Professional Ship Simulator Commercial Ships and Liners
When cargo mass, windage, and wing stations start running the watch.
Commercial hulls are why many captains wishlist Professional Ship Simulator. They are also how you discover that the beginner advice was not optional. This page covers container ships, bulk carriers, LNG tankers, cruise ships, and the awkward yacht that sits beside them in the Steam list. Watch the container-operations clip in the middle of this article, then do not copy it until you can dock something smaller.
Early Access is scheduled for 16 September 2026. Career licenses will gate some of these. Demo access is a sample, not the full merchant navy. RC 1717 is explicit: the Container Feeder is not in the Early Access fleet yet (sea trials still open). Do not plan a Career save around it.
Container ships
Containers photograph well and handle like a long, blind corridor. Store a bow camera, a stern camera, and a wing. The Steam page calls out wing control stations on larger vessels — use them for the last ship-lengths. Cargo load changes physics; a light departure and a heavy arrival are different ships. Radar AIS/CPA is mandatory in the Dover box even when the weather looks friendly. See maps.
Harbor cranes and cargo panels exist so you can complete merchant loops, not so you can skip seamanship. If a demo build has a crane quirk, slow down and treat the berth as a station-keeping problem first.
Bulk carriers
Bulk carriers are the honest workhorse: long, deep, and unimpressed by your schedule. Draft is the whole conversation on Rügen’s inner waters. Echo sounder on, chart on, ego off. Stopping distances will embarrass you if you still think in tug-boat ship-lengths. Plan the approach earlier than you think. Autopilot can hold a heading on passage; it cannot invent depth.
LNG tankers
LNG is the prestige mission. Creator walkthroughs already run Calais to Dover with cold starts, cargo distribution sliders, tugs, echo sounder, radio, and ugly wind. Copy the procedure, not the bravado. Calling tugs will cost XP and may still be the correct professional choice. If you arrive without a docking plan, you are not playing the sim, you are filming a crash.
Treat cargo distribution as stability and draft, not as a menu cosmetic. The waterline moving when you load is the physics model doing the job you paid for.
Cruise ships
Cruise ships are floating hotels with a tiny rudder in a big wind. Preview videos love them. Cameras must be your entire personality. A locked bridge view hides the bow. Windage will walk the hull off a planned track faster than on a loaded bulker. Passengers are narrative; fenders are not. Unlock this class when you are bored of workboats, not because a trailer played a horn.
Yachts
The medium yacht is in the Steam list and on the feature page. It is not a joke ship, but it is a trap for people who want “easy.” Shallow draft invites bank hopping. High windage invites sideways travel. Use it for fair-weather coastal hops after your instrument habits exist, or skip it and stay on a pilot boat.
Career advice for merchants
Do not buy a commercial hull because it is expensive in the menu. Buy it because you have a mission that needs it and a harbor you have already entered on a smaller ship. Rehearse the same berth at 04:00 in fog only after you have rehearsed it at noon.
Power management matters more as generators, bow thrusters, and hotel loads stack. If the thrusters die at the worst moment, you skipped a getting started power check. Flooding and hull damage are not theoretical on these masses; dry dock is a mission type for a reason.
When SWE Systems adds more merchants after launch week, we will log them on the roadmap. Until then, pick one commercial class, learn its cameras, and ignore the rest of the selector. Depth beats a screenshot collection.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers before you take the helm.
Which commercial ship is “easiest”?
None of them are easy. A smaller container or bulk in calm water is the least hostile. LNG and cruise are exams.
Does cargo really change handling?
Yes. The physics model includes cargo mass. Load, draft, and stopping distance all move.
Should I always hire tugs for tankers?
In wind and tight basins, yes, even with an XP penalty. A bent hull is a worse penalty.
Are cruise ships in the demo?
Some public demos and creator sessions included large liners. Check your selector; do not assume the full Steam list.