In December, Fehmarn Link Contractors (FLC) entered into a contract with Mibau Stema Group for the supply of four million tonnes of granite chips to be used in the concrete for the Fehmarn link’s tunnel elements.
The first delivery in that contract has just been delivered. It is the 166-meter-long and 20.5-meter-wide cargo ship Splittnes, which has arrived at the working harbour in Rødbyhavn with 12,000 tonnes of shards.
It is also the largest ship to date that has used the working port.
The ship has a loading capacity of 18,300 tonnes and can unload 1,500 tonnes per hour.
The granite shards come from the Jelsa quarry in Norway.
– Over the next three to four years, between 150 and 200 loads of granite chips will be sailed to the working port, depending on the size of the ships, says Claus Boisen, CEO of Mibau Stema Group.
The smallest cargo ship
Because even though Splittnes with its impressive length of 166 meters seems large, it is actually Mibau Stema Group’s smallest freighter.
Mibau Group has seven cargo ships at its disposal, and the two largest, Starnes and Fjordnes, are both 190 meters long and 29 meters wide and with a loading capacity of 40,000 tonnes. They can therefore accommodate more than twice as much as Splittnes.
Even though the working harbour has been put into use, the depth in the harbour still needs to be adjusted so that even larger ships with greater draft can dock at the working harbour.
– Splittnes can actually load 18,300 tonnes, but due to the depth, the ship is only loaded with 12,000 tonnes. When the harbour is completely deepened, we can dock with larger ships, says Claus Boisen.
Will dock every 10 days
It will probably be Mibau Stema Group’s three ships with a loading capacity of 32,500 tonnes, which will sail shards to Rødbyhavn.
– We can dispose of it as it fits into the ship’s plans. It is not the case that we only dedicate one ship for that purpose, says Claus Boisen.
Once the start-up phase is over, he expects a ship with shards to arrive approximately every 10 days.
Mibau Stema Group is a raw materials group with its own quarry in Norway, its own fleet and port terminals around Northern Europe.
The group is owned by the German building materials company HeidelbergCement AG and the Hartmann family.
