Boskalis heavy-lift ship Forte delivers SpaceX's Starship Ship 40 to Brownsville
The semi-submersible floated the 52-metre stage on at Christmas Island and sailed 12,729 nautical miles round Africa to Texas
The Boskalis semi-submersible heavy transport vessel Forte has delivered SpaceX's recovered Starship upper stage, Ship 40, to the Port of Brownsville in Texas, after a voyage of 12,729 nautical miles from Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. Forte arrived on 7 October, 75 days after the stage was launched.
Ship 40 flew on Starship Flight 13 from Starbase in Texas on 24 July and came down intact in the Indian Ocean. Solstad Offshore's Normand Ranger was the first vessel to reach the 52-metre stage and led the tow to Christmas Island, an Australian external territory, which took about 24 days in rough seas, so that the stage reached the island in mid-August. Tidewater's Skimmer Tide and MMA Offshore's Go Australis joined the recovery flotilla.
How was the stage loaded?
SpaceX contracted Boskalis for the return voyage. Forte sailed from Singapore on 20 August and reached Christmas Island on 23 August. She was ballasted down so that the stage could be floated over her prepared deck and lined up with the help of local port workers, before she deballasted and lifted it clear of the water, the method known as float-on. Once the seafastening was complete she sailed on 28 August, rounding the southern tip of Africa and crossing the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico.
Forte is a Malta-flagged heavy lift vessel built in 2012, of 48,312 dwt, 217 metres long and 43 metres wide.
From Brownsville the stage is due to travel by road to Starbase, with night-time road closures expected. Engineers plan to inspect the heat shield tiles, structural welds and internal systems to see how the airframe came through reentry and its weeks at sea. SpaceX has not published an inspection timeline or said whether Ship 40 will fly again.
This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 13 October 2026.
