Cargo Match guide

What Cargo Match is

Cargo Match is the swap-and-match side mode of Harbor Escape. Instead of sailing boats, you work on the quay: a grid of colored cargo crates sits in front of the freighters, and every crate you clear in a match is loaded onto a ship of the same color. Load every ship before you run out of moves and the level is won with "All ships loaded!". Cargo Match currently has 15 levels and appears under More Modes once you have cleared Berth Sort level 10.

The rules

• Swap two neighboring crates to line up three or more of the same color in a row or column. The matched crates are cleared and the crates above fall down to fill the gap.
• Only swaps that make a match cost a move. If a swap makes no match, the crates simply swap back and your move counter does not change.
• Cleared crates load the ships. Each ship waiting at the quay wants a set number of crates of its color, shown on the ship. Crates of that color that you clear are loaded onto it, left to right. When a ship is full it sails off and the next ship in the queue takes its place.
• Win and lose. You win the moment the last ship leaves. If your moves run out first, the level ends with "Out of moves" and tells you how many ships were still waiting.
• No dead boards. If no match is possible after a move, the game reshuffles the crates for you ("Sorting cargo…") at no cost.

Special pieces

Bigger matches create special pieces on the square you moved. The early levels introduce them one at a time: the crane in level 2, dynamite in level 3 and the lighthouse in level 5.

Piece	How to make it	What it does
Crane	Match 4 in a straight line	Clears a whole row (from a horizontal match) or a whole column (from a vertical match).
Dynamite	Match in an L or T shape	Clears the 3 × 3 square around it.
Lighthouse	Match 5 or more	Swap it with a crate to clear every crate of that color on the board.

A crane or dynamite fires when it is cleared as part of a match. A special piece caught in another piece's blast fires too, which is how big chains happen. Swapping two special pieces with each other fires both of them where they stand, for one move.

Stars

Every Cargo Match level gives one to three stars, based on how many moves you still have left when the last ship sails. Each level sets its own thresholds, so on some levels any clear with a single spare move is worth two stars, while three stars needs a handful of moves left over. The stars count toward your harbor like stars from any other mode, and replaying a level only adds stars if you beat your previous result.

Strategy

Match for the ships, not just for matches

A match of a color that no waiting ship wants still clears the board, but it does not load anything. Look at which colors the ships at the quay are asking for and prioritize those. When you have a choice between two matches, take the one in a color that is being loaded.

Work low on the board

Matches near the bottom make the crates above fall, and falling crates often line up into free extra matches — the "Chain" counter. Matches at the top only refill the top. Early in a level, working low gives you more cascades for the same number of moves.

Build specials before you need them

A move that makes a crane or dynamite is usually worth more than a move that clears three crates, even if the three are in the right color. Specials clear many crates at once and can load several ships in a single move.

Save the lighthouse for the biggest color

The lighthouse is the strongest piece. Use it on the color the current ship needs most, ideally when that color is common on the board. Late in a level, a lighthouse on the right color can finish a ship on its own.

Combine specials

Two specials next to each other can be swapped to fire both for one move. Before you trigger a single crane, check whether a dynamite or a second crane is nearby.

Count your moves against the ships

The top of the screen shows the moves left. Glance at how many crates the remaining ships still need. If the numbers look tight, stop setting up long plans and take the biggest immediate match of a needed color.

A short example

The current ship needs green, and you can see two possible moves: a three-green match near the top, or an L-shaped blue match near the bottom that makes dynamite. The green match loads three crates right away. The blue match loads nothing directly — but the dynamite lands low on the board, and when you fire it next turn it clears nine crates in one go, probably including some green ones, while the falling crates can set up more matches. If you have moves to spare, the dynamite line is usually stronger; if you are down to your last two or three moves, take the green.