This is what the tunnel entrance in Kjøde would look like.Illustration: Norwegian Coastal Administration/Snøhetta
The country is building the world’s largest shipping tunnel so that cruise ships, tankers and fishing boats can bypass one of the most dangerous sea passages in Europe. The spectacular billion-dollar project almost failed.
Jul 7, 2026, 6:16 amJul 7, 2026, 6:16 am
Niels Anner / ch media
Norway wants to create a world first with a mega-project: a 50-meter-high tunnel across a peninsula. From the beginning of 2027, an opening will be blasted into the rock that is around twenty times larger than that of a road tunnel. There aren’t any trains or cars supposed to travel there; there’s no road, just a waterway, a 36-meter-wide canal.
In the first ship tunnel of this size, after five years of construction, cruise ships and tankers, as well as sailing and fishing boats, will be able to take a shortcut of 1.7 kilometers through a mountain. You will cross the Stad peninsula on the west coast of Norway instead of going around it.
The tunnel, which will connect two fjords 200 kilometers north of the city of Bergen, not only saves time and emissions, but above all is intended to defuse a notorious sea passage. The waters around Stad are among the most dangerous on the coast due to shoals, frequent storms and Norway’s strongest winds. The weather service therefore often issues separate warnings for the 25-kilometer-long headland.
The graphic shows the planned Stad ship tunnel with the southern entrance at Moldefjord and the northern entrance in Kjødepollen.Illustration: Norwegian Coastal Administration/Appex
Even Vikings feared the waters
Dozens of old wrecks are said to lie on the seabed in the area, and there have been a number of accidents and emergencies in recent decades. The coastal cruise ships of the Hurtigruten line were also affected several times.
The Vikings already feared the treacherous waters of the city region. They pulled their boats ashore and over a pass to the other side of the peninsula. The first concrete ideas for a tunnel came up in 1874 – at a time when engineering skills made structures like the Gotthard Tunnel possible. But the ship tunnel repeatedly failed at the project stage; The dimensions are too large, including financially.
The project costs the equivalent of 700 million francs. This is also a lot of money for the oil country Norway, especially since economists calculated that the abbreviation would have limited economic benefit. The Social Democratic government therefore wanted to pull the plug on the project in 2025: “It is not responsible,” explained Prime Minister Jonas Støre. It seemed to be the end of the dream of a gigantic structure that far dwarfed all the tunnels built for small canals that existed in other countries.
Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Støre didn’t want to implement the ship tunnel at first. Image: keystone
But Støre did the math without the strong lobby from shipping and the coastal regions. The safety of seafarers and important shipping along the long coast, as well as the development of the economy, especially fishing, were at risk, were the angry reactions.
“Aren’t we worth it?” asked Britt Giske from the organization Martimes Forum Nordwest. And the director of the Norwegian Naval Officers’ Association defended himself against the government’s cost-benefit calculations in May: “An Excel spreadsheet doesn’t stop a storm.”
Finally, the government had to give in when Parliament threatened to block the government’s budget. The Center Party, which has strong roots in rural regions, then forced a compromise: it voted for the climate policy of the Social Democrats and other left-green parties – and in return received funding for the ship tunnel. “It is a project that is unique in the world and benefits the entire coast,” said Center Party leader Trygve Vedum.
The city region is now hoping for orders worth millions for local businesses and an upswing on the coast in general. The spectacular tunnel will also become a unique tourist attraction in the eyes of many. (schweiztoday.ch)