Now the Germans can't even keep up with the Danes.

Neither in football, since the national team failed in the European Championship round of 16, while the neighbors stormed into the semifinals.

In another domain that one would not have expected to be Denmark's core competence: tunneling.

Dyrk Scherff

Editor in the "Money & More" section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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But even then, the country is ahead of Germany, at least when it comes to building a very special tunnel - the one between the two countries, from the German island of Fehmarn under the Fehmarnbelt to the Danish Lolland. The tunnel under the sea is to be almost 18 kilometers long, making it one of the longest in Europe. It accommodates both a railway line and a motorway. It is currently Northern Europe's largest transport project. The tunnel is expected to cost around six billion euros, with an additional billion planned as a buffer for cost increases. Another four billion euros will be added on the German side for the expansion of the access routes. But while Denmark started building last year, things are only starting now in Germany.

Because in the Federal Republic of opponents sued up to the Federal Administrative Court to prevent the tunnel. They range from environmental groups who see the sensitive ecosystem with reefs and harbor porpoises in danger, to the islanders on Fehmarn, who fear losses in tourism due to years of construction and the subsequent traffic noise, to the Scandlines ferry line, which has previously been used for transport between Puttgarden and Rødby and could lose an important source of income. Since November 2020 there has been clarity: The court ruled that the planning with a few adjustments is legal and construction can begin. Building law has been in place for the Danish side since 2015. There one does not see the tunnel as a danger, but as an opportunity for a better connection to Central Europe,combined with better economic prospects for Danish companies and more jobs in the structurally weak region of Lolland. Trusting a positive judgment by the German court, the Danes have already started building.

Working port, landfill, new factories

You can clearly see this on a tour of the construction site. It is only just being set up on the German side. Construction roads were built, electricity and water pipes were laid to supply the tunnel construction site, and a wind turbine that stood in the way was dismantled. In a few days the work will be more extensive, then the fields will have to give way, the topsoil will be removed and temporarily stored until the end of the construction. It's too valuable to dispose of. “Construction of a working port will begin in autumn right next to the current Puttgarden ferry terminal. Most of the building materials will be delivered through it. As a result, the traffic network on Fehmarn is not used more than necessary, ”announces Matthias Laubenstein, one of the leading civil engineers of the tunnel.who was involved in the construction of Berlin's main train station at the beginning of the millennium. In addition, the excavation from the tunnel construction will be temporarily stored from the end of the year, so that land next to the ferry port will be permanently filled up from 2025. At this point, where there is still water today, the tunnel will see daylight one day.