From the game: The actual game of Shipping Empires is based on sea-borne trading, as owners of shipping companies the players must collect various cargoes from eight different ports from around the playing board, there are short and long trips on offer, the distance to travel between the ports and the different types of cargo will govern the payment that the players will be paid for delivering the cargo to the correct location.The ships have a limited cargo space and the cargo comes in amounts ranging from 1/4 to 3/4 loads, the players require an element of luck when being offered a cargo and a degree of skill when selecting which cargoes that they are willing to accept.The players then plot their own course around the playing board and are required to pay for the running cost for their ships at the end of each turn of play, on reaching the correct port the player will offload his or her cargo and collect the payment for that cargo from the banker.At the end of the game it is the player with the most money that is the winner, the fact that large amounts of money can be gained or lost on a single trip means that they is no obvious winner until the very end of the game. - BoardGameGeek