What is the Merchant Navy?

A merchant navy or merchant marine is a non-combatant commercial fleet, which deals with transporting cargo and occasionally passengers, by sea. Its fleet is therefore composed of vessels (ships) such as Passenger vessels (called liners/cruisers), cargo liners (also called bulk carriers) which carry cargo or oil tankers (called tankers), as well as other special types of vehicles the fleet of merchant vessel that are registered in a specific country.In Fact the Merchant Navy, is the backbone of International trade, carrying cargo across the globe. On merchant vessels, seafarers of various ranks and sometimes members of maritime trade unions are required by the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW)to carry Merchant Mariner Documents.
"King George V" bestowed the title of the "Merchant Navy" on the British merchant shipping fleets following their service in the First World War; since then a number of other nations have also adopted use of that title or the similar "Merchant Marine."  The birth of the modern Indian Merchant Navy occurred before independence from the United Kingdom, when in 1919 SS Loyalty sailed from India to Britain. Today, India ranks 15th in the world in terms of total DWT. India currently supplies around 12.8% of officers and around 14.5% of ratings to the world seafaring community. This is one of the highest of any country.





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