Special Cargo

Special Cargo is a CEO mission featured in Grand Theft Auto Online as part of the Further Adventures in Finance and Felony update.

Overview
"Special Cargo Buy missions are dangerous, multi-part missions that call for a coordinated team of Associates to complete successfully. Buy missions range in scope and size, from police stings to high-speed pursuits, helicopter ambushes and more."

- Rockstar Newswire description

Special Cargo missions take place across the state, and involve the player stealing cargo initially purchased, and storing them in crates within their Warehouse. When exporting them, the player can select the number of crates they wish to export (or all of them at once), which will bring a total amount of money that the buyer will give the player upon delivery.

Special cargo missions can only be conducted in Public Free Mode sessions, but there is no minimum player limit so a player alone in a public lobby can participate.

Every so often, unique Special Cargo may be found - this cargo is worth a great deal more than regular cargo, with one crate often selling up to $150,000. Note that as this is even more special, it costs more to buy it.

Buy Special Cargo


Buy missions are the missions the player completes to get special cargo crates in their Warehouse. These missions have a cooldown which is the same regardless of what level (amount of crates) mission is launched, so it is generally recommended to attempt the highest level/amount missions.

Players can launch missions to buy special cargo from their office at the SecuroServ terminal. An important thing to note is that a single player can only pick up one crate each, meaning they can't pick up two crates at the same time. However, one person can deliver a crate and then go back to grab another one until all the crates are gone. To get around this it can be helpful to hire associates. Collecting special cargo must be done in a public online session and at varying points during specific missions it will be announced to the server, with a map icon, this means that other players can add to the difficulty as they try to steal or destroy your crates.

Note: Having more than one warehouse is one method of bypassing the cooldown timer on buy missions.

Buying 1 crate at a time is more cost effective than 3 crates at a time, though 3 crates is more time effective. 1 crate = $2,000 2 crates = $8,000 ($4,000 per crate) 3 crates = $18,000 ($6,000 per crate)

A large warehouse takes 37 three crate missions to fill costing $666,000, and sells for $2,220,000 (or $1,554,000 total profit) at $42,000 profit per buy mission. A large warehouse takes 111 single crate missions to fill costing $222,000, and sells for $2,220,000 (or $1,998,000 total profit) at $18,000 profit per buy mission. Meaning you make roughly 28% more money total profit but spend 3x longer to make it, though the more crates you purchase at once generally the harder the retrieval mission is and the larger the risk you take.

Products
Products which the player can buy include:
 * Animal Materials
 * Art & Antiques
 * Bullion
 * Counterfeit Goods
 * Electronic Goods
 * Gemstones
 * Jewelry
 * Medical Supplies
 * Narcotics
 * Tobacco & Alcohol
 * Weapons & Ammo

Occasionally, the Assistant will call the player to tell them about a Special Item on the SecuroServ Network. This Item is more expensive, but will also bring in more profit once sold. The special item sells 5x of its costs, and unlike the normal products, the special items will not increase the value as the item number increases. The following is a list for the special items:

Sell Special Cargo
Exporting Special Cargo will require the player to access the Ad-Hawk laptop computer inside the Warehouse and choose the amount of cargo to sell. As Special Cargo missions can be played in empty Public Sessions, players can export cargo without the threat of other players destroying their cargo, but will be limited to exporting a certain amount of cargo at once, until a point where multiple trips may be necessary, and possibly more difficult for one player (for example, multiple Cuban 800s or Brickades may spawn). There is the chance that all cargo is contained within one shipment vehicle, such as the Titan, however the player can use their common sense to work out whether, realistically, their shipment would require multiple vehicles, or just one.

The cargo can be exported via three different methods of transport; land, sea, or air. On land, Brickade trucks may be used to contain large amounts of cargo, although more often than not, multiple Brickades may need to be delivered. There is usually enough time for a single player to deliver both, however having another player to assist is recommended. On water, the Tug boat may be used to export products out at sea, while in air, the Titan or Cuban 800 may be used to drop cargo to destination(s).

Trivia

 * If an associate destroys their own CEO's Special Cargo, it may result in that player's immediate removal from the Organization and them being placed on a blacklist, temporarily preventing them from starting or joining an organization through SecuroServ.