Brazil’s Antarctic program to get new research ship in 2025

The Brazilian Navy last week signed a contract for the construction of a new support vessel for Brazil’s Antarctic program Proantar. The Antarctic Support Ship, or Napant, will be built by Polar 1 Construção Naval, and should be delivered by September 2025.

The Napant will be assembled at the Jurong-Aracruz shipyard, located in Aracruz, Espírito Santo state. It is set to replace oceanographic support ship Ary Rongel, which was constructed in Norway in 1981 for expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic seas and started operating in Proantar in 1994.

The contract with Polar 1 outlines the construction of a ship capable of operating in summer and fall in the Antarctic continent and navigating in places with more recent ice formation.

As a result, the vessel must feature a hull in a specific shape and a reinforced belt of special steel just below its waterline, the Brazilian Navy reported.

Functions

A support ship of this kind spends about six months a year in Antarctica, between October and April, and returns to Brazil at the end of the Antarctic summer.

Among its functions are bringing supplies to the Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station—the Brazilian scientific base on King George Island—supporting researchers, and conducting oceanographic surveys on the route between Brazil and the island.

The Napant will be able to accommodate a crew of 92 people, 25 of them researchers, and operate autonomously for 70 days. The program was created in January 1982 to promote Brazilian scientific research in the Antarctic region.