KIASO

**Profitability** | ▲ Profitable

> "*When you run freight in Karstedt, it's always gonna be for one of the big companies. That's not even an economic thing, that's the law. There's no place for the little guy.*"
>
> **- Alan Harkness**
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>

The **Karstedt International Astro-Shipping Organization**, known as **KIASO**, is a Karian state-owned international shipping and logistics conglomerate headquartered on the Karian city-planet Kornhofen. It is a legal entity created by the Karstag in 2321 HC (12 BNE) out of a number of regional shipping companies, most of which had already been in operation for hundreds of years. In the years since, it aggressively bought out private companies operating the space lanes in regions of interest to Karian shipping in an effort to bring order to the system.

A giant in international trade, KIASO coordinates more than 300 state-owned subsidiaries in Karstedt's system of national and international trade. Taken all together, the corporation fields a sizable fleet of freight ships and provides services in freight forwarding, ship building, ship repair, terminal and station operation, container manufacturing, hyperlane construction, trade, and development.

## Major Routes

 **Engelport ⟷  Eganor**

 **Westende ⟷  Kosisus**

 **Hopfenreich ⟷  Neocraea**

 **Hopfenreich ⟷  New Aratacia**

 **Hopfenreich ⟷  Day's End**

Karstedt's international trade is most often handled by the KIASO Superliner Corporation, which operates a fleet of GCTO-compliant superliners along GCTO space lanes, running freight between GCTO countries. These are ships of immense size and range, often exceeding 1km in length, and capable of hauling great quantities of goods across vast galactic distances. It is usually only in those great quantities that interstellar trade is worth it.

KIASO's network within Karstedt is fragmented to a much greater degree than its international presence, with different subsidiaries operating different routes and engaging in different tasks. However, over time, the parent company has been moving towards greater homogenization and standardization across its subsidiaries.

## Political implications

### Domestic

KIASO is a publicly-owned corporation whose directorships and hiring decisions have often been influenced by political considerations by the government in power. The directorships especially––both at the parent company level and in subsidiaries––are lucrative to whomever holds them, and so they are an important source of patronage and political reward within the Karian political system.

KIASO bond and stock issues have similarly been accused of being a source of graft under many administrations. They are almost always distributed off-market to picked financiers and banks at generous rates. The distribution, timing, and terms of these issues appears very often to be motivated by political calculation by the corporation and its political allies. It is a powerful force in Karian conservative politics––indeed politics in general––for this reason.

Despite the presence of graft and corruption in the upper echelons, the corporation has succeeded in maintaining its professional character in its bureaucratic ranks. The corporations are generally staffed by competent managers and employees who follow an ethic of efficiency and rule-following which pervades from the top on down.

### International

KIASO defies in many way the private enterprise paradigm which many market powers rely on. It is a highly efficient and integrated bureaucratic system which is married intrinsically to the elites and state of Karstedt, and its interests are synonymous with their interests. This potentially raises some red flags in some nations when, in the name of efficiency, the corporation purchases a controlling stake in a major foreign port or makes moves to acquire competitors. This is because, unlike other corporations which tend to advance the interests of their owners solely and are often limited by competitors and anti-trust powers, KIASO's power is cumulative and advances the Karian national interest.

The Karian obsession with ordering and rendering things clean and efficient is nowhere more apparent than in their attempts to order and systematize the system of international trade. KIASO men were very much involved in the efforts to establish the GCTO's trade route network, shipbuilding standards, and security measures, and their influence can everywhere be felt.

## Major subsidiaries

* KIASO Superliner Corporation
* Allenfeld Cargo Ship Group
* Rhenburg Astro-Shipping Company
* KIASO Spaceports Limited
* KIASO Hyperlane Construction Co.
* Behrends National Cargo Containers
* KIASO Neegweia Shipbuilding Inc.
* KIASO Small Shipping Company
* KIASO Courrier Service
* Herrath Shipping Company
* Heppenheimer Protection Agency
* Hopfenreich Port Authority
* Westende Station Company
* Engelport Station Inc.
* Amestria Shipping and Transport Group
* Unterhart Shipping Limited