Maritime transport and fluvial transport, or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throughout recorded history. The advent of aviation has diminished the importance of sea travel for passengers, though it is still popular for short trips and pleasure cruises. Transport by water is cheaper than transport by air, despite fluctuating exchange rates and a fee placed on top of freighting charges for carrier companies known as the currency adjustment factor. Maritime transport accounts for roughly 80% of international trade, according to UNCTAD in 2020.
The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a 3,000-mile (4,800 km) inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Boston, Massachusetts, southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following the Gulf Coast to Brownsville, Texas. Some sections of the waterway consist of natural inlets, saltwater rivers, bays, and sounds, while others are artificial canals. It provides a navigable route along its length without many of the hazards of travel on the open sea.
The China Navigation Company. Pte. Ltd. is registered in Singapore, with parent entity - The China Navigation Company Limited (CNCo), trading brands as Swire Shipping & Swire Bulk, is a merchant shipping company based in Singapore. It is part of the Swire group, formerly John Swire and Sons.
The modern terms short-sea shipping, marine highway, and motorways of the sea, and the more historical terms coastal trade, coastal shipping, coasting trade, and coastwise trade, all encompass the movement of cargo and passengers mainly by sea along a coast, without crossing an ocean.
Seatrain Lines, officially the Over-Seas Shipping Company, was a shipping and transportation company conducting operations in the Americas and trans-Pacific regions. Seatrain Lines began intermodal freight transport in December 1928 by transporting entire loaded railroad freight cars between the United States and Cuba. The specially designed ship Seatrain, built in England, was followed in 1932 by two larger ships built in the United States and in 1939 by two additional ships. By the outbreak of World War II the company was operating five ships that became important in the war effort and basis for the design of fifty new ships for military use. A series of business setbacks amid the rise of containerized shipping left the company in perilous financial condition in the 1970s. Seatrain Lines shut down in 1981 after filing for bankruptcy.
USS Hugh L. Scott (AP-43) was a Hugh L. Scott-class transport ship. She was built in 1921 and spent 20 years in merchant service as a passenger and cargo liner. In July 1941 the ship was delivered to the United States Department of War for Army service as the United States Army Transport Hugh L. Scott operating in the Pacific. In August 1942 the ship was transferred to the United States Navy for conversion to an attack transport, served as a troopship in Operation Torch in November 1942, and was sunk by a U-boat four days later. 59 crewmen and soldiers died during the sinking.
USAT Liberty was a United States Army cargo ship torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-166 in January 1942 and beached on the island of Bali, Indonesia. She had been built as a Design 1037 ship for the United States Shipping Board in World War I and had served in the United States Navy in that war as animal transport USS Liberty (ID-3461). She was also notable as the first ship constructed at Federal Shipbuilding, Kearny, New Jersey. In 1963 a volcanic eruption moved the ship off the beach, and Liberty's wreck is now a popular dive site.
SS Fairport was a Type C2-S-E1 cargo ship built by Gulf Shipbuilding for the Waterman Steamship Company. She was sunk by German submarine U-161 on 16 July 1942. All hands were rescued by an American destroyer.
Trans-Asia Shipping Lines, Incorporated (TASLI) is a shipping company based in Cebu City, Philippines. It was incorporated on March 25, 1974 under the name of Solar Shipping Lines, Inc. The Chairman of the company is Dennis A. Uy. Trans-Asia Shipping Lines is now managed by the Chelsea Logistics, Corp.
2GO, formally 2GO Travel, is a passenger ferry company which is based in Manila, Philippines and part of 2GO Group, It is the largest ferry company in the Philippines with its main hub located in Pier 4 at the Manila North Harbor.
Coast Farmer, gaining the name in 1937 and previously bearing the names Point Arena (1928) and Riverside Bridge (1920), was a U.S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1023 ship ordered under the name Minnewawa and built as hull #103 by Submarine Boat Company, Newark, New Jersey in 1920 Coast Farmer is noted as being a part of the Pensacola Convoy landing the supplies and troops intended for the Philippines in Darwin, Australia after being diverted on the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The ship became even more notable being the first of only three ships successfully running the Japanese blockade into the Philippines; leaving Brisbane February 1942. Coast Farmer was torpedoed and sunk off Jervis Bay, New South Wales on July 20, 1942.
