Per Aarsleff Holding, which is Denmark's largest construction group, raises its risk assessment of the Fehmarn connection in its new financial statement. Under the section on significant financial risks, Aarsleff writes that the joint venture risk has increased compared to last year because there are several unresolved issues, partly due to the effect of the conditions in the German environmental approval regarding the Fehmarn Belt project.
Joint venture risk concerns large projects where several contractors solve the task together in a consortium. The advantage is that you can share the task and pool competencies, but the risk is also shared if there are disagreements about time, finances, or assumptions, or if a partner cannot deliver as planned.
Aarsleff is part of the consortium Femern Link Contractors, FLC, which is building the central parts of the Fehmarn connection for the client Femern A/S, which is a state-owned company under Sund & Bælt. Aarsleff participates, among other things, in the part of the consortium that works with portal and land facilities, i.e., the transition between land and tunnel.
German environmental conditions pressure the pace
Aarsleff does not elaborate in the financial statement on which specific points are unresolved. But in the project, the German authority conditions have long been a central point of contention because the conditions can limit work at sea and thus affect both progress and finances.
The German environmental requirements include noise limits for work in and around Natura 2000 areas. The noise is monitored, and if the limits are exceeded, the work may need to be altered or stopped. In certain areas, there is a so-called no spill requirement at certain times of the year, which means that material from marine work must not be spread but must be collected. Overall, such requirements can make the work more time-consuming and less flexible than the original planning.
Claim of 14.5 billion DKK
The increased risk assessment in Aarsleff's accounts comes at the same time as FLC and the client Femern A/S remain in conflict over finances and assumptions. FLC has made a claim for 1.95 billion euros, equivalent to 14.5 billion DKK, in additional expenses. The core of the claim is that the consortium believes that conditions and restrictions, including the German environmental requirements, change the practical assumptions for the work to an extent that was not known when the contracts were signed. And thus results in a delay and a demand for additional payment.
Although Aarsleff thus assesses the risk in the consortium higher than last year, according to the company, there is also a possible next step in the project-critical process. Licitationen writes that Aarsleff's CEO Jesper Kristian Jacobsen said in connection with the presentation of the accounts that the company expects to begin the immersion of tunnel elements at the beginning of 2026. This is two years after the plan.
