Jumbo Set to Offload Heavy-lift Tunnel-boring Machine

'M/V Fairpartner' is due to discharge the largest tunnel boring machine (TBM) ever made at the port of Seattle, Friday, 5, April 2013.

The tunnel boring machine was built by Hitachi Zosen Corporation and loaded at Osaka, Japan. It consists of total 48 pieces weighing 7,777 metric tons and measuring 31.606 cubic meters; the heaviest item is close to 900 metric tons.

The tunnel boring machine was named ‘Bertha’ after Bertha Knight Landes, Seattle’s first female mayor.

With her 17 meters diameter and length of close to a 100 meters, the machine will dig the 2.8 km long SR99 tunnel beneath downtown Seattle and it should be operational in 2015.