2023 will be the wildest year for the construction

2022 has become 2023, and Femern A/S is starting a new year in the project plan.

Femernreport has therefore asked technical director at Femern A/S Jens Ole Kaslund to take stock of the project’s progress in the past year and look forward to what is planned to happen in 2023.

In the first years of construction, it was all about building what is needed to build the tunnel itself. Femern A/S and Femern Link Contractors (FLC) should generally speaking have control of the toolbox – the element factory, the construction sites, the tunnel city, the working ports. But here at the end of 2022, the preparation phase is transitioning into the production phase, says Jens Ole Kaslund.

2022 has been the year when we really hit the ground running. In the summer of 2020, you could just barely see the first stone for what was to become the working harbor, sticking out of the water. But especially this year, so many things have happened, that you don’t even understand how we managed to achieve all that, laughs the technical director.

• Facts: The Fehmarn construction in the year 2022
• March: Femern A/S Entered into an agreement with the consortium FSC, which will provide the electrical wiring in the tunnel. FSC will start designing the tunnel in 2023.
• May: A major milestone was marked when the portal construction site was taken over by FLC so that work could begin on constructing the large ramp to the tunnel.
• June: There was a big topping-out ceremony at the element factory’s Hall B. All employees participated.
• End of June: The then Minister of Traffic and Transport, Trine Bramsen (S), together with her three former colleagues Helge Mortensen (S), Lars Barfoed (K) and Sonja Mikkelsen (S), visited the Fehmarn Belt construction site in Rødbyhavn prior to the first trial casting of a tunnel element.
• July: The first test casting was finished, and the second in September.
• October: Femern A/S detonated a depth bomb from the Second World War, which had been found in connection with the excavation work, under great security measures.
• End of 2022: Hall B, as the first of the three production halls in the element factory, is almost finished. It is expected to be ready to cast early in the new year.

Is to cast the portal

In May, Femern A/S marked one of the major milestones, when the area where the Danish portal is to be built, was handed over to the main contractor Femern Link Contractors (FLC), who immediately started building.

It is now completely ready for the actual work of casting the portal to begin. That work begins in February, so we already have another milestone on the way, says Jens Ole Kaslund.

In the spring of 2023, FLC will also take over the German portal site, and then construction will really begin on both sides.

Important general tests

The construction of the element factory has also been a major event in 2022. In June, Femern A/S and FLC could celebrate a topping-out ceremony in one of the three production halls, which is the furthest along – Hall B.

It is a huge facility. And when you see the factory, it becomes really obvious that it doesn’t really make sense to just remove it again when we’re done with the project. But it is the politicians who have to decide on that matter. We just build, says Jens Ole Kaslund.

The first trial casting of a tunnel element was completed in July, and the second trial casting in September.

Here the craftsmen and engineers saw things they could improve before the first real tunnel element has to be cast. The second trial casting showed great improvements compared to the first, says Kaslund.

Here, at the beginning of 2023, Hall B is nearing completion and ready to “house” the casting of the first tunnel elements.

The other halls are also nearing completion, so that all six production lines will be ready in 2023, says Jens Ole Kaslund, who expects the casting of the first tunnel elements to start in the new year – and then another important milestone in the project reached.

Somewhat of a door

When the elements have been cast, they will be sluiced out into the basin in the lock harbour, which has also taken major steps towards completion in 2022. Three basins have been excavated for the three production halls, and the exit holes in the halls are ready. The work to make the large sliding door in the lock facility (110 meters in length, 11 meters in height and 15 meters in depth, ed.) is also going according to plan, says Jens Ole Kaslund.

The working port has also come into operation in 2022 and the ships are now sailing in and out with materials. BlueWater Shipping has taken over the operation and the port office has been opened.

What was previously sailed to Nakskov can now be sailed directly, and thus we avoid the many road transports. It is good for the environment and for the neighbours, says Kaslund.

A bomb was detonated

A large construction project like the Fehmarn project has many derivative projects that do not directly relate to the tunnel. For example, shipping traffic in the Fehmarn Belt was stopped one day in October because a bomb had to be detonated. The bomb from World War II had been found in connection with the excavation of the tunnel trench.

It was on the Danish side, but very close to the German Natura2000 area. So we had all the safety measures in place and really went to great lengths. That is why we also reached a milestone here, when we received praise from Nabu (Naturschutsbund Deutschland – the German nature conservation association, which has otherwise been extremely critical of the connection, ed.).

Rocky road

Even if the project runs according to a sensible and sharp plan, there can still be surprises. And that is what happened in 2022.

We have had some challenges in getting the tunnel trench dug. The soil was harder and there were more large stones in it than the contractor had planned. It gave us a little trouble with the schedule, because you can’t just put more machines to do the work because of the noise limits. But that is now well under control, says Jens Ole Kaslund with satisfaction.

He can look back on a 2022 that was busy and quite efficient.

Overall, I am very satisfied with the year. We have simply achieved so many things. So I am hopeful and think we will probably finish by 2029. We are doing our utmost for that.

The wildest year

The technical manager has an expectation that the project will really take off in the coming year.

As they say on TV: “It was wild in 2022 … but now it will be even wilder”, laughs Jens Ole Kaslund.

2023 will be the year in which the most will happen throughout the life of the project. Among other things, this will be the year when the tunnel trench is largely finished digging, and we start casting the first elements. There will be real pressure in 2023, he says.