Skip to main content

New study suggests Fehmarn Belt payback close to 50 years

A study by Danish consultant Hans Schjær-Jacobsen has shown that the payback period for the proposed Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link tunnel project between Denmark and Germany will be close to 50 years. This is a decade longer than estimated by the developers of the project which focusses on a 17km immersed tunnel, the study noted. The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link will connect the German island of Fehmarn with the Danish island of Lolland. The 17km tunnel, including two railway tunnels, two motorway tunnels and an
October 9, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
A study by Danish consultant Hans Schjær-Jacobsen has shown that the payback period for the proposed Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link tunnel project between Denmark and Germany will be close to 50 years.

This is a decade longer than estimated by the developers of the project which focusses on a 17km immersed tunnel, the study noted.

The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link will connect the German island of Fehmarn with the Danish island of Lolland. The 17km tunnel, including two railway tunnels, two motorway tunnels and an emergency tunnel, will cross the Fehmarn Belt, or Fehmarn Strait, in the Baltic Sea.

Also, driver fees alone are unlikely to be sufficient for the financing of the link. Danish taxpayers will likely have to contribute to the project. More research is needed to pinpoint the finer details of the project whose estimated cost has been rising over the past year.

The Fehmarn Belt immersed tunnel project was approved by the Danish parliament in April 2015. It is supposed to be built, owned - apart from the German land works - and operated by a Danish state agency called Femern, a subsidiary of Sund & Bælt Holding, and financed by loans guaranteed by the Danish government.

The loans are scheduled to be amortised by income from users of the tunnel which is planned to be open at the beginning of 2022. But the project continues to face obstacles, not least obtainable large enough subsidies from the European Union, total construction costs and approval by German authorities.

Government authorities in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein recently indicated that permission for the project, will probably be given in 2017, and not in 201, as previously believed. German authorities have received about 3,100 objections to the project that has risen in cost to around €8.6 billion.

The completion of the project might therefore be delayed from 2021 to 2027.

World Highways reported in February that the Danish government was talking to contractors over the latest rise, a jump of €1.2 billion, in cost estimates for entire project. Contractors estimated an extra €295.5 million will be needed. This is in addition to a statement last November by the contracting company Femern saying that costs had risen nearly by €900 million.

Related Content

  • Slovakia, Salini Impreglio to part ways over D1-Višňové tunnel work
    March 11, 2019
    Slovakia and the Italian-Slovak consortium of Salini Impregilo and Dúha will reportedly end construction of a D1 highway stretch including the Višňové tunnel. The planned 7.5km twin-tube Višňové Tunnel is part of the 13.4km section of the D1 between Lietavská Lúčka and Dubná Skala in northern Slovakia. Work started on what will be Slovakia’s longest tunnel in in June 2015. It is also part of the Corridor 5 of the Trans-European Networks (TEN) which links Bratislava with Uzhhorod in Ukraine and is financed
  • Wacker Neuson’s “targeted measures” fuelling success in 2013 and beyond
    December 3, 2013
    Wacker Neuson’s (WN) “targeted measures” are said to be expanding the German construction equipment manufacturing group’s presence in Europe and the Americas which, coupled with a greater reach into other markets, has left WN well placed for success in 2014. A Group statement released this week notes that due to the slow start to construction activity in the first three months of 2013 due to harsh weather conditions in the northern hemisphere and uncertainties across European markets, WN Group revenue fell
  • EU budget dispute?
    February 28, 2012
    There is both praise and concern in Europe over plans for a new fund to cover transport, energy and telecoms infrastructure projects.
  • Estonia island link options considered
    November 3, 2021
    Estonia’s Muhu island is seeing crossing options being considered.