Norway working on world's first ship tunnel

The peninsula is located on the west coast of Norway. It is the westernmost point of mainland Norway and is notorious for extremely bad weather conditions, which cause many shipping accidents.

The sea around the peninsula is considered one of the most dangerous stretches of the Norwegian coast, with extremely bad weather conditions, high wind speeds, high waves, fog and strong sea currents. There are 50 to 60 stormy days a year around City. This makes the area dangerous for shipping. In the middle of the island is a kind of road (dragseid) that runs from Leikanger in the north to Drage in the south. The Vikings towed their ships across the peninsula here to avoid sailing across the dangerous sea around Stad. The Stad Skiptunnel should provide a fast, safe passage, large enough even for cruise ships.

Just waiting for parliamentary approval

According to the Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA), following the government's budget negotiations, money has been allocated for the start-up of the tunnel, still this year. "This means that the project will be implemented. This is a great day for northwestern Norway," Transport Minister Knut Arild Hareide said in a press release from the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The project will cost an estimated NOK 3.45 billion. The Ministry of Transport and Communications is submitting a proposal for a permit for the tunnel project to the States. "We have found that there is political agreement to start the City of Ski Tunnel project. This is a large, comprehensive and not least interesting project. If approved by Parliament, we will be more than ready to build the world's first full-scale ship tunnel. We are looking forward to establishing a project organization, preparing a tender base and preparing the tenders, and in parallel to this, starting the processes of land acquisition," says Director General Einar Vik Arset at the NCA.

A three- to four-year project

The City Ski Tunnel will be between 1.7 and 1.8 kilometers long, 37 meters high and 26.5 meters wide, and will allow Coastal Steamer (Hurtigruten) sized ships to navigate more safely through the highly exposed City Harbor Sea. Its dimensions and 12-meter water depth allow cargo and cruise ships of up to 16,000 tons to pass through the tunnel. This will shorten a circumnavigation route that takes 2 hours under normal weather conditions to 12 minutes, thanks to the direct passage. The entire project is estimated to take between 3 and 4 years to complete. The upper part of the tunnel (above water level) will be excavated in the conventional way, using methods common to land tunnels. Excavation will be done from two sides to the center, after which the tunnel will be lined inside with concrete for reinforcement. Then both entrances to the tunnel will be fitted with cofferdams so that the excavations can take place below sea level. A total of 8,000,000 tons of rocky material is expected to come out of the tunnel, which can be reused elsewhere. The tunnel and passage for large ships has been tested at scale in a test laboratory in Trondheim. Also tested was a digital twin of the tunnel, both tests showed that ships could pass through without problems.