Project status
Autumn 2024
Tunnel factory
The total area of the tunnel construction site is the equivalent of 300 football pitches and is the largest in Europe. It employs over 3,500 people from more than 40 countries.
The tunnel factory consists of three production halls – A, B and the smaller C, with a total of five production lines for the standard elements.
The Fehmarnbelt tunnel is built from 79 tunnel elements, each 217 metres long. Each standard element comprises nine segments that are cast in an assembly line production. Once a segment is cast, it is pushed forwards for curing and the moulds are prepared for the next segment until all nine segments are ready.
All five lines are in full production and so far, the first five tunnel elements have been cast and pushed out into the dry dock. However, some final work needs to be done before the first element can be shipped out.
The special elements, with a 'basement' for the electronics, are cast on production line 6. The first of the 10 special elements has been completed.
Panel Factory for steel processing
Panel Factory is located southwest of the factory itself. This is where the many thousands of tonnes of rebar that arrive at the work harbour are assembled into large grid structures that form the skeleton of the tunnel elements. They are then transported to the tunnel factory where they are assembled prior to casting.
Most of the production of the lattice structures is performed with help of several welding robots. The finer work is carried out manually by welders.
Panel Factory covers around 25,000 m2 of the construction site and employs around 100 employees.
Work harbours
Blue Water Harbor Management is responsible for the operation of the two work harbours on the German and Danish side of the Fehmarnbelt. A cargo vessel arrives approximately every third day in Denmark, with two every week in Germany. Almost all materials for the production of the tunnel elements are shipped directly to the construction site, which simplifies logistics and saves the transport of freight across land by many thousands of HGVs.
The harbours are staffed on a 24-hour basis and have received over 1.2 million tonnes of freight. When production is at its peak, the work harbour will receive around 65,000 tonnes of stone, cement, sand, gravel and steel every week.
Tunnel portals
A tunnel portal, which connects the motorway and the railway on land with the immersed tunnel, is being built on both sides of the Fehmarnbelt.
On both the Danish and German sides, the first part of the tunnel on land has now been completed, with the end facing the Fehmarnbelt now covered with water. This is where the first tunnel element will be connected.
Work in the Fehmarnbelt
Work at sea began in June 2020. Some 2 million tonnes of Norwegian granite were used for the creation of the new coastline while dredging and reclamation was performed by 60 vessels.
The dredging of the tunnel trench, which was completed in the autumn of 2024, resulted in almost 15 million m3 soil, stone and sand, which will be repurposed for 300 hectares of new nature and recreational areas at Rødbyhavn.
Customised dredgers such as the Hopper Dredger, Vox Amalia, the Wire Grab Dredger Manta and Magnor, the world’s largest Backhoe Dredger were used for the operation. The contractor is now using a number of specially built vessels for the immersion of the tunnel elements in the tunnel trench.
These vessels are in the process of testing the equipment prior to the first immersion.
They include the Multi-Purpose Pontoon, Maya, which will lay out an even gravel bed upon which the tunnel elements will be placed.
The Spreader Pontoon, NP460, will then deposit stones and gravel along the sides of the tunnel element to lock it into position and the Wismar will lay out a protective layer of stone on top of the element.
The construction site at Puttgarden
The German construction site is significantly smaller than the site in Denmark, but still forms a crucial part of the project area. Work is carried out on a staggered basis in relation to the Danish schedule.
The German portal consists of two parts: a 400-metre-long section, which is being built as a cut & cover tunnel and an approximately 150-metre-long light transition zone, which provides for a smooth transition to the motorway and railway on land.
Further inland, work is underway on three new bridges for the new alignment leading towards the tunnel entrance.
The railway’s new alignment can be clearly seen at the German construction site, where a trench, several metres deep, has been excavated for the railway. A new bridge will carry the local road, Marienleuchter Weg, over the new railway.
