On the first of July, FemernReport, together with many others, went on a (in our opinion) well-deserved summer holiday. But even though many have been in holiday mode, something has happened both on the construction site in Rødbyhavn and on the one in Puttgarden.
German working port put into use
In Puttgarden on Fehmarn, the working dock at the construction site was officially put into use on 22 July. It happened when the cargo ship “Lady Anneke” arrived from Norway. The cargo was materials for use at the German tunnel construction site.
With its 10 hectares, the working harbor in Puttgarden is smaller than the one in Rødbyhavn. The port facilities occupy seven hectares. In addition, a smaller area has been set aside for storing the materials until they need to be used. There is a 170 meter quay in the working harbor in Puttgarden, which officially goes by the name Tunnel Harbor Puttgarden (THP).
Huge order for Aalborg Portland
Cement must be used in the grand style to build the Fehmarn Tunnel. More specifically, in the neighborhood of 1.2 million tons. Unsurprisingly, the order for the large amount of cement went to Aalborg Portland.
– We are proud that we have the opportunity to supply cement for a historic infrastructure project that will benefit countless people in both Denmark and the rest of Europe. For Aalborg Portland and Danish cement production, it is a prestigious project, and at the same time the Fehmarn Tunnel also underlines why cement is an indispensable material when it comes to construction and infrastructure projects on this scale, said CEO Søren Holm Christensen from Aalborg Portland in a press release 12 . July.
Six ships a month
The large quantities of cement must be shipped from Aalborg to the element factory in Rødbyhavn to minimize CO2 emissions. In practice, this means that around six ships with cement will call at the working port in Rødbyhavn per month.
The Fehmarn Tunnel will be cast from a newly developed, CO2-reduced type of cement called Aalborg Solid. It is targeted at civil engineering and major infrastructure projects with up to 20 percent lower CO2 footprint compared to conventional cement for civil engineering.
Cement for aggressive environments
– In Denmark, we have some very high requirements for the strength of cement, and this applies particularly to constructions such as a submersion tunnel, which is exposed to constant salt and moisture. Therefore, development and thorough testing of Aalborg Solid has been a major focus area in recent years, and it now gives us the opportunity to deliver a CO2-reduced cement for future infrastructure projects that must be able to withstand the strain in so-called aggressive environments, said Søren Holm Christensen.
Casting work in progress at the element factory
The biggest milestone of the summer holidays for the tunnel construction is undoubtedly that the actual work of casting elements for the Fehmarn Tunnel started on 10 July. So now the tunnel construction is actually underway and not “just” the construction of the construction site.
A total of 89 tunnel elements are to be cast at the factory in Rødbyhavn. The 79 will be standard tunnel elements, each 217 meters in length, 42 meters in width and 9 meters in height. A standard tunnel element is made in 9 castings – also called segments – each approximately 24 meters in length. It is therefore the very first segment of a total of 711 segments that have now been cast. A finished standard element weighs 73,500 tonnes when it has to be sailed out and lowered into the tunnel channel.
The tunnel trench 90 percent complete
FBC is now 90 percent to the goal of digging the tunnel trench, and the first tunnel element is expected to be submerged in the Fehmarn Belt next year.
– This is a very decisive moment and a major milestone in the Fehmarn Belt project. The construction of the factory, the working port and the tunnel portal have filled a lot, but now we can actually state that the casting of the elements for the Fehmarn Belt tunnel is underway. There is good reason to be happy about that, says Jens Ole Kaslund, technical director of Femern A/S, which is the developer of the Fehmarn Belt connection, in a press release.
Thorough preparation
Femern Link Contractors, FLC, which has built the tunnel element factory and is now engaged in the production of the tunnel elements itself, is also pleased with the milestone reached:
– We have prepared very thoroughly for the casting of the first segment. It has been very important to us that the employees and the processes during the casting have been maximally prepared to ensure that the casting process went as it should, says Sebastién Bliaut, managing director of FLC.
