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A merchant navy or merchant marine is the fleet of merchant ship that are registered in a specific country. On merchant vessels, sailor of various ranks and sometimes members of maritime trade unions are required by the STCW Convention to carry Merchant Mariner's Documents.
George V bestowed the title of the "Merchant Navy" on the British merchant shipping fleets following their service in World War I; since then a number of other nations have also adopted use of that title or the similar "Merchant Marine". In most jurisdictions, they are seen on the same level as Road or Air Transportation. However, in some countries, such as the UK, due to their uniformed identity and previous war and peace time contributions they are seen as a uniformed 'service'. This is demonstrated in the UK by the Red Ensign and Blue Ensign being on the sides of the Cenotaph in London.
The following is a partial list of the merchant navies or merchant marines of various countries. In many countries the fleet's proper noun is simply the capitalized version of the common noun ("Merchant Navy").
For much of its history, the merchant navy was the largest merchant fleet in the world, but with the decline of the British Empire in the mid-20th century it slipped down the rankings. In 1939, the merchant navy was the largest in the world with 33% of total tonnage. By 2012, the merchant navy held only 3% of total tonnage.
Eventually thousands of Canadians served in the merchant navy aboard hundreds of Canadian merchant ships, notably the "Park Ship", the Canadian equivalent of the American "Liberty Ship". A school at St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia, trained Canadian merchant mariners. "Manning pools", merchant navy barracks, were built in Canadian ports.
Greece is a maritime nation by tradition, as shipping is arguably the oldest form of occupation of the Greeks and a key element of Greek economic activity since ancient times. In 2015, the Greek Merchant Marine controlled the world's largest merchant fleet in terms of tonnage with a total DWT of 334,649,089 tons and a fleet of 5,226 Greek owned vessels, according to Lloyd's List. Greece is also ranked highly regarding all types of ships, including first for tankers and .
India has many merchant shipping companies. Some of the prominent shipping companies in India are Great Eastern Shipping, Tolani Shipping, SCI now a private company, and Seven Islands Shipping which is an ownership company.
New Zealand, like several other Commonwealth nations, created a merchant navy. However, the "wartime Merchant Navy was neither a military force nor a single coherent body", instead it was "a diverse collection of private companies and ships".
Although some ships were involved in the Atlantic and North Pacific trade, mostly this involved domestic and South Pacific cargos. New Zealand-owned ships were involved in trade with the United Kingdom (84% of all New Zealand exports in 1939) and the majority of New Zealand seamen had served with the British Merchant Navy.
Over the course of the war, 64 ships were sunk by enemy action on the New Zealand–UK route,Neil Atkinson, Ed, 'Hell or High Water, New Zealand Merchant Seafarers Remember the War' Harper Collins, Auckland, 2009 and 140 merchant seafarers died (a similar number were also taken prisoner).
In the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 Pakistan suffered a great loss, and most of Pakistani vessels were left in Bangladesh, because of having Bengali language speaking crew on them. On 1 January 1974, President of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto nationalized the National Shipping Corporation and Pakistan Shipping Corporation, and formed the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) with the intent of reestablishing the Pakistan Merchant Navy. Later, the company was incorporated under the provisions of the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation Ordinance of 1979 and the Companies Ordinance of 1984.
Today, the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation is the national flag carrier. The corporation's head office is located in Karachi. A regional office based in Lahore caters for upcountry shipping requirements. The corporation also has an extensive overseas network of agents looking after its worldwide shipping business. The Pakistan National Shipping Corporation also has several subsidiary companies.
After the war, the Polish Merchant Navy was controlled by the People's Republic of Poland and, after 1989, by modern Poland. , the PMH controlled 57 ships (of 1,000 GT or over) totaling / including 50 , two general cargo ships, two , one roll-on/roll-off ship and two short-sea .
The people of the merchant marine are called "merchant mariners", and are civilians except in times of war, when, in accordance with the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, they are considered military personnel. As of 2009, the U.S. merchant fleet numbered 422 shipsShips of tons or over. Fleet statistics from the 2009 CIA World Factbook and approximately 69,000 people.
Not included in these numbers are the over 700 ships which are owned by American interests but are registered, or Maritime flag, in other countries.
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