diff --git a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/VertexRDD.scala b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/VertexRDD.scala
index 4825d12fc27b3..210217df55ec2 100644
--- a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/VertexRDD.scala
+++ b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/VertexRDD.scala
@@ -392,7 +392,7 @@ object VertexRDD {
    */
   def apply[VD: ClassTag](
       vertices: RDD[(VertexId, VD)], edges: EdgeRDD[_, _], defaultVal: VD): VertexRDD[VD] = {
-    VertexRDD(vertices, edges, defaultVal, (a, b) => b)
+    VertexRDD(vertices, edges, defaultVal, (a, b) => a)
   }
 
   /**
@@ -419,7 +419,7 @@ object VertexRDD {
       (vertexIter, routingTableIter) =>
         val routingTable =
           if (routingTableIter.hasNext) routingTableIter.next() else RoutingTablePartition.empty
-        Iterator(ShippableVertexPartition(vertexIter, routingTable, defaultVal))
+        Iterator(ShippableVertexPartition(vertexIter, routingTable, defaultVal, mergeFunc))
     }
     new VertexRDD(vertexPartitions)
   }
diff --git a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/impl/ShippableVertexPartition.scala b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/impl/ShippableVertexPartition.scala
index dca54b8a7da86..5412d720475dc 100644
--- a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/impl/ShippableVertexPartition.scala
+++ b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/impl/ShippableVertexPartition.scala
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ private[graphx]
 object ShippableVertexPartition {
   /** Construct a `ShippableVertexPartition` from the given vertices without any routing table. */
   def apply[VD: ClassTag](iter: Iterator[(VertexId, VD)]): ShippableVertexPartition[VD] =
-    apply(iter, RoutingTablePartition.empty, null.asInstanceOf[VD])
+    apply(iter, RoutingTablePartition.empty, null.asInstanceOf[VD], (a, b) => a)
 
   /**
    * Construct a `ShippableVertexPartition` from the given vertices with the specified routing
@@ -44,10 +44,28 @@ object ShippableVertexPartition {
    */
   def apply[VD: ClassTag](
       iter: Iterator[(VertexId, VD)], routingTable: RoutingTablePartition, defaultVal: VD)
-    : ShippableVertexPartition[VD] = {
-    val fullIter = iter ++ routingTable.iterator.map(vid => (vid, defaultVal))
-    val (index, values, mask) = VertexPartitionBase.initFrom(fullIter, (a: VD, b: VD) => a)
-    new ShippableVertexPartition(index, values, mask, routingTable)
+    : ShippableVertexPartition[VD] =
+    apply(iter, routingTable, defaultVal, (a, b) => a)
+
+  /**
+   * Construct a `ShippableVertexPartition` from the given vertices with the specified routing
+   * table, filling in missing vertices mentioned in the routing table using `defaultVal`,
+   * and merging duplicate vertex atrribute with mergeFunc.
+   */
+  def apply[VD: ClassTag](
+      iter: Iterator[(VertexId, VD)], routingTable: RoutingTablePartition, defaultVal: VD,
+      mergeFunc: (VD, VD) => VD): ShippableVertexPartition[VD] = {
+    val map = new GraphXPrimitiveKeyOpenHashMap[VertexId, VD]
+    // Merge the given vertices using mergeFunc
+    iter.foreach { pair =>
+      map.setMerge(pair._1, pair._2, mergeFunc)
+    }
+    // Fill in missing vertices mentioned in the routing table
+    routingTable.iterator.foreach { vid =>
+      map.changeValue(vid, defaultVal, identity)
+    }
+
+    new ShippableVertexPartition(map.keySet, map._values, map.keySet.getBitSet, routingTable)
   }
 
   import scala.language.implicitConversions
diff --git a/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/VertexRDDSuite.scala b/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/VertexRDDSuite.scala
index cc86bafd2d644..42d3f21dbae98 100644
--- a/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/VertexRDDSuite.scala
+++ b/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/VertexRDDSuite.scala
@@ -99,4 +99,15 @@ class VertexRDDSuite extends FunSuite with LocalSparkContext {
     }
   }
 
+  test("mergeFunc") {
+    // test to see if the mergeFunc is working correctly
+    withSpark { sc =>
+      val verts = sc.parallelize(List((0L, 0), (1L, 1), (1L, 2), (2L, 3), (2L, 3), (2L, 3)))
+      val edges = EdgeRDD.fromEdges(sc.parallelize(List.empty[Edge[Int]]))
+      val rdd = VertexRDD(verts, edges, 0, (a: Int, b: Int) => a + b)
+      // test merge function
+      assert(rdd.collect.toSet == Set((0L, 0), (1L, 3), (2L, 9)))
+    }
+  }
+
 }