Three Shield Machines Ordered for Abu Dhabi Sewerage Tunnel Project

Tokyo, May 16, 2011 — Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. announced today that it has received an order for three shield machines to be used in a sewerage tunnel project in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The order, which came from Samsung C&T Corporation of South Korea, is the first for Kawasaki shield machines to be ordered from the Middle East. The three shield machines are scheduled for delivery between December 2011 and March 2012.

These earth-pressure balanced shield machines have a diameter of 5.22 m. The cutting-edge machines will be used to excavate a 16.2-km leg of the 42-km long Strategic Tunnel Enhancement Program (STEP) being undertaken by the Abu Dhabi Sewerage Service Company (ADSSC). Samsung C&T Corporation was awarded a contract to build the 16.2-km tunnel that will link the industrial satellite town of Mussafah with central Abu Dhabi. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014.

Engineered to tunnel through soft ground as well as hard rock and gravel layers, the earth-pressure balanced shield machine can dig through virtually any geological composition. All three shield machines have been designed to provide the superior durability and high speed needed to construct long tunnel distances stretching approximately five kilometers.

Kawasaki’s long list of achievements includes the delivery of approximately 1,400 shield machines to customers around the world. This latest order is a testament to Kawasaki’s outstanding technological capability as well as the proven track record and reliability of its shield machines that can excavate any type of soil.

Kawasaki expects to see additional orders for shield machines coming from the Middle East where plans for more underground construction work are on the drawing board, including ongoing subway projects in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Cairo. The outlook for the medium to long-term looks bright throughout the Middle East as well as Asia with subway construction projects scheduled to break ground in the major Indian cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai and Bangalore, as well as China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Kawasaki is moving steadily ahead to expand shield machine and TBM sales across the globe.

Some of the outstanding features of the shield machines to be used in the Abu Dhabi sewerage tunnel construction project are summarized below.