Okay, so Ignatz is at it again, this time with a slightly older design of frame hauler cargo ship: the Coleptera class. A vessel of this style has already had a passing reference in the Stardrifter short stories ("Hunter's Moon"; blink and you'll miss it).
Big, inefficient, and outmoded, the Coleoptera was a beast in it's heyday, with bolt-on external frameworks for carrying mounds and mounds of cargo boxes, and engines large enough to land other ships in!
Below are some finished designs, early renders, and size comparisons. The image of the ship with cargo boxes attached is only showing it carrying a few, but rest assured, many more frames and boxes can be secured to this vessel type, for transport in a single starjump, from port-to-port.
Engine thrust.
Size comparison with a Tottenberg, bow.
Size comparison, stern.
Comparison to Tottenberg w/ cargo load.
Comparison with human size versus “small” maneuvering thruster cone.
Many factors go into ship designs, but probably the dominant one in the commercial field is money -- specifically, saving it. This is where the Coleoptera was weak, and why other, more efficient designs were developed.
Long out of production in the modern Stardrifter setting (that is, by Ejoq's time), this vessel class has one distinct advantage over other used spaceships: it's cheap to buy, since no one really wants it anymore. For some people, that can make all the difference!
-David