Jame wrote:
"What is, officially and/or IYTU, is a merchant marine? What does it do, and how is it run?"
"I would think that it's all the shipping agencies in a nation, but I'm not entirely sure..."
Mr. Jame,
Officially, you supposition is correct. A nation's merchant marine is merely all the shipping agencies that follow the pay scales, safety regulations, and licensing requirments of that nation. Naturally, there are lots of loopholes and exceptions to this; like flags of convenience (i.e. Liberia, Malta, Sierra Leone, etc.) and relaxed manning requirements & licensing (smaller crews and/or crews made up of Andaman Islanders, Filipinos, various West Africans, etc.).
IMTU, the Imperial Merchant Celestime is a reserve formation much like the US Sealift Command. Certain vessels have their construction and maintenance subsidized by the Imperium with the proviso that those vessels be available for call up by the Imperium. Furthermore, the crews of those vessels are held to stricter manning and licensing requirements than everyday, Imperial registered, shipping. These vessels tend to be LASH type freighters, bulk carriers, and large passenger liners although private courier vessels are also included. Please note, a call up doesn't necessarily mean war, just that Imperium has a critical need for shipping for a certain crisis.
The next catagory of merchantmen is the one most free trader PCs fall into. Those vessels and their crews are held to the basic Imperial ship maintenance standards and crew licensing requirements. Maintenance boils down to the hoary annual check-up with us since the days of CT. As for crew licensing, GT:FT has a very good overview.
Finally, the border regions of the Imperium will be replete with shipping that belongs to various Imperial client states. Just as with the current day practice of flagging ships in various 3rd World nations in order to avoid various operating costs (i.e. basic maintenance and paying for people who know what they're doing), some shipping may be flagged in client states that have 'relaxed' standards. The level of official interest and/or harassment these vessels recieve will be a complex mixture of the local officialdom's various prejudices, the reputation of the ship and master, and how much time has passed since the last ship flagged at that client state was involved in an accident.
YMMV.
Sincerely,
Larsen
