One of the major international contractors on the Fehmarn Belt connection is now breaking the silence about the conflict that has surrounded the tunnel trench on the seabed for months.
The Dutch contracting group BAM states in connection with its 2025 accounts that the project's two-year delay is due to the inadequate tunnel trench, and CEO Ruud Joosten simultaneously denies that BAM has any responsibility.
- We have zero responsibility for it, says Ruud Joosten to the Dutch media Cobouw.
The announcement comes while the tunnel trench remains the most sensitive point of contention in the project. The trench is the excavated corridor on the seabed where the 89 tunnel elements will later be lowered and connected. Without a trench that meets the requirements, the lowering cannot begin.
Settled, but still a bottleneck
The actual excavation of the tunnel trench was carried out under a separate contract by the Dutch consortium Fehmarn Belt Contractors, consisting of Boskalis and Van Oord. Femern A/S accepted the trench and received compensation because the trench was dug too deep, and the contractual final settlement was completed at the end of 2024.
Nevertheless, the trench remains a bottleneck in the next phase. The main contractor, Femern Link Contractors, of which BAM owns 12.1 percent, refuses to approve the trench in the form it has been handed over, making the condition of the trench a focal point for both the schedule and responsibility.
The main contractor's own measurements of the first 650 metres show that the trench has been dug significantly deeper than planned in several places, with local measurements showing up to 1.8 metres too deep. According to the measurements, only 1.84 percent of the bottom meets the technical requirements.
The client has simultaneously maintained that the deviations are limited and around 30 centimetres.
Attribution of cause and responsibility
In the Dutch financial context, BAM's CEO links the delay directly to the tunnel trench and says that the trench must be put in order before the elements can be lowered.
- We have set technical requirements for the trenches. This must be resolved first, otherwise you cannot lower, he says.
He also emphasises that the matter is high on his agenda. Together with the new CFO, Henri de Pater, he has been to Denmark several times, and the dialogue about the project takes place both in Copenhagen, on the construction site, and often over the phone.
Huge claim
The contractor consortium Femern Link Contractors has raised a claim of 1.95 billion euros, equivalent to 14.5 billion kroner, against Femern A/S under Sund & Bælt. Because the German environmental requirements for work at sea have turned out to be much more complicated than initially assumed. And therefore, the submersion will take 20 months longer than first assumed.
Despite the conflict and billion-euro claim, BAM states that the group has not made any loss provision on the Femern project.
Femern as the last problem project
Ruud Joosten simultaneously describes Femern as the group's last so-called legacy project after several years of clearing up risky construction projects. He states that since 2020, BAM has cleared up 23 problem projects, and that next year Femern will be the only one remaining.
The announcement comes as BAM delivers progress on the 2025 accounts with a turnover of 7 billion euros, a profit margin of 5.7 percent, and an expected net result of 211 million euros.
On 21 January, it was announced that the first submersion of tunnel elements is now expected to take place in spring 2026. At the same time, it is clear that the dispute over the finances is not closed, and the parties are still negotiating the claims arising from the delays.
