Federation Merchant Marine

The Federation Merchant Marine (full name: United Federation of Planets Merchant Marine) is the name for the stellar merchant navy responsible for shipping cargo within the borders of the Federation and between the Federation and various other political entities in the galaxy. There are currently over 5 million servicemembers as of 2371 from nearly every race in the Federation.
==History==
Prior to the founding of the Federation in 2161, the Earth Cargo Service (ECS) was responsible for all interstellar human cargo carrying between Earth and its colonies and foreign alien territories nearby. The ECS ships were lightly armed, but as a result of the Earth-Romulan War, the Earth Cargo Authority (ECA) started requiring licensed operators to arm their vessels with a minimum phase cannons, and if able, spatial torpedoes. This carried over into the new Merchant Marine, which required armaments manufactured within the last 10 years near Federation borders, and within the last 25 years 5 or more (later 10 or more) light years within Federation territory.
The Merchant Marine absorbed the ECS, along with several other stellar cargo services, and implemented a training regimen, using the now out of style Earth Starfleet duty uniforms with the Merchant Marine insignia on the right sleeve, and the ship patch on the left sleeve. With the assumption of Earth Starfleet into the new Federation Starfleet, older ships were sold off to the Merchant Marine to be used as cargo vessels, colony ships, and ships for hire as needed by the ship owners. Some older ring-drive ships, similar to the Enterprise XCV-330, Intrepid class, NX-Class, and Daedalus-class, became Merchant Marine vessels, with the Daedalus-class, after 2196, becoming a Merchant Marine vessel mainstay for another 40 years.
==Service Numbers (2161)==
*ECS ships: 320
*Vulcan Transport Service: 244
*Tellarite Cargo Hauling Service: 344
*Andorian Shipping Consortium: 190
*Alpha Centauri Interstellar Transport Authority: 203
*Crew: 985,322 (in 2161), ship-based and planet-based