Merchant Marine of Burgundie

The Merchant Marine of Burgundie refers to either Burgoignesc civilian mariners, or to Burgoignesc civilian and nationally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government (Ministry of Commerce and private sector and engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of Burgundie and on behalf of Burgundie on national contracts. It also serves as the defacto Merchant Marine of Cartadania. The Merchant Marine primarily transports cargo and passengers during peacetime; in times of war, the Merchant Marine can be an auxiliary to the Navy of Burgundie, and can be called upon to deliver military personnel and materiel for the military. Merchant Marine officers may also be commissioned as military officers by the Department of Civil Defense and Security. This is commonly achieved by commissioning unlimited tonnage Merchant Marine officers as Strategic Sealift Officers in the Naval Reserves.

Merchant mariners move cargo and passengers between nations and within Burgundie, and operate and maintain deep-sea merchant ships, tugboats, towboats, ferries, dredges, excursion vessels, charter boats and other waterborne craft on the oceans, rivers, canals, harbors, and other waterways. As of September, 2031, the Burgundian merchant fleet had 4,146 privately owned, oceangoing, self-propelled vessels of 1,000 gross register tons and above that carry cargo from port to port or more. Nearly all Burgundian-owned ships are flagged in Burgundie, Faneria, or Bulkh.

The federal government maintains fleets of merchant ships via organizations such as Military Sealift Command (part of the Navy of Burgundie) and the Royal Defense Reserve Fleet, which is managed by the Royal Burgoignesc Maritime Administration. In 2027, the government employed only 5% of all Burgoignesc water transportation workers with large conglomerates and trade associations employing the remainder.

= History =

Cartadanian relationship
The Burgoignesc merchant fleet became the defacto merchant marine of Cartadania through a series of legal and passive actions taken on the parts of both nations. When the Bergendii ceded administrative control of Aumiers colony to Milan Regio in 1573 a number of advisors and merchants were retained. The merchants were so skilled at bringing revenue for the rulers that Bergendii merchants, increasingly those of the Bourgondii Royal Trading Company owned and sailed the majority of ships coming into surrounding ports. During the Carto-Pelaxian Commonwealth, the Bourgondii Royal Trading Company secured warrants for trade monopolies in most ports of Cartadania and through royal marriages to the House of De Pardo to some ports in Pelaxia as well. These monopoly warrants were largely rescinded in the partition period with only a few remained by the dissolution of the Carto-Pelaxian Commonwealth. During the 19th century the Bourgondii Royal Trading Company carried Caratdanian cargo off and on as the political winds and priorities shifted, namely the collapse of the Burgoignesc Colonial Empire in Alshar and Audonia and the First Fratricide. The expanding colony in Equitorial Ostiecia was taking up most of the resources and time of the Company but trade to and from Cartadania was vital to the colonies growth.

After the unification of Burgundie in 1875, the various assets of the merchant fleets working from Burgundie came under the definition of the Merchant Marine of Burgundie. During the First and Second Great War, the Merchant Marine of Burgundie provided vital supplies to Cartadania in its campaigns against Caphiria and resupplied the Cartadanian Navy at sea. While it is not the legally bound body to serve the nation of Cartadania's maritime merchant capability, it is, to this operating in that capacity without competition from locals.

Late Modern Era
Nanseetcuket's Chappaquiddick coast was made internationally famous in the 1800s and early 1900s as a death trap for international shipping. Numerous Kiravian and Burgoignesc merchant marine ships were dashed against the rocks in mysterious storms. These sailors were considered the best storm sailors in the world due to their experience in the Kilikas Storm Belt and were the vanguard of an international effort to engage Nanseetucket by the global community. The Burgoignesc Maritime Navigation Administration calculates that between 1804 and 1914 78 Burgoignesc merchant ships were destroyed on the rocks, shoals, and shores of Chappaquiddick. The Burgoignesc Maritime Biographer Laureate Maurie-Joseph Copecnee laments that the ports of Nanseetucket were "gravid with mercantile potential. Our national future in Nanseetucket was cut short by the enmity of the insolent Chappaquiddick."

Operation Kipling
During Operation Kipling's Kandaran Anti-Communist War 12 merchant marine ships and other commercial ships from various other nations were caught in Lake X in northern Kandara when the X River was blocked by communist forces supported by the Alshar ComIntern. This rag tag flotilla was called the Yellow Fleet.

= Current ships =