The Stad Ship Tunnel ( no, Stad skipstunnel) is a planned canal and tunnel to bypass the Stad peninsula in Stad Municipality in

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the cit ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

. The peninsula is one of the most exposed areas on the coast, without any outlying islands to protect it from the weather. The section has traditionally been one of the most dangerous along the coast of Norway. When built it will be the first full-size ship tunnel in the world.

Location

The surrounding waters, known as the Stadhavet Sea, is the most windswept part of the nation's coastline and is stormy around 100 days of the year, leading to ships often waiting days to pass through. Currents, created by the area marking the meeting point of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...

and the Norwegian Sea further complicate navigation: Since

World War Two World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

ended, 33 deaths have occurred in maritime accidents within the Stadhavet Sea. The official Visit Norway website has claimed Vikings would drag their boats over the peninsula to avoid crossing the dangerous patch of sea.

Planning

The first proposal was in an article in ''Nordre Bergenhus Amtstidende'' newspaper in , and shortly afterwards an article in the same newspaper proposed a railway tunnel across the peninsula. The latter would have allowed the boats to be raised onto wagons and to be hauled across, and would cost only half as much. In 2011, a report by

Det Norske Veritas DNV (formerly DNV GL) is an international accredited registrar and classification society headquartered in Høvik, Norway. The company currently has about 12,000 employees and 350 offices operating in more than 100 countries, and provides serv ...

and the Institute for Research in Economics and Business Administration for the Norwegian Coastal Administration concluded that a tunnel would not be economical. It looked at two sizes, small and large, which would cost respectively. The report concluded that the utility, including saved waiting costs, for shippers have a

present value In economics and finance, present value (PV), also known as present discounted value, is the value of an expected income stream determined as of the date of valuation. The present value is usually less than the future value because money has inte ...

of , respectively, and in saved accident costs. A similar report from 2007 concluded that the tunnel would be economical. The Coastal Administration stated that the differences were because of new and better data. In 2013, the tunnel was included for the first time in the

National Transport Plan The National Transport Plan ( no, Nasjonal transportplan or NTP) is a ten-year investment plan for all modes of transport in Norway passed by the Parliament of Norway every four years. The plan coordinates the investments carried out by the Norwegia ...

. was set aside for it in the budget. The tunnel will be high and wide, able to handle ships of up to , large enough for the Hurtigruten coastal express ships. The water will be deep in the tunnel. The tunnel will reduce journey lengths by . Two routes were proposed: one long from the Eide farm at the inner part of the Moldefjorden through the Mannseidet

isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus ...

to the Kjødspollen (the inner part of the

Vanylvsfjorden Vanylvsfjorden is a fjord in western Norway, on the border of Vestland and Møre og Romsdal counties. The long fjord runs between the mainland of Vanylven Municipality and the Stad peninsula of Stad Municipality, with the islands of Sande M ...

), the narrowest but innermost place of the peninsula. The other option is a slightly longer tunnel from the Skårbø farm to the Fløde farm through the central part of the peninsula. The second option has been selected for construction. Knut Samset, a project management professor with at the

Norwegian University of Science and Technology Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including th ...

, criticised the decision to go ahead, claiming modern vessels could navigate the seas safely and that " cost-benefit analysis is negative".

Construction

In March 2021, the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications gave approval for preparations to begin, with the Norwegian Coastal Administration expecting construction to begin in . Terje Andreassen, temporary project manager, states that construction is expected to start in 2023 with an estimated completion in 2025 or 2026. The tunnel may be open by . Owing to the thick

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...

requiring tunnelled through, a " drill and blast" process is proposed by Andreassen, with materials delivered by sea owing to inadequacy of local roads, and a rock wall or possibly cofferdams being used to keep the tunnel free of water during construction. Approximately three million cubic metres of rock require removal. The tunnel's entrances have been designed by Norwegian firm

Snøhetta Snøhetta is the highest mountain in the Dovrefjell mountain range in Norway. At , it is the highest mountain in Norway outside the Jotunheimen range, making it the 24th highest peak in Norway, based on a topographic prominence cutoff. At , ...

with rock walls left rough to blend into its surrounding landscape. Snøhetta's designs include walkways and the construction of a new road bridge to enhance views of ships passing in and out of the tunnel. Negotiations for requisite purchases of land and identification of a principal contractor began in April 2021. Several Norwegian and international companies are reviewing information on the project.

References

{{authority control Canal tunnels Proposed tunnels in Norway Stad, Norway Norwegian Coastal Administration