Saipem's submerged floating tunnel concept – an industry and University cooperation to drive innovation in civil infrastructures

The paper focuses on the SFT concept for a combined rail and road service including the main elements for construction and installation. The areas of current cooperation between Saipem, the University of Naples Federico II and the Politecnico di Milano, all involved since many years in the development of the SFT concept and technology, are presented together with the joint work plan for a potential future phase of project engineering. The joined activity is framed in established Cooperation Agreements between Saipem and the above Universities, for consolidating some technical and execution features characterizing Saipem’s SFT Concept, which is based on competences and capabilities developed for the Offshore O&G Industry and made available to this civil infrastructure. Finally, the way the SFT constitutes an unparalleled opportunity to exploit the Industry capabilities and experience in the fields of structural engineering, steel industry, naval constructions, yard fabrication, manufacturing, and robotics industry is discussed.