On June 17th, 2020, a 13.46m diameter Slurry TBM designed and manufactured by CREG for the Świnoujście Tunnel Project, Poland completed factory acceptance test via live streaming. This machine is the largest Slurry TBM exported to Europe from China. To ensure timely delivery and everyone’s safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic, all tests were done via online video streaming with the client.

This national speed-up road project is owned by City of Świnoujście and will be constructed by Porr S.A., PORR Bau GmbH and Gülermak Ağır Sanayi İnşaat ve Taahhüt, A.Ş. It will connect the islands of Wolin and Uznam in Świnoujście, Poland, on the section from Karsiborska street in Uznam Island to the intersection between Duńska and Fińska street in Wolin Island with a total length of approx. 3.2 km. The development of national road includes the construction of a tunnel with full-face mechanized excavation by TBM under Świna River, for a length of 1483 m, including access roads to the tunnel in the form of open trench and top-down on the Uznam Island and Wolin Island.

The tunnel features a crown overburden of approximate 26m and the minimum horizontal turning radius is 300m. The tunnel alignment crosses fine sand and fine-medium sand with gravel in Uznam and Wolin sides, while below Swina strait main deposits are fine-medium sand with gravel, OC sandy clay with gravel and chalk. With a diameter of 13.46m, the customized machine extends approximately 105m and weighs over 2,700 tons. To better cope with the geology, targeted designs such as cutterhead structure with big opening ratio, continuous wear detection device for cutterhead and cutters, pipe extension system with zero slurry spilling, as well as special articulation structure for ease of steering and cutterhead retraction are applied on this machine.

Once the tunnel is completed, it will provide a direct connection between Uznam and the Polish mainland. In addition, the journey time will be reduced to just a few minutes as well as significantly improving the connection to Polish holiday areas in West Pomerania.