Earth Cargo Service

The Earth Cargo Service (or ECS) was the agency in charge of managing Earth's interstellar cargo fleet in the first half of the 22nd century.

Prior to the United Earth Starfleet's deployment of NX-class ships with warp five engines ECS starships were the only real presence that Earth had in the interstellar community. The crews of ECS ships would often spend years traveling between planets, and many members of these crews would be born on and grow up on ECS ships, and would take over operations of a ship after growing up. Prior to his Starfleet career, Travis Mayweather was born, grew up on, and worked on the ECS starship Horizon. The life of ECS starship crews were comprised of both routine and extreme danger as their cargoes made the ships very attractive to pirates. In the early years, ECS crews had more experience in space than many Earth Starfleet captains.

During the early 22nd century the ECS often relied on J class vessels. When the larger and faster Y class ships were introduced, the ECS began phasing out J class ships in favor of these newer class Y ships. By 2151, designs for new cargo ships with engines capable of warp three were on the drawing board. (ENT episodes: "Broken Bow", "Fortunate Son", "Horizon") In 2155, ECS ships were being targeted by unknown assailants. (ENT novel: Kobayashi Maru)