Tharsis Freight Union

Founded in 2128 by dockhands who were tired of waiting on Earth-based shippers, the Tharsis Freight Union now moves roughly a third of all bulk goods entering or leaving Mars orbit. Its timetable is famous for punctuality: a Tharsis consignment leaves the Olympus Ring every 36 hours, whatever the launch window.

Fourteen Atlas Heavy Freighters form the backbone of the line. Each 612-metre Atlas carries 52,000 tonnes with a flight crew of only three pilots, and its helium-3 fusion drive burns about 6.8 tonnes per 100 AU. At 410 million credits a hull, Tharsis managers point out that the Atlas costs less per tonne-kilometre than any freighter they have ever operated, and its 85 AU reach covers every route on their network with margin to spare.

Six Kestrel light shuttles ferry relief crews and paperwork between the freighters and port, and four Cascade Dropships bring containers down to the surface depots at Tharsis Montes, each landing 220 tonnes and climbing back to orbit without a refuel stop.

Union members also value the Atlas for its simplicity. Its cargo spine takes standard 40-tonne containers, and a three-person flight deck means the Union can staff its entire fleet from a single crew pool on the Ring.

In the dust-storm season of 2184, when the Olympus Ring surface port closed for 41 days, Tharsis kept supplies flowing by running Cascades into improvised landing fields on the Tharsis plateau. The Union's operations chief later described the dropships as 'the reason nobody on Mars went hungry that spring'. Sofia Marchetti and the Halcyon sales team in Toulouse manage the account.