The uncertainty about the opening of the Fehmarn connection in 2029 is growing. Now Femern A/S itself - the developer behind the tunnel under the Fehmarn Belt - reports in its 2024 annual report that the schedule is significantly challenged. The opening date will need to be reassessed when the first tunnel elements are in place on the seabed.
This confirms the picture already painted by the parent company Sund & Bælt in its own annual report earlier this year. It is the first time that the project organisation behind the construction has officially acknowledged that the tunnel may not open as planned by the end of 2029.
The tunnel work is delayed
According to Femern A/S, the delays are due to problems with the delivery of special vessels needed for the lowering of the tunnel elements. In addition, there are weather-related limitations, meaning that installation can only take place during certain periods of the year. By the end of 2024, the tunnel trench was completed, and seven standard elements as well as two special elements have been produced in Rødbyhavn. Production is running smoothly, but the lowering of the elements has not yet begun. The plan was for the first element to have been in place a year ago.
Femern A/S emphasises in the annual report that the delays could shift the entire opening date. "The opening date at the end of 2029 is significantly challenged and will be reassessed when the first tunnel elements are in place," it states.
German progress - but great uncertainty
On the German side, Deutsche Bahn announced in April 2025 that the construction of a new tunnel under the Fehmarn Sound could begin in the summer of 2026. The tunnel is to connect the island of Fehmarn with the German mainland, and the plan is for the Fehmarn Sound tunnel to be completed at the same time as the Fehmarn Belt tunnel. But despite the new plan, the uncertainty remains great.
Professor: Freight traffic delayed until 2032 or 2033
According to Professor Jan Ninnemann from the Hamburg School of Business Administration, it is positive that Germany has a plan, but he does not expect train traffic to start in 2029.
- No, I don't think so. But compared to earlier, when there was a risk that freight trains would not run until 2040, this is a clear improvement, he says.
Ninnemann estimates that freight traffic can only really get going in 2032 or 2033.
