And another thing....
Back in 2000/2001 I had to work out for the AOA the financial effects of freighter deferment pay. If you are eligible to transfer back onto pax fleet but cx chooses to leave you on the base due manning requirements, then CX would top up your salary to HKG rates. Sort of similar to bypass pay.
Anyway, in the course of these calculations I worked out something very interesting. If you take Freighter FO, then transfer across after (3 or 4?) X years to pax FO and then move across to freighter command about 3 or 4 years before you would have got pax command, you will be financially better off than a colleague that stayed hkg based through SO/FO/CN. You do take a short term pay cut, but the fact that you are always 3 or 4 increments ahead of your pax colleagues is where you end up better financially. Obviously this ignores your basing/lifestyle requirements;-)
Guppy...the quicker you get your command, the less ERAS reports they will have on you;-)