One of the oldest freighter classes in existence, the Antares class of bulk freighters have been in services for over a century. Originally used by the Federation as their military freighter of choice, the Antares was slowly phased out of service as newer, more resilient freighter models were developed.

Rather than scrapping their mothballed fleet of freighters, Starfleet instead sold them off to third parties. This included not only civilian interests within the Federation, but also several neighboring, pro-Federation governments.

Although no Antares Bulk Freighters remain in Federation service, they are a common craft seen throughout the bustling galactic starways. In most cases such freighters are owned and captained by alien crews. Most of these ships have seen their better days, and many operators have taken to making piece-meal repairs of their Antares freighters in order to keep them operational.