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A merchant vessel is a ship that transports cargo or passengers. The closely related term commercial vessel is defined by the United States Coast Guard as any vessel (i.e. boat or ship) engaged in commercial trade or that carries passengers for hire. This would exclude pleasure craft that do not carry passengers for hire or warships.

They come in a myriad of sizes and shapes from twenty-foot inflatable dive boats in Hawaii, to 5,000 passenger casino vessels on the Mississippi River, to 1,000 foot oil tankers and container ships at major ports, to a passenger carrying submarine in the U.S. Virgin Islands.^[1]

Most countries of the world operate fleets of merchant ships. However, due to the high costs of operations, today these fleets are in many cases sailing under the flags of nations that specialize in providing manpower and services at favourable terms. Such flags are known as "flags of convenience". Currently, Liberia and Panama are particularly favoured. Ownership of the vessels can be by any country, however.

The Greek-owned fleet 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]

In English, "Merchant Navy" without further clarification is used to refer to the British Merchant Navy; the United States merchant fleet is known as the United States Merchant Marine.

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 material.

Name prefixes

Merchant ships names are prefixed by which kind of vessel they are:^{[citation needed]}

MV = Motor Vessel
SS = Steam Ship
MT = Motor Tanker or Motor Tug Boat
MSV = Motor Stand-by Vessel
MY = Motor Yacht
RMS = Royal Mail Ship
RRS = Royal Research Ship
SV = Sailing Vessel (although these can be sub coded as type of sailing vessel)
LPG = Gas carrier transporting liquefied petroleum gas
LNG = Gas carrier transporting liquefied natural gas

Merchant vessels are green monsters that spring out of the water and eat people and take their food.

P.S. -Alex is fat

References

External links

[1] "Summary of the Report from the Passenger Vessel Access Advisory Committee". Retrieved 24 April 2012.

[2] Review of Maritime Transport 2007, Chapter 2, Structure and ownership of the world fleet, p. 45

[1]

[2]

