The Math According To Book Two

Grumble.

A Type A is a 200 ton, J1, 1G cargo ship.  It costs MCr 37.08.  30 tons of fuel.  It has 82 tons of cargo space, 4 crew, 6 passenger cabins and 20 low berths.

A Type A2 is a 200 ton, J2, 1G cargo ship.  It costs MCr 66.175.  50 tons of fuel.  It has 61 tons of cargo space, 3 crew, 7 passenger cabins and 4 low berths.

A Type R is a 400 ton, J1, 1G cargo ship.  It costs MCr 101.03.  50 tons of fuel.  It has 200 tons of cargo space, 5 crew, 8 passenger cabins and 9 low berths.

Bleth!  Maths.  We'll assume a jump is an every ten days affair (7 days in jump space, 2 days transit in normal space, 1 day load/unload).  Allow two weeks every year for maintenance.  35 jumps per year.

I found the subsidy in book 2!  The "government" makes the payment in exchange for 50% of the gross.  Also five tons of space is allocated for mail at Cr 5,000 per ton per trip (if you have guns and a gunner).

Type A costs, book 2.  No payment required since the ship is a boon.  Refined fuel is Cr 525,000 per year.  Life support is Cr 520,000 per year for the crew and passengers and Cr 70,000 for the low berths.  Routine maintenance runs Cr 37,080.  Salaries are Cr 180,000.  Berthing is Cr 3,500.  Total costs per annum: Cr 1,335,580.  The annual costs are an additional Cr 1,854,000 if you have a payment for Cr 3,189,580 a year total.

Type A2 costs, book 2.  No payment required since the ship is a boon.  Refined fuel is Cr 875,000 per year.  Life support is Cr 520,000 per year for the crew and passengers and Cr 14,000 for the low berths.  Routine maintenance runs Cr 66,175.  Salaries are Cr 144,000.  Berthing is Cr 3,500.  Total costs per annum: Cr 1,622,675.  The annual costs are an additional Cr 3,308,750 if you have a payment for Cr 4,931,425 a year total.

Type R costs, book 2.  Monthly payment on 50% ownership Cr 420,958 (240 payments remaining).  Refined fuel is Cr 875,000 per year.  Life support is Cr 676,000 per year for the crew and passengers and Cr 31,500 for the low berths.  Routine maintenance runs Cr 101,030.  Salaries are Cr 228,000.  Berthing is Cr 3,500.  Total costs per annum: Cr 6,966,796!

Revenue.  Let's make the assumption of a full hold and max souls per trip.

Type A brings in: Cr 2,870,000 in cargo; Cr 1,680,000 in mid-passages; Cr 700,000 for low-passages.  Cr 5,250,000 per year gross.

Type A2 brings in: Cr 2,135,000 in cargo; Cr 1,960,000 in mid-passages; Cr 140,000 for low-passages.  Cr 4,235,000 per year gross.

Type R brings in: Cr 7,000,000 in cargo; Cr 2,240,000 in mid-passages; Cr 315,000 for low-passages.  Cr 9,555,000 per year gross.

Type R (Subsidized) brings in: Cr 6,825,000 in cargo; Cr 875,000 in mail; Cr 1,960,000 in mid-passages; Cr 315,000 for low-passages.  Cr 9,975,000 per year gross.

So both the A and R turn a profit at the standard rates even making a monthly payment.  The A2 doesn't.  This is a quirk in the rules because they don't account for the extra speed, a trip on a J1 ship costs twice as much to a shipper or passenger than a J2 so the A2 owner should be charging more for J2's.

The annual costs on the Type R are a mere Cr 1,927,030 if subsidized (as above minus the payment plus the cost of a gunner); but you have to give up half the gross so you only have Cr 4,987,500 a year to apply against your expenses.

At the end:

Type A owned outright: Cr 3,914,420 profit.
Type A2 owned outright: Cr 2,612,325 profit.
Type R 50% ownership, unsubsidized: Cr 2,588,204 profit.
Type R 50% ownership, subsidized: Cr 3,060470 profit.

You can make Cr 70,000 a year more per passenger you can get to upgrade to a High Passage.
You can save a lot of money buying unrefined fuel, but collecting wild fuel costs at least a day and that costs three trips a year so your gross profits are 91.4% what is listed above.  None of the above ships appear to have refining facilities so you're adding some risk to each jump.