Transport ship

A Transport ship, sometimes known as transports, was a type of vessel that transports goods and materiel via waterways. Examples include barges and tankers.

Barge
A barge is a non-automated ship that is used to transport heavy cargo. As it can't sail by itself, it generally ends up tugged by a tugship.

A barge used by Cipher/XOF via SANR was used in 1984 in the Angola-Zaire border region near the Munene River to pick up cargo from a Zero Risk Security transport truck that contained copper ore as well as a yellowcake shielding container (or rather, the material inside the yellowcake). However, it never got the cargo because Diamond Dogs stole the truck before it could reach its destination.

Tanker
A tanker is a merchant ship designed to carry in bulk various products, usually chemicals, oils or gasses. Three types of tankers exist, depending on the specific cargo: an oil tanker, a chemical tanker, and a liquefied natural gas tanker (or LNG tanker). Another form of tanker was a supply tanker, which directly transports solid materials.

The FOX unit used a tanker to transport their stolen Intercontinental Ballistic Metal Gear weapon to San Hieronymo Peninsula, and had retrieved it by the time Naked Snake and his resistance group discovered the harbor it was stationed at.

The USS Discovery (tanker) was a Marines-owned oil tanker that was used to disguise the travel path of Metal Gear RAY.

Behind the scenes
A transport ship first appeared in the series via the ship from Snake's Revenge, which was going to ship Metal Gears to belligerent states. Snake destroyed this ship by setting off its ammunition cache.

A tanker appeared in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty via the Discovery and in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops as well as Portable Ops Plus via the Harbor map, which in-story was the place where the ICBMG was delivered to San Hieronymo Peninsula after FOX stole the weapon.

A barge appeared in the mission failed ending for the Traitor's Caravan mission (both normal and EXTREME versions) in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain if the player failed to stop the truck before it arrived at its destination.

Appearances

 * Snake's Revenge (non-canon)
 * Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (U.S.S. Discovery)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
 * Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus
 * Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (barge)