Hailed as the world's first "full-scale" ship tunnel (though there was a ship tunnel open in France that could fit smaller boats until it collapsed in the 1960s), the Stad Ship Tunnel will enable ships to avoid sailing around the treacherous waters of the Stad peninsula by cutting directly though it. It will have a height of 50 m (164 ft), from its floor to its ceiling, and a width of 36 m (118 ft). It will reach a total length of 1.7 km (1.05 miles).

In all, a total of 3 billion cubic meters (over 105 billion cu ft) of rock is expected to be removed using a series of barges. Engineers will use a technique of horizontal drilling and explosives to first remove the upper ceiling section, then switch to vertical drilling and explosives for the lower section. The entrance and exit of the tunnel will be left partially blocked during this time so that the interior remains dry while work goes on, then blasted open when it's time to fill it with water.