Shipping

Norway will tunnel ships into the sea that scared even the Vikings

Oct, 08, 2021 Posted by Ruth Hollard

Week 202138

One of the most dangerous stretches of the ultra-sharp Norwegian coastline will win the world’s first tunnel for large ships. It will cross the Stad peninsula, a long-known terror to seafarers. The Stadhavet (“havet” is Norwegian for “sea”), which marks the meeting of the North Sea with the Norwegian Sea, is a difficult and dangerous area to navigate 90 to 110 days a year, with very unpredictable maritime conditions such as wind, complex topography, and recurrent shipwrecks. So much so that for the last 150 years they have wanted to build a tunnel in this peninsula.

According to The Norwegian American newspaper, in 1874 a local publication made the following headline: “Kanaltunnel gjennom Stadt!” (or “Tunnel through the Cityt!”). One hundred and ten years later, the debate has returned to the politicians’ table. Since the 1980s there have been proposals for making the dream come true. In 2013, it entered the national transport plan and in 2021 the works were authorized to start.

If all goes well, the tunnel will be inaugurated in 2025 and will be 1.7 kilometers long, 49 meters tall, and 36 meters wide, enough for the passage of ships that make the regional routes in Norway. Without needing to circumvent the peninsula, the vessels will save 56 kilometers on each trip.

The expectation is that up to 100 ships per day will use the tunnel, which will be one-way, alternating the direction every hour. Commercial vessels will have priority in the passage, but an increase in tourist travel is already expected, after all the tunnel itself will be an extra attraction in a region full of them. Vestland, the county where Stad is located, had lavish fjords and breathtaking waterfalls, as well as the history and culture of Bergen, which has one of the oldest port regions in northern Europe.