After more than two years of delay, the Fehmarn project is now entering the most crucial phase of the entire construction.
According to sources at the construction site, FemernBusiness learns that the first tunnel element may be lowered into the Fehmarn Belt as early as this week. The weather is perfect, and right now two dates are in play: tomorrow, 21 April or 24 April.
This is where the first of the 217-metre-long tunnel elements weighing 73,500 tonnes will be led out from Rødbyhavn and lowered into the trench on the seabed.
The main contractor, Fehmarn Link Contractors, FLC, has completed adding ballast concrete to the first element to be submerged. This concerns element 77, which is also the element King Frederik inaugurated in June 2024.
Disagreement about the trench
The submersion begins in the first 650 metres of the trench, which over the past year has been one of the biggest points of conflict in the project. FLC has rejected that the trench could be approved in its current form, pointing to such significant deficiencies that work could not proceed until there was agreement on the condition of the bottom. Sund & Bælt and Femern A/S, on the other hand, have maintained that the deviations could be managed with minor adjustments. The quality of the rest of the 18-kilometre-long trench is still being negotiated by the parties.
This marks the beginning of the phase on which the entire schedule depends. The immersion has for years been the most sensitive and crucial part of the construction, and only when the elements are actually in place can a new overall schedule for the project be made.
In January, Sund & Bælt stated that the first immersion was expected in the spring of 2026. At the same time, it was revealed that the project was more than two years delayed, and that a revised schedule would only be made once the first tunnel elements were submerged.
In addition to the tunnel trench, the special vessel Ivy has been a bottleneck. After initially being delayed from the shipyard, the approval process was prolonged. But Ivy is now finally approved by the Danish Maritime Authority a year and a half after delivery.
Elements are ready
In Rødbyhavn, the elements are ready. The most intensive work is currently taking place in the work harbour around the immersion vessel Ivy, where the first tunnel element is secured under the vessel. Around Ivy, the other completed elements are parked, waiting for their turn.
So far, 14 standard elements have been produced. In addition, three special elements with a basement floor for the tunnel's electronics have been cast, and more are on the way. In total, 10 of the special elements are to be built, which are placed approximately two kilometres apart in the tunnel.
According to the original schedule, the immersion was supposed to take 36 months. However, the strict German environmental requirements suggest that it may take longer. This will be followed by up to two years of testing and installations before the connection can open.
