OSRS Courier Tasks guide: Loot Sacks, XP rates and strategy (Aug 2026 update)

What are Courier Tasks in Sailing?

Courier Tasks are one of two port task types in the Sailing skill (the other being bounty tasks). A courier task asks you to deliver crates of cargo between two ports. The workflow is simple: visit a notice board to select a task, collect the cargo from the ledger table (both hands must be free), load the crates into your boat's cargo hold, sail to the destination port, then withdraw and deposit the crates at the destination ledger table.

Higher-level tasks span Sailing level requirements from 1 to 67, with cargo quantities ranging from 1 to 6 crates. Deliveries connect major ports: Port Sarim, The Pandemonium, Musa Point, Land's End, Catherby, Brimhaven, Ardougne, Port Khazard, Port Piscarilius, Corsair Cove, Civitas illa Fortis, Prifddinas, Lunar Isle, and more.

Tasks can be cancelled freely via a port master or the captain's log. If a boat carrying cargo is relocated, all cargo is removed from its holds — so complete the delivery before summoning or moving your boat elsewhere. Players must use their own boat, and the Sailing level requirement to accept a task cannot be boosted.

Loot Sacks: the 26 August 2026 update

The 26 August 2026 game update added Loot Sacks to Courier Task rewards. Successfully completing a Courier Task now awards a Loot Sack that provides boat supplies or GP. There are 5 tiers of Loot Sacks — Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, and Huge — scaling based on the level of the task completed and the distance travelled.

The reward roll is: a 4 in 5 chance the sack contains GP proportional to its tier (Tiny: 800-1,200 GP, scaling up to Huge: 6,400-9,600 GP), and a 1 in 5 chance the sack contains a bundle of supplies awarded all at once when opened. Loot Sacks are stackable, working similarly to Hunter Rumour loot sacks.

Supply bundles draw from a shared pool: dragon sheets, bronze-to-dragon nails, iron-to-dragon cannonballs, normal-to-ironwood planks, bronze-to-rune bars, and copper-to-runite ores.

Port-themed supply drops (all ports)

Each port offers a thematic supply drop that scales with your Loot Sack tier. The highlights: Prifddinas gives crystal shards, Port Piscarilius gives raw anglerfish, Port Khazard gives raw manta ray or sea turtle, Piscatoris gives raw monkfish, Catherby gives raw cod/tuna/lobster/bass/sharks, Cairn Isle gives uncut gems (opal to diamond), Corsair Cove gives bronze-to-rune scimitars, Void Knights' Outpost gives full helms/platebodies/platelegs, and Entrana gives various bones (higher-tier sacks give higher-level bones).

Other notable drops: Aldarin gives grapes, Ardougne cake or chocolate cake, Brimhaven pineapples, Civitas illa Fortis kebabs, Deepfin Point lead and nickel ores, Etceteria teak and mahogany logs, Hosidius compost/supercompost/ultracompost, Jatizso copper-to-rune ores, Land's End empty bird's nests, Lunar Isle astral runes, Musa Point bananas, Neitiznot yak hides, Port Roberts cannonballs, Port Sarim caskets, Port Tyras Zulrah's scales, Red Rock corals, Rellekka Fremennik helms, Ruins of Unkah spirit flakes, Summer Shore coral fragments, Sunset Coast buckets of sand, and The Pandemonium cocktails.

The Shark Paint was previously planned to move into Loot Sacks, but Jagex kept it as a separate drop upon completing any Courier Task so it doesn't replace other earned loot (1/36 rarity).

XP rates and best strategy

XP is based on the distance travelled — a round-trip delivery gives double the XP of a one-way trip. The most efficient strategy is to pick a task where the notice board, cargo pickup, and destination are different locations, then use teleports to reposition: accept the task at one port, relocating your boat as you go.

Per-task XP ranges from ~69 XP for level-28 short hops (e.g. Ardougne→Brimhaven) up to 10,587 XP for level-65 round trips (e.g. Etceteria→Sunset Coast). Typical low-level tasks give ~78-300 XP; high-level (60+) tasks give ~2,000-10,000 XP per task.

Crewmates can carry crates between the ledger table and the cargo hold. Those with deckhandiness 3 or 4 (Jobless Jim, Ex-Captain Siad, Cabin Boy Jenkins, Jolly Jim) carry 2 crates at a time instead of 1, meaningfully reducing loading time on multi-crate tasks.

Recommended rotation: unlock all 5 task slots at 84 Sailing, always grab the highest-level task available, use the fastest boat you own, and use crewmates with deckhandiness 3+. Loot Sacks make this a solid low-intensity money maker on top of Sailing XP.