Femern A/S and the state-owned German company DEGES have submitted an application to the authorities in Kiel to expand the working area in the Fehmarn Belt from 648 to 1,100 metres. According to the application, which FemernBusiness has obtained access to, the extra space is intended to give the contractor Femern Link Contractors the opportunity to perform several work steps in parallel during the immersion of the tunnel elements.
The application comes at a time when the project is experiencing significant delays. No element has yet been immersed, the tunnel trench is not approved, and the specially built vessels Ivy 1 and Ivy 2 are still not allowed to be used. Therefore, the application for the change will affect how the work can be practically carried out in the coming years - and how much delay there will be.
At the same time, the application means that up to 146 environmental organisations in Germany must now be consulted, as it is considered a national matter. This gives them both the right to object and appeal before the authorities in Kiel can make a decision.
Can work in parallel
The application was sent to the Amt für Planfeststellung Verkehr in Kiel on 30 June 2025 and is described as a plan change within the original permit.
- The increased space allows the contractor to perform more parts of the overall work in parallel during the immersion process. This would not be possible to the same extent in a work area of 648 metres, writes Femern A/S to FemernBusiness.
Femern A/S will not comment on when they expect to receive approval, but refer here to the German authorities.
In the application, Femern A/S and DEGES emphasise that the expansion does not change the environmental requirements already in place for work in the Fehmarn Belt. The two central noise limits remain unchanged: At no time may more than 20 percent of the belt's cross-section be exposed to sound pressure over 144 decibels, and in the summer months from June to September, no more than one percent of the Natura 2000 area may exceed 140 decibels. Monitoring of underwater noise continues via the Quonops model, which calculates noise distribution every quarter-hour and can stop work if the limits are exceeded.
Problems are piling up
The request to expand the work area must be seen in light of the fact that schedules are pushed to the limit and any hope of completing the tunnel in 2029 is no longer realistic. An internal status report reveals that the tunnel trench, where the elements are to be placed, is not yet approved, and the first 650 metres are, according to the contractor, filled with deficiencies. The status report from July shows that the first element can at the earliest be submerged in May 2026, more than two years after the original schedule.
Meanwhile, element production continues in Rødbyhavn, but new problems have arisen here. The factory is designed for constant operation, but storage capacity is limited. When the elements are finished, they must either be lowered into the belt or stored in the harbour basins. In the summer of 2025, the limit was reached, and around 2,000 employees were sent home - officially to take summer holidays, but in reality because there was no longer room for more elements.