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 * '''LNG''' = Gas carrier transporting [[liquefied natural gas]]
+Merchant vessels are green monsters that spring out of the water and eat people and take their food.
-== Merchant ship categories ==
-Merchant ships may be divided into several categories, according to their purpose and/or size.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}
+P.S. -Alex is fat
-===Dry cargo ships===
-{{Details|Cargo ship}}
-[[Image:Sabrina I.jpg|right|thumb|200px| ''Sabrina I'' carries bulk cargo inside her holds]]A '''cargo ship''' or '''freighter''' is any sort of [[ship]] or vessel that carries [[cargo]], goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of [[international trade]]. Cargo ships are usually specially designed for the task, often being equipped with [[crane (machine)|cranes]] and other mechanisms to load and unload, and come in all sizes.
-[[Dry cargo ships]] today are mainly [[bulk carrier]]s and [[container ship]]s. Bulk carriers or bulkers are used for the transportation of homogeneous cargo such as [[coal]], [[rubber]], [[copra]], [[tin]], and [[wheat]]. Container ships are used for the carriage of miscellaneous goods.
-====Bulk carriers====
-A '''bulk carrier''' is an [[ocean]]-going [[ship|vessel]] used to transport [[bulk cargo]] items such as [[iron ore]], bauxite, coal, cement, grain and similar cargo.  Bulk carriers can be recognized by large box-like hatches on deck, designed to slide outboard or fold fore-and-aft to enable access for loading or discharging cargo.  The dimensions of bulk carriers are often determined by the ports and sea routes that they need to serve, and by the maximum width of the Panama Canal.  Most lakes are too small to accommodate bulk carriers, but a large fleet of [[lake freighter]]s has been plying the [[Great Lakes]] and [[St. Lawrence Seaway]] of [[North America]] for over a century.
-====Container ships====
-{{Details|Container ship}}
-[[Image:Colombo.Express.wmt.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The ''[[Colombo Express]]'', one of the largest container ships in the world, owned and operated by [[Hapag-Lloyd]] of [[Germany]]]]'''Container ships''' are [[cargo ship]]s that carry all of their load in truck-size containers, in a technique called [[containerization]]. They form a common means of commercial [[intermodal freight transport]].
-===Tankers===
-{{Details|Tanker (ship)}}
-[[Image:Supertanker AbQaiq.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Commercial crude oil [[supertanker]] ''AbQaiq''.]]
-A '''tanker''' is a [[ship]] designed to transport [[liquids]] in bulk.
-[[Tanker (ship)|Tankers]] for the transport of fluids, such as [[crude oil]], [[petroleum]] products, [[liquefied petroleum gas]], [[liquefied natural gas]] and [[chemicals]], also [[vegetable oils]], [[wine]] and other food - the tanker sector comprises one third of the world tonnage.
-Tankers can range in size from several hundred [[tonnage|tons]], designed for servicing small harbours and coastal settlements, to several hundred thousand tons, with these being designed for long-range haulage. A wide range of products are carried by tankers, including:
-* [[hydrocarbon]] products such as [[oil]], [[Liquified petroleum gas|LPG]], and [[Liquefied natural gas|LNG]]
-* [[Chemical substance|Chemicals]], such as [[ammonia]], [[chlorine]], and [[styrene|styrene monomer]]
-* [[fresh water]]
-* [[wine]]
-Different products require different handling and transport, thus special types of tankers have been built, such as "[[chemical tanker]]s" and "[[oil tanker]]s". [[Gas Carriers (Ship)|Gas Carriers]] such as ""[[LNG carrier]]s" as they are typically known, are a relatively rare tanker designed to carry [[liquefied natural gas]].
-Among oil tankers, [[supertanker]]s were designed for carrying oil around the [[Horn of Africa]] from the [[Middle East]]; the FSO ''[[Knock Nevis]]'' being the largest vessel in the world, a ULCC [[supertanker]] formerly known as ''Jahre Viking'' (Seawise Giant). It has a deadweight of 565 thousand metric tons and length of about 500 meters. The use of such large ships is in fact very unprofitable, due to the inability to operate them at full cargo capacity; hence, the production of [[supertankers]] has currently ceased. Today's largest oil tankers in comparison by gross tonnage are ''TI Europe'', ''TI Asia'', ''TI Oceania'', which are the largest sailing vessels today. But even with their deadweight of 441,585 metric tons, sailing as VLCC most of the time, they do not use more than 70%  of their total capacity.
-Apart from [[pipeline transport]], supertankers are the only method for transporting large quantities of oil, although such tankers have caused large environmental disasters when sinking close to coastal regions, causing [[oil spill]]s. See ''[[Exxon Valdez]]'', ''Braer'', ''[[Prestige (ship)|Prestige]]'', ''[[Torrey Canyon]]'', ''[[Erika (tanker)|Erika]]'', for examples of tankers that have caused oil spills.
-===Specialized ships===
