Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre confirmed this week that the country’s long-discussed Stad Ship Tunnel project will not go ahead, citing spiraling costs and competing priorities in defense, healthcare and local services.
The decision ends nearly 150 years of fascination with the idea of carving a safe maritime passage through the treacherous Stad peninsula.
The 1.7-km tunnel was designed to let vessels avoid the notoriously stormy waters around Stadlandet, where strong cross-currents and unpredictable winds have caused shipwrecks for centuries.
When first costed at 1.5 billion Norwegian kroner (around $150 million) a decade ago, it seemed an audacious but achievable vision. But by this year, cost estimates had ballooned to 9.4 billion Norwegian kroner ($940 million).
For coastal Norway, the project had become a symbol of innovation and regional investment. It was part safety measure, part tourism magnet, and part statement of engineering pride.
The eye-catching design by Snøhetta, Norway’s best-known architectural firm, promised dramatic rock-hewn portals and viewing points that could have made it a visitor attraction in its own right.
Yet as costs rose and new national priorities emerged, enthusiasm in Oslo cooled.
Støre said his government could no longer “defend such major costs” at a time when defense spending is rising sharply in response to the war in Ukraine and other global issues.
Critics have long argued that maritime safety has improved, with fewer serious incidents around Stad in recent years and no guarantee that shipping, particularly the coastal ferries operated by Hurtigruten and Havila, would pay to use the tunnel.
The tunnel’s cancellation will disappoint regional leaders and the powerful fisheries sector, which had championed it as vital infrastructure for fish transport and coastal trade.
Companies such as Mowi, the world’s largest salmon producer, had hoped it would reduce weather-related delays and protect product quality.
The decision also highlights the limits of Norway’s green ambitions. A safer, shorter sea route past Stad was expected to shift freight from road to sea, cutting emissions and easing pressure on the country’s mountain roads. That opportunity is now lost, at least for the foreseeable future.
Norwegian online newspaper Nettavisen called the Stad Ship Tunnel “a castle in the air financed by taxpayers’ money,” arguing that political prestige had long outweighed practical judgment.
The editorial praised the prime minister for “pulling the emergency brake” despite more than 300 million Norwegian kroner ($30 million) having already been spent on planning and property purchases.
It described the decision as an act of fiscal realism in a political culture where “it is easier to say yes than to take responsibility for a no.”
However, the end of the Stad Ship Tunnel does not signal a retreat from green innovation. Norway continues to lead the world in other forms of sustainable transport, from electric ferries to the next frontier of electric aviation.
Regional airlines and startups are already testing battery-powered aircraft designed for Norway’s network of short routes, with commercial service expected to begin before the end of the decade.
If successful, these zero-emission planes could replace many of the country’s subsidised short-haul flights, linking coastal towns and Arctic communities with minimal environmental impact.
In the maritime sector too, progress continues. Electric car ferries now dominate many of its fjords, while the two companies operating the coastal ferry route continue to lead the world in sustainable cruise technologies.
So while the world’s first ship tunnel may never be built, the spirit that inspired it and the determination to make travel safer, cleaner and more efficient remains firmly afloat.