How to access and store cargo on your ship in Starfield

In Starfield, you’ll venture across numerous planets throughout a massive gallery. You’ll gather resources from the ground, from the bodies of fallen enemies, from abandoned desktops in space stations, and much more. It can start to weigh a person down, which simply isn’t good. Fortunately, you don’t have to carry it all on your person. You can store it on your ship. Here is our guide explaining how to access and store cargo on your ship in Starfield.

Note: For more guides from ships to crafting to combat, check out our Starfield page.

Starfield – how to access and store cargo on your ship

If you pick up everything you find in some of the busier locations you visit in Starfield, you’ll become ‘encumbered’ in a hurry. This condition prompts you to consume oxygen more quickly and you can even take damage. You might also find yourself unable to jump between locations automatically, which is no fun. The good news is that your ship has room to haul plenty that you can’t conveniently carry around with you. To access and store cargo on your ship, look near your cockpit to find the interactive interface.

Early in my adventure, I was quite the scavenger. I hauled around all the toilet paper I could find, along with enough notebooks to stock an office supply store. I quickly became encumbered. That led me to conclude I needed to either sell off most of what I found to reluctant merchants or store it on my ship. My problem was that even after I explored my ship, I couldn’t seem to find the cargo hold.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Look closely to access your cargo hold

The cargo hold is located near the cockpit, but it’s easy to miss. On the Frontier, which is the ship you start with early in your adventure, the interface to access the cargo hold appears as a glowing panel. It looks a lot like other such panels. On the UC Prison Shuttle, pictured above, it is a panel in the area behind the cockpit.

Related: How to unlock more ship slots in Starfield

Whatever the ship, the cargo hold should be in a similar location. Hover over the access panel and you’ll find the option to Transfer goods to the cargo hold. Make sure to choose Inventory if you want to see items you are carrying. Select the tab for the ship you have boarded if you want to view its cargo hold contents. You can transfer items either to or from the cargo hold using this interface.

There’s no reason not to store stuff in your cargo hold that I can see, provided you have the space in your cargo hold. Unneeded armor and weapons encumber you most quickly. I recommend leaving those in your ship when you explore. On a mission, bring along only what you need in the short term. Doing so leaves you free to grab more goods without immediately becoming encumbered. Fortunately, certain vital items such as ammo and digipicks add little or no mass and you can carry plenty of them with you.

Starfield is available to purchase on Steam and the Microsoft Store.