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

  • Work underway for Brazil’s Santos-Guarujá Tunnel
    January 12, 2024
    Work is underway for Brazil’s Santos-Guarujá Port Tunnel project.
  • Causeway and immersed road for LagoonHull
    December 1, 2021
    The agency proposing the UK’s LagoonHull project says it’s development and construction costs could be between €1.2-2.4 billion.
  • Spain: 'spend more on maintenance'
    July 5, 2012
    Spain's road maintenance deficit has now reached €8.6 billion in the period since 2005, according to road maintenance companies. The industry has now asked the authorities to invest 2.5% of the roads value on maintenance to take up the shortfall. The companies include Imesapi and Dragados (ACS); Grupisa (Ferrovial); Acciona Mantenimiento de Infraestructuras (Acciona); Martinsa (FCC); Valoriza (Sacyr), and Elsan (OHL). This group says that the value of all the roads the Spanish government is responsible for
  • Sweden and Denmark consider link between Helsingør and Helsingborg
    July 2, 2018
    Sweden and Denmark are considering a fixed link between Helsingør and Helsingborg, either a a road, railway or road-rail. The link would cross The Øresund, a straight separating the two countries that is only 6.7km wide between the Danish city of Helsingør and the Swedish city of Helsingborg. Investigations, likely to cost around €2.3 million including €1 million from the European Union, will start this month with a final report by 2020.