Last week, the cargo ship Tian You arrived at the Port of Gdańsk from Shanghai. It delivered the second TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) for PKP PLK, which will be used to bore the longest railway tunnel in Poland.

The 190-meter-long Tian You (天佑), operated by Cosco Shipping Specialized Carriers, arrived at the Port of Gdańsk on Tuesday, February 18. It brought a remarkable cargo to Poland – a large TBM (tunnel boring machine) designed for tunneling. This particular machine will be used in the construction of Poland’s longest railway tunnel, located between Męcina and Mordarka, as part of the Chabówka – Nowy Sącz railway line No. 104. The tunnel will measure 3.75 kilometers in length.

The unloading operation at the Oliwskie Quay in Gdańsk took three days. All parts of the machine – totaling 2,534 tons – were loaded onto dozens of trucks. In Poland, the vessel was handled by Wilhelmsen Port Services in terms of agency services.

The entire transport operation of the TBM machine was commissioned by PKP PLK. The company reports that the machine’s main drive alone weighs 100 tons and is the heaviest component. The TBM’s cutting head has a diameter of around 11 meters and weighs 245 tons but is divided into five parts. The largest, central section weighs 93 tons. The screw conveyor, which transports the excavated material from the tunnel to the surface, is nearly 20 meters long and weighs 85 tons.

The tunnel currently under construction between the villages of Mordarka and Męcina, passing beneath the village of Pisarzowa, will be the longest structure of its kind in Poland. It is expected to begin operation in mid-year. The tunneling is planned to take several months and will cost approximately PLN 1.9 billion. The entire section of railway line No. 104 from Chabówka to Nowy Sącz is scheduled for completion by 2027. Once finished, it will be one of the most expensive railway investments in Poland’s history, with a total estimated value of around PLN 12 billion. Ultimately, the line will enable travel between Kraków and Nowy Sącz in about one hour, and between Kraków and Zakopane in around one and a half hours. The main contractor is a consortium of Budimex and Gülermak.

Interestingly, at the end of last year, the first, smaller TBM shield for the same project arrived in Poland. Its purpose is to bore a smaller, parallel emergency tunnel. That machine was unloaded in Gdynia.

Tian You, which delivered the larger machine to Gdańsk, is a general cargo vessel built in 2018 and registered in Guangzhou, China. It is owned and operated by Cosco Shipping Specialized Carriers.