According to the Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA) Norway will build the first shup tunnel on the Western Stad peninsula in Norway. This will facilitate freight and passenger ship navigation in avoiding a dangerous coastal area.

Engineers in Norway are now laying plans to allow cargo and passenger ships to sail underneath a snow-capped mountain, near the city of Selje. Norway thereby confirms its reputation for innovation and progressiveness with a first-of-a-kind tunnel that allows large ships to travel under a mountain.
The tunnel will be 1,800 meter long, 37 meter wide and 26.5 meter tall and pass through the narrowest part of the Stad Peninsula, allowing ships to bypass the Stadhavet Sea. According to the Norwegian administration this is the most exposed and dangerous area along the Norwegian coastline.

At an estimated cost of $450 million, the Stad tunnel will be the world’s first full-scale ship tunnel, according to NCA.
The project is believed to take 12 years to complete, and while it won’t actually shorten any trips around Norway’s remote Stad Peninsula, it will make voyages much safer. The lives of 33 seamen have been lost in the region since World War II. The tunnel will also strengthen industrial and commercial activities in the region.

The engineers will have to blast out eight million tons of rock, which will be used in the neighboring municipalities to establish new landmass and expand existing areas for business purposes.
The Norwegian Parliament has already earmarked $120 million for the project, and construction could begin as early as 2018, and is scheduled to finish in 2029.

The completed project will be another example of Norway’s fine tunneling exploits, following the construction of the globe’s longest road tunnel at 25km.
World’s First Ship Tunnel in Norway, written by Tor Kjolberg