Merchant marine
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Map of Merchant marine by country. Panama has the largest registered merchant marine fleet in the world. |
In most seafaring countries, the
merchant marine (or
Merchant Navy) is a fleet of ships used for
commerce that sometimes complements the
navy. These fleets may be divided into several categories, according to their purpose or size:
* Dry cargo ships, which today are mainly bulk carriers and
container ships.
* Tankers for the transport of fluids, such as crude oil, petroleum products, liquified gas and chemicals, also vegetable oils, wine and other food - the tanker sector comprises one third of the world tonnage.
* Specialised ships, e.g. for heavy lift goods or refrigerated cargo, roll on/roll off cargo (
RoRo) ships for vehicles and wheeled machinery.
* Coasters, smaller ships for any category of cargo which are normally not on ocean-crossing routes, but in coastwise trades.
* Ferries, mostly for combination of passengers and rolling cargo, usually on fixed routes between 2 ports or more.
*
Cruise ships
In the
United States, the term usually refers to the
U.S. Merchant Marine, which serves as an auxiliary to the
U.S Navy in times of
war.
In
Canada, it refers to sailors who served aboard freight vessels in
WWII and the
Korean War. It is not an official organization. Veterans of these wars were denied veterans benefits that other members of Canada's armed services received after demobilization. They received belated compensation from the government in 1990.
Even some
landlocked countries, such as
Switzerland, have a
merchant marine.
Some countries have large merchant marine fleets disproportionate to their size, such as
Liberia and
Panama. Panama has by far the largest number of merchant marine ships registered to its country [https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2108rank.html] although many of the vessels are owned by other nations. For instance, Panama has more than 5000 major vessels registered, but owns only 617 of them. Liberia has 1465 registered vessels but owns only 73 of those.
*
List of merchant marine capacity by country*
International Merchant Marine Community*
Official database of deceased Canadian Merchant Mariners*
The Australian Merchant Navy
