You can capture by manually doing an amphibious and or airdrop. Merchant marines need a friendly port,.. amphibious transport ships and airborne troops do not.
If you don't know how to use real transport ships instead of Merchant marines I made a video way back when, quality isn't great but it should be enough to show you how to load unload troops manually with an amphibious craft.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBhw5LNR ... ture=g-uplIf you have any other questions etc feel free to post them in this thread and i'll respond as soon as I notice.

(I blame BG for adding merchant marines and Dumbing down transport.. yes its easy to get to a friendly port.. but actual invasions are still the same complexity and people don't get to learn the good stuff because merchant marines make it too easy

)
_________________
Si vis pacem, para bellum
my Supreme Ruler Cold war mods SiteRedistribution of my mods is prohibited. By downloading them you agree to not redistribute the file(s) without expressed permission.