Dona Nati was one of three identical cargo ships built in 1939 by Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, San Marco, Trieste, Italy, for the De la Rama S.S. Co. Inc., Iloilo, Philippines, intended for service between the Philippines West Coast and North America. The ship was engaged in normal commerce until it became a key player in events in the Philippines after December 7, 1941, and the Japanese invasion of the islands. Dona Nati had arrived in Manila along with the ships President Grant, John Lykes, Cape Fairweather, and American Leader in a convoy escorted by the USS Boise (CL-47) on December 4, 1941. She had escaped to Australia where she became particularly notable as being one of only three ships to successfully run the Japanese blockade in attempts to supply the forces cut off in the Philippines. The ship was retained under Army control and on April 28, 1943, was one of twenty-eight vessels forming the fleet available to the Southwest Pacific command under General MacArthur.
Don Esteban, delivered in 1936, was the first and smaller of two Krupp built motor ships of the De La Rama Steamship Company, Iloilo, Philippines in inter-island service. The ship was under a bareboat charter by the United States Army as a transport on 30 October 1941 for use in pre positioning U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) fuel and munitions in the southern Philippines, Netherlands East Indies, Singapore and Australia. After the Japanese invasion of the Philippines she evacuated personnel from the Army headquarters, including General MacArthur, from Manila to Corregidor on Christmas Eve, 1941. The ship was lost off Mindoro on 2 March 1942 while continuing its supply missions.
SS Sierra Cordoba was a Norddeutscher Lloyd passenger and cargo ship completed 1913 by AG Vulcan Stettin. The ship operated between Bremen and Buenos Aires on the line's South American service and was equipped with wireless and "submarine sounding apparatus" with accommodations for 116 first class, 74 second class and 1,270 "between decks" passengers. A description after the ship had been seized and restored in 1919 noted she was among the fastest and best equipped ships of the line with accommodations for 115 first class passengers and 1,572 third and steerage class passengers as well as a crew of 179 officers and men.
Portmar was a United States-flagged merchant vessel that was constructed in response to World War I, operated by a succession of companies in the interwar period, then taken up for wartime shipping in World War II.
West Kasson was a steam cargo ship built in 1918–1919 by Long Beach Shipbuilding Company of Long Beach for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The vessel initially operated on the round-the-world route from the West Coast of the United States via East Asia and Spain before being shifted to serve the Gulf to Europe and South America trade in 1922. In 1926 she was sold to the W. R. Grace and Company and renamed Cuzco. In her new role the ship operated chiefly between the ports of the Pacific Northwest and various Chilean and Peruvian ports. In 1940 the ship was again sold and transferred into Panamanian registry and renamed Carmona. The vessel continued sailing between South America and the United States and was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-160 on one of her regular trips in July 1942.
West Cajoot was a Design 1013 cargo ship built in 1919 by the Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co of Los Angeles. She was one of many ships built by the company for the United States Shipping Board.
West Niger was a steam cargo ship built in 1919–1920 by Southwestern Shipbuilding Company of San Pedro for the United States Shipping Board as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The freighter spent her entire career in the Pacific connecting the West Coast of the United States with the Chinese and Japanese ports in the Far East. Early in 1928 the ship together with ten other vessels was sold by the US Government to the States Steamship Co. and subsequently renamed Nevada. In September 1932 the vessel while on her regular trip to Japan ran aground in foggy weather on Amatignak Island and subsequently broke into three parts and sank with the loss of thirty four out of thirty seven men.
Wheatland Montana was a steam cargo ship built in 1919 by Skinner & Eddy of Seattle for the United States Shipping Board as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The freighter spent the majority of her career in the Pacific connecting the West Coast of the United States with the Chinese and Japanese ports in the Far East. Early in 1928 the ship together with six other vessels was sold by the US Government to the Tacoma Oriental Steamship Co. and subsequently renamed Seattle. After her owner declared bankruptcy early in 1937, the ship was sold to Matson Navigation and renamed Lihue and was then mainly employed to transport sugar and canned fruit from the Hawaiian Islands to the ports on the United States East coast. In February 1942 she was chartered to transport general cargo and war supplies to the Middle East but was torpedoed by U-161 in the Caribbean Sea on February 23, and eventually sank three days later while in tow without loss of life.
Cokesit was a steam cargo ship built in 1918–1919 by Guy M. Standifer Construction Company of Vancouver for the United States Shipping Board as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The vessel was largely employed on the East Coast of the United States to Australia route until 1928 when she was laid up. In late 1937 the ship together with several other vessels was bid on and subsequently acquired next year by the Greek tramp operator John D. Chandris to carry cargo from Australia to Greece and United Kingdom. The freighter was also renamed Adelfoi Chandris. Following the surrender of France, the ship was interned in Dakar and passed into Vichy government hands in 1940 and renamed Saint Marin. Under the terms of Nevers Agreement she eventually was transferred to Italy and renamed Catania. In early August 1943 the vessel together with several other ships was bombed and damaged in Naples harbor by the Allied aircraft.
Commonwealth of the Philippines 
