If you are referring to the Alien Organisms, they go pretty fast. I haven't actually timed it, but I'd say you lose one every 50-80 seconds. With a cargo hold full of them, you begin losing one and then another and so on until you dock and sell or run out of organisms. Makes planning a route imperative!

Yup. Waypoints and shortcuts are almost necessary. A freighter is your best bet(specifically the Dromedary or Humpback), or you may lose too much in transit to make a profit.

Reaper: $200,000,000.
Rockets: $100,000
The look on that pilot's face when you launch a full pod of screamers up his tailpipe: priceless

Officer: "Freelancer, what happened to the transport you were escorting?"
Me: "He told me my ship looked wierd...I invited him to have intimate relations with my SunSlayer"

Well, let's see...when I was transporting 250 lux food units from New London to Mannhatten I would lose 5 - 8 on average...

well i never tried cargo runs with them, cuz i thought "Highly Perishable" ment that if you got damaged in a fight etc. when you had them in your hold they might leak out and kill you, leaving your ship drifing in space...
guess i was wrong