Class four container transports, also referred to simply as Imperial cargo ships, were tetrahedron-shaped, hyperspace-capable bulk freighters used by the Galactic Empire to haul large numbers of crates and containers across the galaxy.Â
The class four container transport was shaped like a tetrahedron resting on the longest of its six edges. The bridge module was located in front of the ship, at the narrowest vertex of the recumbent tetrahedron, and resembled[1] that of the Arquitens-class command cruiser.[3] An assembly of up to 210 large containers was attached to the rear triangular side of the ship, encased between the sublight engines positioned at each of the three angles.[1] However, containers could be removed to make room for a hangar bay at the rear of the cargo portion.[4] The cargo of the transport could be accessed from the inside through at least one entry and exit point between the cargo and the vessel.[1]
In addition to its sublight drives, the Imperial cargo ship was equipped with a hyperdrive, which allowed it to travel through hyperspace. It was also armed, boasting one top-mounted double-barrelled turbolaser battery and two side-mounted laser turrets.[1]
Every Imperial cargo ship required the presence of an inventory droid to track and monitor all the goods to ensure it was organised and safely arrived to its destination on time. Also, inventory droids were tasked with logging every item and crew member of the transport and in addition were able to view the Imperial data network. [2] Imperial cargo ships were used to haul large quantities of containers and crates from spaceport to spaceport.[2] For security purposes, Imperial cargo ships had Stormtroopers and a security complement of at least five Imperial sentry droids.[4]
The Galactic Empire, an authoritarian pan-galactic regime, made use of Imperial cargo ships during the dark times that followed the end of the Clone Wars and the rise of its sole ruler, Emperor Palpatine. In 3 BBY,[5] the rebel astromech Chopper stowed away on an Imperial cargo ship docked at the Horizon Base. Eventually, the astromech joined forces with the ship's inventory droid, an RA-7 protocol droid called AP-5, to steal the vessel from the Empire. In order to do so, Chopper managed to trap the stormtroopers serving aboard the ship in the freight assembly, before jettisoning the soldiers along with the containers. AP-5 then managed to transmit the coordinates for the planet Atollon to Chopper's Spectres and the Phoenix Squadron despite the opposition of the Imperial captain. Chopper then rendezvoused the cargo transport with the rebels above Atollon.[1]
In 2 BBY, the Weequay pirate Hondo Ohnaka and the Jablogian crime lord Azmorigan acquired the flight plan for a cargo transport. They managed to disable the transport with ion mines. However, the ship drifted into the upper atmosphere of the planet Wynkahthu where it was trapped in a storm. Most of Hondo's Ugnaught crew with the exception of Melch were lost while boarding the ship. Hondo and Azmorigan managed to reach the ship with the help of the Spectres and AP-5, who was familiar with that class of ships. They managed to restart the ship's power and steal a cargo of proton bombsand treasures. However, the recovery team was forced to flee when they accidentally activated the sentry droids. The recovery team managed to flee back to their ship Ghost before the cargo ship descended into the vortex and exploded.[4]