By rosebell
Being located between Rødbyhavn on Lolland and Puttgarden on the island of Fehmarn, the Fehmarnbelt tunnel’s construction formally started at the beginning of 2021 east of Rødbyhavn. Including 79 elements (217 m wide and 73,500-t weight each), this tunnel also comprises 10 special concrete elements of 39 m each, that are currently under production at a special facility in Rødbyhavn on Lolland, which is the largest construction site in Northern Europe. Now hte number of produced elements is four standard elements at the tunnel element factory. The first tunnel element to be submerged on the Danish side later this year and forming the first 217 m of the tunnel between Denmark and Germany, was inaugurated on 17 June b His Majesty King Frederik X of Denmark.
On 4 July, in Rødbyhavn, the main contractor, Femern Link Contractors, FLC, named a crucially important purpose-built marine vessel, which is due to establish a uniform layer of gravel and stone in the excavated tunnel channel before the tunnel elements are subsequently lowered. The vessel will carry out advanced technological precision work up to 40 m below the sea surface, and all stones and pieces of gravel will be placed with centimetre accuracy on an 18 km stretch.
As a Multi Purpose Pontoon, this 130 m long and 48 m wide vessel has been named Maya. In order to placing stones and gravel so precisely that it results in a uniform bed, on which the tonne-heavy tunnel elements can subsequently be placed on top, Maya is equipped with a gigantic underwater tool which via remote control and other advanced technology is lowered to the seabed. After this, another special vessel will place another layer of gravel and stone on top of the 18 km long tunnel.
