A significant step for Shanghai's commercial space sector was taken on August 27, 2026, with the kickoff meeting for the Lincang Road Dock project, a key component of the city's Commercial Space Rocket Star City. The event was held in Minhang District.
The project represents a total investment of 630 million yuan. Once completed, it will establish a complete operational chain for rockets, covering final assembly, transport, and sea-based launches. This infrastructure is considered vital for supporting Shanghai's ambition to build a 100-billion-yuan commercial space industry cluster.
For a long time, the lack of a nearby sea-launch channel has been a major bottleneck restricting the rapid iterative development of Shanghai's commercial space industry. The Lincang Road Dock, situated on the north bank of the Huangpu River, is a core hub within the "one core, one corridor, one port" spatial layout of the Rocket Star City. Its primary role is to facilitate the crucial handover process of rockets leaving the factory, boarding ships, and coordinating river-sea transport.
Guided by municipal departments including the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization and the Major Projects Office, a special task force was formed by both the city and district governments. Through close collaboration between government and enterprises, they overcame several technical hurdles. These included tackling the challenges of assembling and transporting super-large integrated rocket and satellite units, lifting operations across the flood control wall, and coordinating technical design with engineering design. This process involved everything from property relocation and site preparation to project approval and investment filing.
The construction permit for the project was secured on August 10, 2026, marking a remarkably swift timeline of just six months from project initiation to groundbreaking. The dock is scheduled for completion by the end of March 2027.
Minhang District has also revealed that the transport corridor for moving rockets from the assembly plant to the dock is being built in parallel. The upgrade projects for three supporting roads, Huaning Road, Jiangchuan Road, and Lincang Road, have received feasibility study approvals. Preliminary design work, utility pipeline relocation, landscaping, and tendering are all progressing simultaneously. Construction on these roads is slated to begin in early November and will be completed and put into use at the same time as the dock.
The construction plan for the Rocket Star City was officially released this January. Located in Minhang District, the Star City spans a planned area of approximately 15.3 square kilometers. It is designed to be an industrial cluster covering the entire commercial space value chain, from R&D and manufacturing to launch services, operations, and applications. The ambitious goals for 2030 include the capability to support 150 commercial rocket launches per year, an annual manufacturing capacity of 500 commercial satellites, and an industrial scale reaching 100 billion yuan.
The start of the Lincang Road Dock project marks a pivotal move for Shanghai's commercial space industry, extending its reach from the R&D and manufacturing phase into launch and operations. Upon its completion, the dock will provide robust support for the sea-launch of large-scale liquid-propellant rockets and the sea-recovery of reusable launch vehicles. This will further solidify Shanghai's foundational capabilities in serving the national strategy to become a space power and in competing for a leading position in the global commercial space industry.