Plans Move Ahead to Build World's First Ship Tunnel

[Oyvind Snibsoer]

The Norwegian Coastal Administration today announced its support for plans to build a ship tunnel through the Stad peninsula on the west coast of Norway.

The Stad peninsula is infamous for its strong winds and treacherous seas, and is one of the most hazardous stretches on the Norwegian coast.

The 1700 meters tunnel, a world's first if built, will have a depth of 12 meters, free sailing height of 37 meters and a gross width of 36 meters, allowing for ships with a beam of up to 26 meters.

http://www.kystverket.no/arch/_img/9632685.jpg

[djn]

That is wild!!! I don't think I'd take my boat through it. I hope they build two so they can go both ways.

[MiddleAgesMan]

We need a lot more of those to counter the rise in sea level from global warming. ;)

[BrianW]

We need a lot more of those to counter the rise in sea level from global warming. ;)

Some of current tunnels will simply be converted to boat traffic.

[mizzenman]

Whats the point of the 'radiation-shield' , strålingsskjold in the drawing???

[Bruce Hooke]

Wow. That's quite an idea.

For this interested in seeing where this is on a map, if you have Google Earth you can search on "Stadlandet" to find it.

From Wikipedia:


Stad (Stadt, Statt or Stadlandet, not to be confused with the similar Deutsch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsch) Stadt, and Deitsch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deitsch) Stad ; the d is pronounced t) is a peninsula in the Norwegian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway) municipality of Selje (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selje). It has a very harsh wind climate; the highest wind speed in the country is often recorded at this promontory.

Because of the harsh climate the peninsula can be an obstacle for ship transport along the coast of Norway. It is among other things the main obstacle for the establishment of a fast boat passenger route from Bergen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergen) to Ålesund (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85lesund). Plans are therefore currently underway to build a ship tunnel at Sandvikeidet on Stad with capacity to take large ships such as the Hurtigruten (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurtigruten) vessels.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Stadt_Norway_-_2004_April_24.jpg/180px-Stadt_Norway_-_2004_April_24.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Stadt_Norway_-_2004_April_24.jpg) http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Stadt_Norway_-_2004_April_24.jpg)
Stad, picture taken from Runde (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runde)

[Concordia...41]

Sailing (ok motoring) through a tunnel. Tres cool!

Obviously designed for commercial traffic, but that'd be something I'd have on my list of "Things to do before I die."

[essaunders]

Cool! A very big version of tunnels used in canals..

http://www.kystverket.no/arch/_img/9538919.jpg

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

I would seriously recommend that the beam of vessel around which the tunnel is designed should be 32.2 metres (Panama Canal lock dimensions) and not 26 metres (St Lawrence Seaway lock dimensions) as there are many many more vessels with 32.2 metres beam than there are vessels with 26 metres beam.

Draft of 12 metres is OK

[paladin]

That sorta had me confused too, until I thought perhaps it was just for passenger ferries....

[skuthorp]

Here's an idea from the 1950's, THE TRANS AFRICA AEROPLANE CANAL. (Courtesy of The Goons, Sellars and Milligan) and the BBC!
http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=s07e22_the_africa_ship_cana ll

(This was when Nasser closed the Suez Canal and ships had to go round the cape again for a while)

Quote:
"Seagoon:
...that due to the canal closing British aeroplanes are forced to fly around the Cape. [pause for laughs] It is my intention to cut a canal across Africa so that they can fly over that.
Henry Crun:
High over a canal? What if they crash, They'll all drown!
Minnie Bannister:
Yes.
Seagoon:
Don't worry folks, hallo folks! All aeroplanes will be fitted with the new wooden lifeboats.
Attlee:
Yes, but even lifeboats can sink!
Seagoon:
They can't in this canal, there's not going to be any water in it!"

[Bruce Hooke]

That sorta had me confused too, until I thought perhaps it was just for passenger ferries....

That is my guess. Ships that would not have any trouble running long distances offshore ought not have any real trouble getting past the Stad Peninsula. As I understand it, this is not about saving distance, it is about coastal craft that cannot handle the weather around this cape...

[Woxbox]

The Google Earth view is telling. There appear to be inland waterways all over the place, but that one peninsula separates north from south.

So would it be open to small privately-owned craft? I'd expect quite a breeze to develop, and how about tides?

[skuthorp]

Self propelled or towing system Palladin? Towing system would seem more logical.

[Oyvind Snibsoer]

I believe the intention is definitely to allow pleasure craft to pass through the tunnel. I don't think the wind through the tunnel will be any worse than in numerous other narrow sounds along the coast, and probably less because the entrances are both in fairly protected fjords.

The Stad pensinsula sports a particularly nasty combination of frequent storms and treacherous waves, and poses a significant risk even for quite large ships. The primary drivers behind the tunnel are to reduce the risk of loosing lives, material and the inevitable pollution that follows a shipwreck, and to increase the regularity of seaborne traffic along the coast. If you study Google Earth, you will see that this part of Norway is characterized by numerous fjords that carve deep into the mainland, steep mountains and narrow, winding roads. This makes north-south bound traffic on land cumbersome and slow, and seaborne traffic all the more important in an area that has perhaps the most productive economy in Norway.

Edited to add: I suppose the radiation shield (strålingsskjold) is there to protect tunnel workers from the prolonged effect of ship's radar beams being reflected off the roof of the tunnel.

[phiil]

I took a rented barge canal through a tunnel in England a few years back. It was a mile or two long, as I recall, and the darkest place I have ever seen. Quite spooky. Originally, boats were propelled by men lying on their backs pushing with their feet on the roof of the tunnel.

[Mac Mackay]

There have been train and car tunnels for a centuries, and the products of combustion, particularly in coal burning days, became a real bore [pun intended] not to mention dangerous to health. In some rail road tunnels there is so much smoke that the engines are starved for combustion air, and must have special intakes low to the ground to get clear air.
In the proposed ship tunnel huge exhaust fans will be needed to remove the ships' smoke.
I imagine some clever engineer has discovered a way to power these fans, but what about making a lock gate at each end, and use the 'bath tub' effect of the ship passing through the tunnel to force water through a turbine to generate some more power.

[Bruce Keefauver]

Wow. I agree with ACB however. Maybe even more than Panamax since that might get wider. But where to draw the line. Also there is the near bank hydrodynamic effect to worry about. Oh yeah and ventilation. Hmmmm. I wonder if this is a joke?

[Bruce Hooke]

Wow. I agree with ACB however. Maybe even more than Panamax since that might get wider. But where to draw the line. Also there is the near bank hydrodynamic effect to worry about. Oh yeah and ventilation. Hmmmm. I wonder if this is a joke?

To repeat what has already been said...this is not about allowing large freighters to take a major shortcut, it is about allowing coastal shipping to avoid a stormy, difficult cape to round.

[John B]

I took a rented barge canal through a tunnel in England a few years back. It was a mile or two long, as I recall, and the darkest place I have ever seen. Quite spooky. Originally, boats were propelled by men lying on their backs pushing with their feet on the roof of the tunnel.


I took a narrowboat through the Blisworth tunnel and another on the Grand Union canal I forget the name of. It has a kink in the middle where they had to align the two teams ( one working from each side).Still caked in soot from the steamers that used to tow the working boats through.