Shipbuilding Plant No.143

Shipbuilding Plant No.143

Industry	Defense industry
Founded	26 February 1976
Headquarters	HHH , Itayana
Products	Ships, submarines, nuclear submarines, oil platforms, machinery, metallurgy
Number of employees	c. 18,000 (2020)
Parent	Two Rivers Machine Building Corporation

Shipbuilding Plant No.143 is a shipyard located in the city of HHH, former capital of the 3rd Governorate of Itayana, at the confluence of Karana and Erinle rivers. It is a part of the Two Rivers Machine Building Corporation of Itayana and is the oldest and the largest of its three shipbuilding facilities. The plant specializes on diesel-electric submarines for the Itayana Navy and plays the role of the city-forming enterprise for the HHH economy.

History

The plant officially traces its history to the year 680 when a slipway was constructed to build an 80-meter barque for the Rainfall Festival that year. The barque, named Soul of Erin, traveled upstream from to the capital and was later used for transporting stones upstream on Kasai for the cities built there. The city later built built thousands of barques and other river vessels, many of which were used in colonization of the Imo basin and contruction efforts in the jungles of the Karana basin.

The plant itself was founded in 1971 by then-governor of the 3rd Governorate seeking to reinvigorate shipbuilding traditions of the city. As part of the agreement in Yanbango, the govevrnorate reached out to Zacapican for technical assistance, establishing close cooperation with the Burning Sun Initiative and several shipbuilding calpolli. When the Two Rivers Machine Building Corporation was founded in 1992, the plant was integrated under it as the Shipbuilding Plant No.143 and received additional influx of capital from Sante Reze and Orun Redisus companies via the corporation.

The plant was working on various export contracts until 2002 when it was chosen by the Admiralty of Itayana as the center of its submarine development program; all remaining contracts were fulfilled by the year 2006. While the design of what later became known as Project 04260 attack submarine took eight years to mature, the plant was re-armed and expanded, becoming the city-forming enterprise with its local subsidiaries. As of 2022, the plant continues the submarine production.

Enterprise characteristics

The plant is situated at the confluence of Karana and Erinle and occupies the area of 200 hectares. It is the largest employer of the HHH and it was estimated that the workforce of the plant was at least 18 thousand people in 2020, distributed across 70-80 divisions and most likely growing.

As of 2022, the plant has four covered slipways, each capable of holding a ship up to 180 meters long and up to 30-40 thousand metric tons deadweight. The first pair of slipways were constructed in 1970s and refubrished for the submarine program, while the second pair was constructed in 2011-2015 as problems with trials of the first submarines threatened to put the program on deadlock. The plant also has two dry docks of the same dimensions and an enclosed internal basin. A system of locks, constructed with technical assistance of Sante Reze, prevents the water from seasonal rainfalls and flooding of the confluent rivers from damaging ships while in the basin. Two more slipways and one more dry dock are being constructed as of 2023.

The enterprise has three schools and two technical colleges for the children of its workforce, as well as a local institute to train engineering cadres and a design bureau responsible for submarine developments. The plant and its deisgn bureau also cooperate with the Itayana Solar Temple University and several academies and design bureaus of related Oxidentale companies and of the Burning Sun Initiative on matters of engineering education and shipbuilding.

Military production

• Submarines
  • Project 04260 diesel-electric attack submarine:
    • Project 04261: 8 units, all commissioned 2017-2021
    • Project 04262: 4 units, ongoing series from 2022