The twin tube road tunnels of South Port Said and North Ismailia under Suez Canal have been completed. The tunnels, designed to link the Sinai Peninsula more closely to the Egyptian heartland in future, will open up new economic opportunities. Crossing the Suez Canal via the efficient tunnels will only take 10 minutes in future.

The construction companies involved are the JV Arab Contractors/Orascom for the 2.8 km Port Said tunnel and JV Petrojet/Concord for the 4.8 km Ismailia tunnel. The designer was Arcadis.

In the past 19 months the four identical Herrenknecht Mixshield TBMs S-959, S-960, S-958 and S-961, diameter 13,020 mm, safely formed the 4 tunnels near the Egyptian cities of Ismailia and Port Said at depths of up to 60 m, at a water pressure of up to 6 bar and with the low coverage of the tunnel route below the canal.

On 05.01.2017 the TBM S-961 completed the last tube of Port Said Tunnels (2.8 km).

On 23.12.2017 the TBM S-960 completed tunnelling for the 4.8km new twin-tube road tunnels under the Suez Canal at Ismailia.

On 14.12.2017 the TBM S-959 celebrated its final breakthrough, driving one of the 2.8km tunnel tubes at Port Said with top performances of up to 128 m/week.

On 04.12.2017 the TBM S-958 broke through on the first tube of the 4.8km Ismailia tunnel.

In the coming months, in the two tunnels, MEP (Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing Installations) will be installed, cross passages and ventilation shafts constructed and ramps and technical buildings completed.

On the 23.12.2017 the President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi announced the four tunnels will be completed by June 30, 2018. Click here and here for tunnelbuilder archive. Visit  https://www.herrenknecht.com, http://petrojet.com.eg/, http://concord-ec.com/, http://www.orascom.com/ and http://www.arabcont.com/English/Default.aspx. 03/18.