A new maintenance yard has been activated for S Humaitá (pictured here) and other Brazilian Navy submarines. (Brazilian Navy)
The Brazilian Navy formally activated a maintenance shipyard on 17 March to service its Riachuelo-class diesel-electric-powered attack submarines starting later in 2025, the Navy Directorate-General for Material (Diretoria-Geral do Material da Marinha: DGMM) told Janes .
Brazil had to develop and build the new shipyard because there was no other facility in the country capable of maintaining the submarines.
The new facility known as the Maintenance Shipyard of Madeira Island or Estaleiro de Manutenção da Ilha da Madeira (EMIM) located at the Itaguaí Naval Complex (Complexo Naval de Itaguaí: CNI) in Rio de Janeiro state will be dedicated to service the S Riachuelo (S 40), S Humaitá (S 41), S Tonelero (S 42), and S Almirante Karam (S 43) diesel-electric-powered attack submarines, as well as the nuclear-powered attack submarine SCPN Álvaro Alberto (SN 10).
The Brazilian Navy said the EMIM could later service other ships.
The EMIM construction was funded by the Novo PAC growth acceleration programme of the Brazilian federal government, the Brazilian Navy said.
The EMIM comprises eight workshops and a ship lift system with 8,000 tonnes capacity. The new shipyard covers an area of approximately 14,000 m 2 for a workforce of 295 military personnel, the service said.
The construction of the new shipyard is part of the Submarines Development Program (PROSUB) of the Brazilian Navy.
Itaguaí Construções Navais (ICN) was awarded a contract in February to carry out maintenance work in the two first Riachuelo-class submarines.
For more information on the Riachuelo programme, please see
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