Norway Ship Tunnel Project First of its Kind

At 45 metres high (148 ft) and 36 metres (111 ft) wide, Norway's Stad Ship Tunnel will be the first of its kind - a tunnel through solid rock that can accommodate 16,000 tonne passenger and freight ships.

But with the Norwegian government backing the ambitious plan for a world first, the question arises why nobody has attempted this engineering feat already.

Already regarded as a world-leader in tunneling, Norway has the longest road tunnel in the world under its belt. While the project will unveil the first proper vessel tunnel, radical innovation will not be involved in the engineering behind it.

Norway Ship Tunnel

"It isn't an unheard of challenge, it involves building a cofferdam [a watertight enclosure] at either end to keep the water out until excavation is complete," said Robert Benaim, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Instead of slicing the landscape for a canal, the engineers will drill and blast the rock at sea level, and remove the dams in order for the sea to flood a 12 metre (39 ft) deep channel for the ships to travel in.

The tunnel is not a solution to save time. In fact, it will take just as long to around it as it would to go through it, acknowledges project leader Randi Humborstad. But due to the Stad Pennisula's notorious reputation for bad weather than can endanger ships, the tunnel will improve trade links and safety in the area.

With the shipping industry coming only after oil and gas in terms of importance, Humborstad suggests that the tunnel makes sense.

He said cargo services could be upgraded in regularity and a novel high-speed passenger ferry service available all year round would run between the coastal cities of Alesund and Bergen. Despite its location and unique size, Professor David Richards, geo-technical engineer from the University of Southampton says the project is "not of massive engineering significance".

The only difference Richards finds between this tunnel to already existing canal tunnels is resulting expense in scale need to drill out and dispose of such large rock spoils. It is this expense that has kept such a project at bay since first conceptualize in the 19th century. The estimated budget is 1.7 billion kroner (£193 million.)

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