The Parliament of the Confederate States of Earth do enact-
That all civilian and government owned merchant vessels shall be included within a register of the aforementioned vessels, vessels within said register shall be considered as ships of the Confederate States Merchant Navy. The Merchant Navy shall be concerned with the transportation of goods and services across the space, oceans, seas, and waterways of the Confederate States of Earth and allied territories.
—Part of the Confederate Merchant Navy Act, the act which created the navy
The Confederate States Merchant Navy (C.S.M.N; also known as the Confederate Merchant Navy, the Confederate Merchant Fleet, the Merchant Navy, and, simply, the Merchant Fleet) was a navy consisting of all merchant ships registered within the Confederate States of Earth, these included both government and civilian-owned ships. The Merchant Navy was led by the "Grand Admiral of the Merchant Navy", and was based in Port Zarkan, the largest port in the Confederacy, which was close to Zarkan City.
Founded as a means to bring all merchant ships together into one overarching organisation, the Merchant Navy was not a "navy" in the sense of the Confederate States Navy, rather it was a means of having all merchant vessels work together as part of a common goal, that goal being keeping the Confederacy and allied territories and space supplied.
As with the other supranational navies of the Confederacy the Merchant Navy had both oceanic and space fleets, the oceanic fleet consisted mainly of traditional cargo ships, whilst the space fleet had starship transports, most of which were supplied to the Confederate States by their Confederacy of Independent Systems ally, such as the Trade Federation Freighter (designated the Neimoidia-class Space Transport by the Confederacy), the Trade Federation Superfreighter (designated the Super Neimoidia-class Space Transport).
The C.S.M.N also made use of transport ships which had been purchased, captured or gifted, such as the GR-75 medium transport (designated the Supply-class Space Transport).
The Merchant Navy used the civil ensign and jack of the Confederate States of Earth. Most often the Merchant Navy operated its ships as part of large fleets, sometimes consisting of dozens of ships, this was done in order to improve the survivability of the ships. The merchant ships were escorted by ships of the other Confederate naval services, such as the CSN, the Confederate States Revenue Service and the Confederate States Coast Guard.