Central Subway Project?s first Tunnel Boring Machine Arrives at Port of San Francisco?s Pier 80

The Port of San Francisco’s Pier 80 Omni Terminal today welcomed the M/V Aggersborg carrying the first of two tunnel boring machines for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s Central Subway Project.

The two tunnel boring machines will excavate the Central Subway tunnels from South of Market to Chinatown and North Beach. The first of the machines is named “Mom Chung” after Dr. Margaret “Mom” Chung, and will bore the northbound tunnel. The second machine, named “Big Alama” after “Big Alma” de Bretteville Spreckels, will bore the southbound tunnel and will arrive at Pier 80 in the coming weeks.
The names were selected by the public in an online poll held in January. Dr. Margaret “Mom” Chung (1889- 1959) was the country’s first female Chinese-American physician, practicing in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown.

“These two state-of-the-art machines will help us connect our most dense and fastest-growing neighborhoods in San Francisco. From Chinatown to South of Market, the Central Subway will bridge our vibrant communities and vastly improve transportation options for residents and visitors,” said Mayor Edwin M. Lee.
The tunnel boring machines were designed and manufactured by The Robbins Company of Solon, Ohio at a plant in Guangzhou, China. Contex Shipping, a transportation firm based in Hamburg, Germany and Cleveland, Ohio, is managing the logistics of the project.

“The Port of San Francisco is pleased to provide the facilities for receiving such precious cargo for our sister San Francisco agency. It’s a natural partnership for the Port to support important local construction projects such as the Central Subway,” said Port Executive Director Monique Moyer.

Pier 80 specializes in handling non-containerized breakbulk and project cargo like the tunnel boring machines. The terminal is located three miles from the excavation site on 4th Street between Bryant and Harrison Streets, where the machines will be trucked in several parts by local firms Sheedy Crane & Drayage and Mike O’Brien Trucking for final assembly.

The Port of San Francisco, an enterprise agency of the City and County of San Francisco, oversees a broad range of commercial, maritime and public access facilities along the City's waterfront that are held in public trust for the people of California.