(With video) On 5 April, Mv Fairpartner will commence discharging the largest tunnel boring machine (TBM) ever made at the port of Seattle. With this news post, you find a timelapse video of the loading of the vessel in Osaka (Japan).
The tunnel boring machine has been built by Hitachi Zosen Corporation and loaded at Osaka, Japan. It consists of 48 pieces weighing 7777 metric tons and measuring 31,606 cubic meters. The heaviest item is close to 900 metric tons.
Tunnel beneath Downtown Seattle
The tunnel boring machine was named Bertha after Bertha Knight Landes, Seattle’s first female mayor. With its 17 meters diameter and length of close to a 100 meters, she will dig the SR99 tunnel beneath downtown Seattle. The tunnel should be operational in 2015.
Picture: Heavy lifting of a part of the Bertha
