World's first ship tunnel to be constructed in Norway

The world's first ship tunnel is slated to be constructed in Norway. The construction on the engineering project is expected to begin in 2022 and get completed by 2025-26.

The ship tunnel is planned to run underneath the mountains in Norway's Stadhavet peninsula. It is expected to measure 1,700 metres long, 37 metes high and 26.5 metres wide after completion. 

Key Highlights

•Norway is expected to spend over $315 million in building the ship tunnel. 

•The ambitious project has been designed to help ships navigate through the rough and treacherous Stradhavet Sea in northwestern Norway. 

•Presently, the ships have to wait for days for the harsh weather conditions to improve and rough tides in the Stadhavet Sea to subside before transiting the area.

•According to the Norwegian Coastal Administration, the construction is expected to start in 2022 and it will take about 3-4 years to build the tunnel. 

•The ships crossing the Stadhavet Sea in the current times have to sometimes wait for days for the weather conditions to improve and rough tides to subside before transiting the area.

•The Stad Ship Tunnel will burrow through the narrowest point of the Stadhavet peninsula, which makes the undertaking more doable, as the tunnel won't actually be that long.

•Conventional blasting will be employed in building the tunnel using underground drilling rigs and pallet rigs.

•The construction of the tunnel is likely to involve removal of some buildings and roughly three million cubic meters of rock.

Significance

When built, the Stad Ship Tunnel will be the world's first full-scale ship tunnel of this size. As per Norwegian Coastal Administration, while there are other tunnels to accommodate small boats and barges, there is no underpass in the world to serve large ships.