The shipping fleet of the Old Republic, which is also referred to as the merchant fleet of the Old Republic or simply the Republic merchant fleet, functioned as the merchant fleet belonging to the Galactic Republic. It was made up of bulk cruisers in addition to container vessels. Industrial Automaton exclusively provided their prototype P2-series astromech droids to the Republic for use on their merchant ships on a trial basis; the droid manufacturer had designed them specifically for the fleet's capital-scale space transports. The majority of captains were satisfied with the P2 units despite their shortcomings, and the astromech droids proved to be valuable assets to the shipping fleet.
The first mention of the Old Republic shipping fleet occurred in "The History of R-Series Astromech Droids," a 1995 article authored by Pablo Hidalgo and featuring illustrations by Matt Busch, which was published in Star Wars Adventure Journal 7.
- " The History of R-Series Astromech Droids " — Star Wars Adventure Journal 7 (Initial mention)
- The Essential Guide to Droids (Initially designated as Old Republic merchant fleet)
- The Official Star Wars Fact File 21 (AST 1-2: P2 and R1 Astromech Droids)
- Arms & Equipment Guide
- The New Essential Guide to Droids (Initially designated as Republic merchant fleet)
- The Clone Wars Campaign Guide
- P2 prototype astromech droid in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)