EARTH CARGO SERVICE (ECS)
The Earth Cargo Service is an interstellar merchant association first founded in 2097 through agreement by the primary Earth space merchant companies who by then had begun shipping cargo and passengers between Earth and Vulcan. In the early days of the Earth Cargo Service, there existed little regulation and the organization frequently came into conflict with the United Earth Space Probe Agency (UESPA).
The J-Class Cargo Freighter was first designed in 2102
By 2122, after several accidents involving space freighters, a compromise was reached with the founding of the Earth Cargo Authority (ECA), headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The ECA certified Earth Cargo Service vessels to operate, ensured basic qualifications for shipboard crew members, as well as issued ship master's licenses (also known as a master's ticket). However, due to the oftentimes years long transit between ports, ship captains were authorized to certify other members of their crew to fill all other shipboard positions as was deemed necessary for shipboard operations.
Space Merchant Certifications and Positions
With the founding of the United Earth government in 2134, all interstellar merchant activity came under the purview of the Ministry of Trade and Commerce which thereafter established formal certification requirements for all personnel serving on warp capable merchant vessels. While merchant captains could no longer grant shipboard qualifications, a certification system was enacted to recognize the isolated nature of most Earth Cargo Service vessels as well as an entire generation of "boomers" who oftentimes learned shipboard positions from a very young age and lived their lives on cargo ships traveling between planets on the interstellar trade routes.
Under the Space Merchant Act of 2134, all merchant ship officers were required to hold a Space Mariner Certification as well as either a Space Merchant Officer's or Warp Engineer's License. Ship's Captains were required to hold all three as well as a Warp Craft Pilot Certification.
Merchant qualification positions and appointment agencies
Since most merchant vessels did not have the ability to train personnel at the fixed training facilities of UESPA, a system was developed to apply for licenses based on equivalent shipboard training as well as a system of correspondence courses. Allowing unlicensed personnel to serve on merchant ships, as well as failing to deliver cargo in accordance with ECA schedules, were grounds for a merchant vessel to lose its shipping license.
In March 2136, the Earth Starfleet formally began offering commissions to Earth Cargo Service personnel as part of a larger effort to expand and enlarge the new Starfleet organization. Officer commissions were authorized for any ECS ship's officer, medical officer, or an Earth Cargo Service warp pilot holding a Warp Craft Pilot Certification.
EARTH MERCHANT VESSELS
J-Class Cargo Freighter
The J-Class Cargo freighter was first designed in the early 2100s and for nearly fifty years was the mainstay of the Earth Cargo Service merchant fleet. By the 2120s, the top speed of the freighter class was Warp 1.8, however at full cargo capacity most ships travelled at Warp 1.5.
Y-Class Cargo Freighter
The first Y-Class cargo freighters were commissioned in 2148. The new freighters were equipped with Warp Three engines and traveled at an average speed of Warp 2.6.
EARTH COLONY SHIPS
The Conestoga Class was one of the earliest dedicated colony transports and was used predominately in the late twenty first century. The ship itself was purpose built, designed to be disassembled upon reading its destination to provide raw materials for the new colony.
Conestoga Class Colony Ship
The DY-500 Class was the mainstay colonization and transport ship used by the United Earth Space Probe Agency. during most of the early to mid-twenty second century. Like other ships of the DY series, the DY-500 was designed to be launched from Earth with booster rockets, journey to its destination, then land and be disassembled.
DY-500 Class Transport Ship
DY-250 Interplanetary Transport
The DY-250 class was the mainstay of the United Nations space fleet through most of early twenty first century. The ship was responsible for the colonization of Mars, as well as missions to Jupiter and Saturn, and was equipped with large cargo facilities as well as a suspended animation chamber for the transport of large numbers of colonists.
DY-100 Class vessel and launch boosters
The DY-100 class was the prototype "sleeper ship" to carry colonists between planets in Earth's solar system. The original prototype, the SS Botany Bay, was developed in secret during the 1990s at the height of the Eugenics Wars. Records of the original DY-100 have since been lost, although there were reports that the ship may have been launched in 1996 for unknown reasons.
INTERSTELLAR CARGO SHIPS
Vulcan Merchant Ship
Rigelian Merchant Freighter
Tellarite Cargo Hulk
Orion Trade Carrier
Denobulan Cargo Ship