Civilian boat or ship that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire
For the band, see Merchant Ships."Merchantman" redirects here. For the tugboat, see ST Merchantman. For the cargo aircraft variant, see Vickers Vanguard.
Historical merchant trading ship: a Dutch fluyt cargo vessel from the late 17th century
A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are used for military purposes.
They come in myriad sizes and shapes, from six-metre (20 ft) inflatable dive boats in Hawaii, to 5,000-passenger casino vessels on the Mississippi River, to tugboats plying New York Harbor, to 300-metre (1,000 ft) oil tankers and container ships at major ports, to passenger-carrying submarines in the Caribbean.[1]
Many merchant ships operate under a "flag of convenience" from a country other than the home of the vessel's owners, such as Liberia and Panama, which have more favorable maritime laws than other countries.
The Greek merchant marine is the largest in the world. Today, the Greek fleet accounts for some 16 per cent of the world's tonnage; this makes it currently the largest single international merchant fleet in the world, albeit not the largest in history.[2]
During wars, merchant ships may be used as auxiliaries to the navies of their respective countries, and are called upon to deliver military personnel and materiel.
^"Summary of the Report from the Passenger Vessel Access Advisory Committee". Archived from the original on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
^"Review of Maritime Transport 2007, Chapter 2, Structure and ownership of the world fleet, p. 45" (PDF).
A merchantship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast...
("Merchant Navy"). During the First World War, the government requisitioned Australian merchant vessels for use as transport ships, hospital ships and...
recognition to American merchant mariners who participated in World War II. Captains, mates (officers), and pilots supervise ship operations on domestic...
MerchantShips was an American Midwest emo band from South Bend, Indiana. MerchantShips was formed in 2008 by singer Jack Senff and drummer Dwayne Robinson...
specifically a ship-rigged sailing ship with three or more masts, each of which is square-rigged. As of 2016, there were more than 49,000 merchantships, totaling...
The Royal Merchant was a 17th-century English merchantship that was lost at sea off Land's End in rough weather on 23 September 1641. On board were at...
Defensively equipped merchantship (DEMS) was an Admiralty Trade Division programme established in June 1939, to arm 5,500 British merchantships with an adequate...
2021[update], it is the only nuclear-powered merchantship in service.[citation needed] Civilian nuclear ships suffer from the costs of specialized infrastructure...
head of the deck department of a merchantship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the ship's cargo and deck crew. The actual...
An armed merchantman is a merchantship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy...
nation's shipping fleet (variously called merchant navy, merchant marine, or merchant fleet) consists of the ships operated by civilian crews to transport...
The term armed merchantship may describe a number of similar ship modifications intended for significantly different missions. The term armed merchantman...
damage and are typically faster and more maneuverable than merchantships. Unlike a merchantship, which carries cargo, a warship typically carries only weapons...
in far east. Landing Ship, Tank Military ship for landing troops and vehicles Liberty ship A type of welded American merchantship of the late Second World...
Merchant raiders are armed commerce raiding ships that disguise themselves as non-combatant merchant vessels. Germany used several merchant raiders early...
boats attacking merchantship in Red Sea, US says". ABC News. Retrieved 4 April 2024. "US Navy sinks 3 Houthi boats attacking merchantship in Red Sea, US...
CAM ships were World War II–era British merchantships used in convoys as an emergency stop-gap until sufficient escort carriers became available. CAM...
Merchant seamen crewed the ships of the British Merchant Navy which kept the United Kingdom supplied with raw materials, arms, ammunition, fuel, food and...
is a Russian nuclear-powered cargo ship. The 1988-built vessel is one of only four nuclear-powered merchantships ever built and, after returning to service...
Merchant Mariners. The number was doubled in 1939 and again in 1940 to 200 ships a year. Ship types included two tankers and three types of merchant vessel...
A cargo ship or freighter is a merchantship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's...
in such programs as training U.S. officers for the nuclear-powered merchantship, the NS Savannah.[citation needed] Admission requirements were amended...
Convoy ON 92 was a trade convoy of merchantships during the Second World War. It was the 92nd of the numbered series of ON convoys Outbound from the British...
An Empire ship is a merchantship that was given a name beginning with "Empire" in the service of the Government of the United Kingdom during and after...
officer (CDO, on a naval ship) or officer of the watch (OOW, on a merchantship) is the head duty officer (officer of the day) on a ship, entrusted by the commanding...
hundred merchantships. The most enduring system of convoys were the Spanish treasure fleets, that sailed from the 1520s until 1790. When merchantships sailed...
Philadelphia MerchantShip F.C. was a short-lived U.S. soccer team of the early twentieth century. It spent two seasons in the National Association Football...
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