United Launch Alliance (ULA) has reached agreement with Bollinger Shipyards and Bristol Harbor Group for the design and construction of a roll-on/roll-off ship that will carry cutting-edge Vulcan rockets.
Bollinger plans to build the 356-foot SpaceShip at its Amelia, La., shipyard. Bristol Harbor Group of Bristol, R.I., will design the vessel and oversee construction. Upon delivery in early 2026, the ship will carry Vulcan rockets from a ULA factory in Decatur, Ala., to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California.
Vulcan rockets ultimately will support Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite constellation, which aims to provide low-cost broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world, ULA said in a news release. The first successful Vulcan rocket launch took place in January 2024.
“We are pleased to be partnering with two of the best companies in the business to build our second transportation ship,” Chris Ellerhorst, ULA’s vice president of the Kuiper Program, said in a prepared statement.
“Over the next year, ULA will be doubling its launch rate capacity in support of our Amazon customer and to ensure timely deliveries of the rockets to the launch site, we needed to build a second ship to support our transportation needs,” he continued.
Upon completion, SpaceShip will join the 312-foot R/S Rocketship as the second cargo ship in the ULA fleet. Rocketship has accommodations for 16 crewmembers, and cargo space to carry Atlas V, Delta IV and Vulcan Centaur boosters, among other launch components.
“With this second ship called SpaceShip our maritime fleet will enable enterprise transportation capacity of four Vulcan launch vehicles across two voyages to either the East or West Coast,” Ellerhorst said.
Vulcans are a next-generation rocket developed by ULA, which is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. ULA said the new rocket class will deliver reliability and affordability for national security, civil and commercial customers. •