While delays are piling up, claims are being made in billions of euros, and cooperation is at a low point on the Fehmarn construction, there are fewer hands to carry out the work.
It is not the officials and planners who are disappearing. It is the hourly paid workers, those who normally keep production running on a daily basis, who are disappearing from the large construction site.
The latest status report from the project shows that the direct executing workforce on site has fallen significantly over the past year. Every month, the main contractor Femern Link Contractors (FLC) sends a status report to the management and board of Femern A/S and Sund & Bælt, where the progress of the project is assessed. Here, there is also an overview of how many are employed.
Looking at the hourly paid construction workers at the main contractor FLC, the hourly paid construction workers at the subcontractors, and the permanent staff at FLC, the workforce has gone from 2,007 people in March 2025 to 1,621 people in January 2026. That is 386 fewer workers on the construction site and a decrease of just over 19%.
Lack of space
At FLC, the number of hourly paid construction workers falls from 1,409 people in March 2025 to 1,122 in January 2026. At the subcontractors, the number goes from 541 to 433. The permanent staff at Femern Link Contractors increases from 57 to 66, but the increase does not change the overall picture.
Drop of 19 percent
March 2025
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Hourly paid construction workers at Femern Link Contractors: 1,409
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Hourly paid construction workers at subcontractors: 541
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Permanent staff at Femern Link Contractors: 57
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Total: 2,007
January 2026
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Hourly paid construction workers at Femern Link Contractors: 1,122
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Hourly paid construction workers at subcontractors: 433
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Permanent staff at Femern Link Contractors: 66
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Total: 1,621
The decline is related to the fact that the production and logistics around the tunnel elements are operating at reduced capacity. Challenges with the quality of the tunnel trench and the lack of approval for the special vessel Ivy have caused logistical problems for the project, because the large tunnel elements, which according to the original plan should have been lying at the bottom of the Fehmarn Belt by now, are instead piling up around the element factory.
The staff remains more stable
The picture is more stable on the staff side. The number of staff at FLC and the partner circle remains almost unchanged during the period. In March 2025, the group stands at 843, and in January 2026, the number is 808. The external staff goes from 76 to 56. Apprentices and trainees fall from 76 to 55.
The development comes at a time when the project still needs to start the phase that determines the entire timeline: the submersion of the 89 tunnel elements. The first element has not yet been submerged and is planned to happen in the spring of 2026. This means that the project is already two years behind schedule.
At the same time, the central bottlenecks continue to point back to two known conflict points: the approval of the submersion vessel Ivy and the dispute over the tunnel trench. Both are prerequisites for getting the elements in place under the Fehmarn Belt and connecting Denmark and Germany with an 18-kilometre-long immersed tunnel. In addition, FLC has raised a claim against Femern A/S for 14.5 billion kroner, and there is also an international arbitration case regarding corona-related delays.
