The states holding company Sund & Bælt, which among other things, owns the construction company Femern A/S, has just issued its quarterly report. The report contains both good and not-so-good news.
Construction project is proceeding according to plan
On the positive side, it is noted that the construction project is generally progressing according to schedule. All three production halls in the tunnel element factory are about to be erected. Hall B, the most advanced of the three, is being fitted out with, among other things, cranes, installations to push the tunnel elements towards the basin area, and foundations for the large gates out to the dock system.
The working port put into use
The large working harbour at Rødbyhavn has been completed. The first ship with materials for the construction site called at the port this summer. Establishing a new working harbour at Puttgarden on the Fehmarnside also proceeds according to plan. The first pilot tests for the area in front of the tunnel portals (where cars and trains enter the tunnel, ed.) have been carried out, and the area in front of the portals has been prepared for the actual construction work.
Tunnel channel delayed
It doesn’t look quite so cheerful offshore. The excavation work in the tunnel channel itself is about 70 per cent complete, but the work has been delayed by, among other things, bad weather and a surprising number of large stones on the seabed. According to the quarterly report from Sund & Bælt, the contractor – the Dutch FBC consortium – is trying to make up for lost ground to the best of its ability. It is not clear from the report exactly how big the delay is, and Femern A/S has not responded to FemernReport’s questions about the backlog.
Inflation and rising interest rates
The past year’s fierce inflation and the resulting interest rate increases have also not gone unnoticed by Sund & Bælt. The financing costs have thus increased from almost 54 million euros for the first nine months of 2021 to just over 134 million from January to September this year. This is thus more than a doubling of the interest expenses compared to the previous year. The expenses for energy and materials have also increased for Sund & Bælt, which states in the quarterly report that the external expenses have increased by 5.3 million euros in the period because of this.
565 million in 9 months
In total, Femern A/S has had project expenses of just over 565 million euros from 1 January to 30 September 2022. This corresponds to an average of approximately 2 million euros per day during the period.
Complaint in court December 7
The German environmental and nature organization NABU (Naturschutzbund Deutschland), which has long been one of the Fehmarn connection’s sharpest critics, is still lurking behind the scenes. On 7 December 2023, a case will start at the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig. NABU has filed two cases regarding compensation measures for the removal of protected rock reefs and the expansion of the size of work areas in the T-route in the Fehmarn Belt. According to the quarterly report from Sund & Bælt, Femern A/S has spent the third quarter of 2022 on “thorough preparations” for the case – without getting into the specific preparations.
