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These contractors want to build the world's first ship tunnel

Photo:Kystverket/Snøhetta/Plomp

Six contractors are competing for the opportunity to construct the Stad ship tunnel. Among them are two Norwegian companies, one French, one Spanish-Norwegian, and two Chinese bidders.

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By Nedregotten, Sveinung.

– We are pleased that so many solid contractors want to compete for the construction of the Stad ship tunnel. This ensures healthy competition among the bidders, says Stad ship tunnel project manager, Harald Inge Johnsen.

The competition was announced on November 29 last year. By the deadline for submitting a request to participate, which was January 31, the following bidders (contractors/joint ventures) had expressed interest:

Bidder 1: Joint venture: Skanska Norge AS and Vassbakk og Stol AS (Norway)

Bidder 2: AF Gruppen Norge AS (Norway)

Bidder 3: Joint venture: PowerChina International Group Limited, Sichuan Road and Bridge Corporation Ltd., Sinohydro Bureau 7 Ltd., PowerChina Huadong Engineering (China)

Bidder 4: Eiffage Génie Civil (France)

Bidder 5: Joint venture: China Road and Bridge Corporation, CCCC Second Highway Engineering Co. Ltd., CCCC Highway Consultants Co. Ltd. (China)

Bidder 6: Joint venture: Acciona Construcción S.A and Bertelsen og Garpestad AS (Spain/Norway)

Prequalification, Bidding, and Negotiations

The construction of the Stad ship tunnel has been announced as a design-build contract with prequalification and negotiations. The Norwegian Coastal Administration (Kystverket) will now review the bidders' documents to determine if they meet the qualification requirements.

– In addition to ensuring that they have the necessary certifications, we will particularly assess the bidders' technical and professional qualifications and their experience with similar projects. The demanding tunnel openings will be a key focus, says Johnsen.

– The greatest challenge for the contractors will likely be the tunnel portals. These will be as large as the tunnel itself - 50 meters high and about 40 meters wide. That is approximately seven times higher than a road tunnel, Johnsen adds.

How Many Bidders Will Proceed to the Next Round?

– We previously stated that we would invite three to five bidders from this prequalification round to submit their offers. However, we must first thoroughly evaluate the applications before determining the final number of participants and, most importantly, which bidders will advance, says Johnsen.

Next Steps

The Norwegian Coastal Administration aims to complete the evaluation process by March. The best-qualified contractors and joint ventures will then be invited to submit bids. These bids will be evaluated and negotiated, often through multiple rounds, before the best offer is selected based on the award criteria.

If everything goes as planned, the contract could be signed in the fall of 2025, with construction starting in early 2026. This is contingent on receiving bids within the project’s budget framework. The estimated construction period is approximately five years.

About the Stad ship tunnel

The Norwegian Coastal Administration (Kystverket) has been tasked with building the Stad Ship Tunnel, the world's first full-scale ship tunnel. The construction project will be carried out by a main contractor through a turnkey contract. It is scheduled to be announced in 2024, with construction potentially commencing in 2025.

The objective of the Stad Ship Tunnel project is to improve the navigability and safety of maritime transport around Stad, likely the most weather-exposed and dangerous stretch of sea along the Norwegian coast. Additionally, the project is to be optimized to extract other benefits.

The ship tunnel will be constructed at the narrowest point of the Stad Peninsula, between the Moldefjord and Kjødepollen, in the Vanylvsfjord. The tunnel will be 1.7 kilometers long (2.2 km including entrance areas), 50 meters high, and with a width of 36 meters. This means that vessels up to the size of the Coastal Route/Hurtigruten will be able to safely navigate past Stadlandet.

The Norwegian Coastal Administration is a transport agency under the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Fisheries. Our vision is to develop the coast and ocean areas into the world's safest and cleanest. The Stad Ship Tunnel is a part of this effort.

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