Terminal

If we now add in the Freight Terminal to our diagram, we can see that it bypasses starport customs. If we were travelling as a passenger on Ship A which landed in a berth, we would need to have our plasma cannon in the hold – Captains don’t allow weapons loose on board, it just invites hijacking. But what if we wanted to transfer to another ship?

My plasma cannon in the hold would be transferred to the freight terminal, and then when I bought passage aboard Ship B, the plasma cannon would be transferred to the hold of Ship B.

Since freight never enters the starport proper, the authorities aren’t too bothered about what it contains. If it exits into the mainworld, then it would need to pass through Planetary Customs and would need proper licensing, etc.

Why do starports not take an interest in the cargo passing through their freight terminal? The simple truth is that different mainworlds have different law levels. Although hard drugs may be illegal on one planet, they may be quite legal on another. There isn’t really an “interstellar law level” as such, or not one that the starports are really worried about.