May 31, 2016 by Mike Schuler
Chart of the proposed tunnel location.A look at the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel Safety Systems
Dutch marine contractor Boskalis says its joint venture Fehmarn Belt Contractors has been awarded a $334 million contract related to the construction of the world’s longest car and railroad tunnel connecting Germany with Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia below the Baltic Sea.
The contract was part of a slew of contracts awarded Monday by Femern A/S, the Danish state-owned company tasked with designing and planning the proposed Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link.
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Darkness by Neil SwideyThe Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link project will connect Denmark and Germany and will be the world’s longest immersed road and rail tunnel with a length of more than 11 miles (18 km). The scope of the contract for Boskalis, working with partner Van Oord, includes the dredging of a tunnel trench in the seabed over a distance of 16 kilometers.
The dredged material then be reused to create a new recreational nature reserve area on the Danish side of the Fehmarnbelt. The joint venture will also construct a new working harbor where the tunnel contractors will construct a tunnel fabrication yard where the tunnel sections will be cast before being floated out to sea for installation.
Femern on Monday awarded four major construction contracts to the winning consortia totaling about $4.5 billion.
The project is still subject to certain environmental permits by German authorities.
”We’re pleased that, after a number of years of preparation and a tendering process, contracts have now been signed with the winning contractor consortia. As a result, our prime focus is now on obtaining German approval, which is a condition for getting construction underway,” says CEO Claus F. Baunkjær, Femern A/S.
The dredging and reclamation consortia, named Fehmarn Belt Contractors (FBC), involves Boskalis International B.V. of the Netherlands, Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors B.V. of the Netherlands, HOCHTIEF Solutions AG from Germany, and Ed Züblin AG also from Germany.
Architectural drawing of the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel
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