-Specialized ships, e.g. for heavy lift goods or refrigerated cargo ([[Reefer ship]]s), [[roll-on/roll-off]] cargo (RoRo) ships for vehicles and wheeled machinery. These ships are not very well developed, except those used as car carriers. Only this sector of Maritime Industry is well developed. The currently largest [[roll-on/roll-off]] cargo (RoRo) ships are Sunbelt Spirit, Liberty (ex-Faust), Phoenix Leader and Aquamarine ACE, each capable of carrying between six and nine thousand units.
-===Coasters===
-{{Details|Coastal trading vessel}}
-[[Coastal trading vessel|Coasters]], smaller ships for any category of cargo which are normally not on ocean-crossing routes, but in coastwise trades. Coasters are shallow-hulled [[ship]]s used for trade between locations on the same island or continent. Their shallow hulls mean that they can get through [[reef]]s where seagoing ships usually cannot (seagoing ships have a very deep hull for supplies and trade etc.).
-===Passenger ships===
-{{Details|Passenger ship}}
-A '''passenger ship''' is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. The category does not include [[cargo ship|cargo vessels]] which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the formerly ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters in which the transport of passengers is secondary to the carriage of freight. The type does however include many classes of ships which are designed to transport substantial numbers of passengers as well as freight. Indeed, until recently virtually all [[ocean liner]]s were able to transport mail, package freight and express, and other cargo in addition to passenger luggage, and were equipped with [[hold (ship)|cargo holds]] and derricks, kingposts, or other cargo-handling gear for that purpose. Modern [[cruiseferry|cruiseferries]] have [[car deck]]s for lorries as well as the passenger's cars. Only in more recent [[ocean liner]]s and in virtually all [[cruise ship]]s has this cargo capacity been removed.
-====Cruise ships====
-{{Details|Cruise ship}}
-<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[image:pacskysydbridge_web.jpg|thumb|200px|right|''[[Pacific Sky]]'' sails under [[Sydney Harbour Bridge]]]] -->
-A '''cruise ship''' or a '''cruise liner''' is a [[passenger ship]] used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are considered an essential part of the experience. [[Cruising (maritime)|Cruising]] has become a major part of the [[tourism]] industry, with millions of passengers each year as of 2008. The industry's rapid growth has seen nine or more newly built ships catering to a [[North America]]n clientele added every year since 1978, as well as others servicing [[Europe]]an clientele. Smaller markets such as the [[Asia]]-[[Pacific]] region are generally serviced by older tonnage displaced by new ships introduced into the high growth areas.
-Cruise ships operate on a mostly set roundabout course or round trips (i.e., they tend to return to their originating port) whereas ocean liners are defined by actually doing ocean-crossing voyages, which may not lead back to the same port for years.<ref name="NZ_Herald_10424244">{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/event/story.cfm?c_id=1501162&objectid=10424244 |title=The ocean-going stretch limo |author=Roughan, John |date=16 February 2007 |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |accessdate=23 October 2011}}</ref>
-====Ferries====
-[[Image:Ferry at Kei Mouth.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The ferryboat at [[Great Kei River|Kei Mouth]] with the former [[Transkei]] opposite on the eastern bank, ca.2006.]]
-{{Details|Ferry}}
-A '''ferry''' is a form of transportation, usually a [[boat]] or [[ship]], but also other forms, carrying (or ''ferrying'') passengers and sometimes their vehicles. Ferries are also used to transport freight (in [[Truck|lorries]] and sometimes unpowered freight [[Containerization|containers]]) and even [[railroad car]]s (in the case of a [[train ferry]]). Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services. A foot-passenger ferry with many stops, such as in [[Venice]], is sometimes called a waterbus or [[water taxi]].
-Ferries form [[public transport]] systems of many waterside cities, allowing direct transit between points at a capital cost much lower than [[bridge]]s or [[tunnel]]s.
 == See also ==

v t e Modern merchant ships
Overviews	Ship Cargo ship Cargo Maritime transport Freight transport Merchant marine Maritime history Shipping line
Dry cargo	Barge Bulk carrier Car float Chain boat Coastal trading vessel Collier Container ship Heavy-lift ship Hopper barge Lake freighter Lighter aboard ship Livestock carrier Reefer ship Roll-on/roll-off (RORO) Train ferry
Tankers	Chemical tanker Floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) Gas carrier Hydrogen tanker LNG carrier Oil tanker
Passenger	Cable ferry Cargo liner Cruise ship Cruiseferry Ferry Narrowboat Ocean liner Roll-on/roll-off (RORO) Train ferry
Support	Anchor handling tug supply vessel Diving support vessel Emergency tow vessel Fireboat Platform supply vessel Pusher Salvage tug Tender Tugboat
Other types	Cable layer Crane vessel Dredger Drillship Fishing vessel Floating restaurant Icebreaker Merchant submarine Narco-submarine Pipe-laying ship Research vessel Riverboat Semi-submersible Snagboat
Related	Nautical operations Affreightment Admiralty law International Chamber of Shipping List of merchant navy capacity by country