Sailing jingle

The song that plays when riding on a charter ship.

The charter ships (often simply called charter) are a fleet of merchant ships which form a fairly extensive shipping transport infrastructure which includes popular docks as well as ports in remote locations, run by a wealthy merchant named Trader Stan and his crew. Players must pay a fee ranging from 200-8,000 coins for transportation on the Charter ships. The fee is dependent on the destination - destinations which are further away or more remote than others have a higher cost.

As with all nautical travel in RuneScape, the transportation time is only a few seconds, during which a map of Gielinor with the destinations labelled is displayed, and an animation of a ship travelling from the point of embarkment to the destination is played. The short duration of the travel and the variety of destinations - the more remote of which having few alternate methods of transportation - make the Charter ships favourable to other transportation systems, although some Charter ship routes have higher costs than other transportation methods.

The map is slightly incomplete, and the southern parts of places like the Feldip Hills are omitted, possibly because of their lack of a port other than Oo'glog and hence unneeded in the charter map.

Trader crewmembers stand at the docks of each destination in the Charter ships network, and Trader Stan himself is present at the Port Sarim dock. In addition to allowing players to charter the shipping network, the crewmembers also run Trader Stan's Trading Post, a more versatile and exotic form of a general store which sells many items of interest as well as a few commodities which aren't stocked in specialty stores, such as Tyras helms, which are unavailable anywhere else.

There is a confirmation prompt when sailing with charter ships that can be toggled off permanently since 24 July 2017.

Getting to charter ships

While travelling by charter ship can be convenient for players who can afford it, it can be a bit time consuming to get to the ship in the first place, as there is only one teleport that goes right next to a ship. Some of the quickest ways to get to the ships are:

• Using the 'Chipped' Camelot teleport unlocked after Evil Dave's Big Day Out takes you directly to Catherby docks. (This is currently the fastest method at 2 seconds)
• The Lunar spell Khazard Teleport takes you west of the Port Khazard docks. (18 seconds away)
• The Lunar spell Catherby Teleport takes you just north of the docks. (21 seconds away)
• Use the Port Sarim Lodestone, run east and pay fare to the Customs Officer to reach Musa Point. From there, run slightly north to the Charter Ship (30 second trip or 20 seconds if you use a quick teleport).
• Catherby Lodestone and Port Sarim Lodestone are both close to charter ships. (29 seconds away or 19 seconds if you use a quick teleport).
• Using the Tirannwn quiver 2 to teleport to Tyras Camp and run west to the docks. (24 seconds away)
• If your house is in Menaphos, use Teleport to House and run north (25 seconds).
• Use an Amulet of glory to teleport to Karamja and run east. (26 seconds away).
• Use an Ardougne Teleport to go to the Ardougne marketplace, run south to Captain Barnaby and take his boat to Brimhaven. The boat trip arrives at the Brimhaven docks. (26 second trip)
• Use an Ectophial to go to the Ectofuntus and enter Port Phasmatys. The docks are somewhat near the Port Phasmatys entrance. (35 second trip)

Fares

• After completing the Cabin Fever quest, the price between two locations, as displayed below, will lower the charter costs to 50%.
  • The Ring of charos (a) also lowers the charter costs to 50%.
  • These cost reductions can be combined to reduce the costs to 25%.
• A way to reduce the fare is by paying two different fares to your destination, which may be cheaper than purchasing a direct fare. For example, a fare from Port Khazard to Oo'glog is normally 5000gp, by travelling via the Shipyard, the cost is reduced to 1620gp.
• Another way to reduce the fare, when travelling to or from Port Sarim or Musa Point, is to utilise the ship from Port Sarim to Musa Point to reduce the fare. For example, if travelling from Musa Point to Port Phasmatys, the fare is normally 2900gp. By travelling to Port Sarim and taking the charter ship from there, the cost is reduced to 1330gp.

Quest requirements

• Menaphos - The Jack of Spades
• Mos Le'Harmless – Cabin Fever
• Oo'glog – As a First Resort
• Shipyard – The Grand Tree
• Port Tyras – Regicide

Trivia

• Interestingly, the Crewmembers at the Trading Post used to sell buckets of slime for use with the Ectofuntus. These were previously unobtainable via shops, and many players took advantage of them and bought out all they could. The buckets of slime were later removed by Jagex.
• If you have a Bedsheet covered in slime or are wearing it you can't travel on the boat and the crew will say it is not allowed on the boat when you try to charter the boat.
• There is a glitch when you arrive at your destination on minimum quality graphics, it will be all white around the ship and you will not be able to see the gangplank unless you change your graphics quality to a better setting.
• There is a glitch in the cutscene when travelling with any ship. If the player is wielding an unsheathed 2-handed sword, the sword will appear to be turned around and upside down on the players back. This does not happen if the sword is sheathed.