Lübeck / Rødby, 02 May 2022

The members of the Fehmarnbelt Business Council (FBBC) were impressed by the dimensions of the construction site for the Fehmarnbelt tunnel in Rødby, Denmark, which they visited last Friday. ‘The factory for the 217-metre-long elements is growing and you can already get a sense of the industrial achievement which is taking shape here,’ said Hagen Goldbeck, president of the Lübeck Chamber of Commerce and Industry and President of the Schleswig-Holstein Chambers of Commerce and Industry. ‘This construction site is symbolic of the dynamism which is already palpable in the Fehmarnbelt region between Hamburg, Schwerin, Lübeck, Copenhagen and Malmö.’

Together with President of the northern German employers’ association UVNord Dr Philipp Murmann, the Danish Honorary Consul in Lübeck and member of the Board of the Lübeck Merchants’ Association Carsten Bliddal, the Director of the Danish Transport Federation and newly appointed Vice Chairman of the FBBC Karsten Lauritzen, the Vice President of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce Willem van der Schalk and representatives of chambers of commerce located between Hamburg and southern Sweden, Goldbeck spoke to the Danish building contractor Femern A/S about the progress made so far at Europe’s biggest construction site. The CEO of Femern A/S Henrik Vincentsen welcomed the guests to the building contractor’s centre and presented the current project status: ‘Work is in full swing on both sides of the Fehmarnbelt and we are absolutely on schedule,’ said Vincentsen. ‘We are even slightly ahead of schedule with construction of the factory for the 89 tunnel elements and are therefore planning to commence production of the first tunnel segment either at the end of this year or early next year.’ In a coach trip across the construction site, the delegation saw the first of three 30-metre-tall factory buildings and the first structures for the gigantic docks for the 73,000-tonne concrete elements.

The tunnel will constitute the infrastructure needed for the region to grow together, Vincentsen said. Companies are already settling along the axis in order to benefit early on from developments in the up-and-coming region. ‘It is now a question of giving the joint labour market momentum and of promoting collaboration between business and science in this region that boasts 55 universities,’ emphasised Murmann, who believes the Danish objective of turning the region into the world’s leading location for green mega infrastructure projects will lay some crucial groundwork.

‘The experts at German and Scandinavian companies and research institutes should cooperate even more closely in this area in order to pool their ideas and strengths,’ said Murmann upon visiting the Femern Belt Development foundation’s new Fehmarn Innovation Link. Managing Director Stig Rømer Winther afforded the delegation an exclusive insight into the new facilities which are scheduled to be officially inaugurated in early May.

About the Fehmarnbelt Business Council:

The Fehmarnbelt Business Council (FBBC) was established in 2007 as an international business union of Hamburg Hamburg of Commerce, Dansk Industri, Chambers of Commerce and Industry Schleswig-Holstein, Dansk Erhverv, German-Danish Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Southern Sweden, Lübeck Chamber of Skilled Crafts, Chamber of Industry and Commerce Schwerin, Lübeck Merchants‘ Association, UV Nord – confederation of employers‘ associations in northern Germany and HanseBelt e.V.. Through its 11 members, the FBBC represents more than 400,000 businesses in Germany, Denmark und Sweden.

Press contact Fehmarnbelt Business Council:

Dr. Can Özren
Press officer IHK zu Lübeck
E-Mail: oezren@ihk-luebeck.de
Phone: +49 451 6006-160
Mobile: +49 175 4394722