The Shipping Nightmare
 

I love the game and think the developers are amazing. It's a very player friendly game. I really love that we can have a status when we click on our avatar. I have red people all the time now. lol
I do hope for some changes in how the ships work someday. I have decided to turn mine off indefinitely unless they get a make over. It's very irritating that we can't take non shippers off our itinerary, that # 30 can't be skipped, and that we're allowed to replace our itinerary so many times before we're stuck with whoever is on it (that can be a nightmare!). I've tried using last itinerary...hahaha i will never make THAT mistake again. Anyway, I want to turn my computer off when I go to bed but I have to leave it on to check my stupid ships through out the night. I hate the ships with a passion and will never do them again unless they become, better like the trains, for example. The trains are no problem.

Hi Wiggles,
I moved your post to theHelp & Support thread about the cargo ships to answer you.
You can change your itinerary in the log book and set it to one that works for you. When you are preparing your containers for dispatching your ship for the day, you can replace up to 10 ports. You can also move any of them around that you need to during this time. That means in 3 days time you can replace your entire log book.
If you replace the first ten on day one and get them where you want them in the log book, finish loading your containers and dispatch your ship. I would suggest that at least one of the onesa you replace or move be someone you know plays daily and you know will be able to do your ships in the 30 position, so your ship does not get stuck for days.

When you start preparing your next ship on the second day, click on the Reuse Last Itinerary in the Log book tab. That will show you exactly the log book you set up the day before. Then you replace and move an additional 10 to get them where you want them.
Then when you start the 3rd day's ship you complete replacing any you have left that you think you need to. And every day after when you start your next ship preparation you click on the Reuse Last Itinirary. That way you keep the same group for your ports.
You should not have to leave your computer on to check on your ships at night. Once you get 7 ships in a row dispatched then the times for preparation will be short enough that it will only take a short time to prepare and dispatch them.
If you want to make a suggestion for changing how the ships work please post it in the Suggestions section and not in the General Feedback section.You can not start a new thread in that section, but you can reply to an existing thread that fits your suggestion. Before you do though I hope you try what I have listed above to get your ships working properly.

I have the first 4 overhead cranes; blue, orange, green & Purple. Your instructions say, "Each Overhead Crane owned will enable you to load any ship of the same colour with one click per ship instead of up to 11 clicks per ship.*When you hover over the ship, instead of a black Enter Ship button you will see a blue Load Ship button. Clicking the Load All loads the ship and it it disappears from your seaport."
But I do not get the "Load Ship" for Any Ship? Why did I buy them if they don't work to load ships?

Hi Linda,
I have looked at your data and only see 3 of the overhead cranes in your storage. You own the orange, green and purple ones. I do not see anywhere that you have bought the blue one. You do have to be trying to load those 3 colors of ships for your neighbors to see the Load Ship button.

If you are not seeing that on those ccolor of ship then try taking that color of crane out of your store=age, putting it on a farm, then click save and close and reopen your farms. Then put it back in your storage and see if the Load Ship is there for that color ship now.

Why can't I load a ship that's on it's last stop? I currently have a ship sitting in someone's port for two days now, and thanks to timing, it can sit there for another whole day.

Hi Anna Walls,
I moved your post from Suggestions to answer you, because you are not making a suggestion, but iare asking a question.
You can not load or skip the last port as that is the rule that the developers set when they started the cargo ships. The only thing I can suggest is when you are preparing future ships make sure you have someone as the last port who is reliably on and playing to be able to get through that port in a timely manner without a long delay.
If you want to make a suggestion to change this please do not put it in the form of a question.