The specially built vessel Ivy, which is to be used to lower the 217-meter-long concrete elements to the seabed in the Fehmarn Belt, is after one and a half years still not fully tested and approved by the authorities. This is now causing the schedule for the entire project to slip.
”Ivy is a prototype that is specially built for us, and it has required more time than anticipated,” says Mikkel Hemmingsen, CEO of Sund & Bælt.
73,500-ton heavy tunnel elements are significantly heavier and larger than the corresponding elements used to build the Øresund Tunnel. In addition, the work takes place at an average water depth of 30 meters, which is twice as much as at Øresund, requiring an advanced and unique vessel with complex mechanical and electronic installations.
According to Mikkel Hemmingsen, it is uncertain how much of the lost time can be recovered in the coming years.
When the construction contracts were signed in 2016, the German authority approval for the project had not yet been obtained. Therefore, it was not possible to incorporate the specific conditions into the contracts for, e.g., the work vessels’ noise emission. This can make a later acceleration of the construction process difficult.
”The contracts are almost 10 years old, and they were entered into before both Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine occurred, and before we knew the extent of the German authority requirements,” says Mikkel Hemmingsen.
Sund & Bælt is in ongoing dialogue with the German authorities to find practical solutions for both the requirements for underwater noise and sediment spill in German waters.
-mauh
