SBM seals huge concrete deal on Fehmarnbelt Link

An impression of proposed operations at the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link project

SBM Mineral Processing has been awarded the biggest contract in the company’s history – to supply six concrete mixing plants to the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link, an undersea tunnel between Denmark and Germany.

Once established, these plants will produce approximately 3 million m³ of concrete required to build the 18km-long tunnel, including the portals and ramps, as well as manufacturing facilities in both Denmark and Germany.

When completed, the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link will be the longest immersed tunnel in the world and also the longest tunnel for both road and rail traffic.

SBM will initially deliver a Euromix 3300 mobile plant, which will produce the concrete for the tunnel infrastructure.

Before the end of this year, two of SBM’s Linemix 4500 CM plants will start work in Factory B, where they will start producing the tunnel elements.

An SBM Euromix concrete mixing plant in operation

By mid-2022, three further Linemix plants will be installed in Factory A, as production is ramped up.

The contract was awarded by Femern Link Contractors (FLC), a multinational consortium comprising Vinci Constructions Grands Projets (France), Aarsleff (Denmark), Max Bögl Stiftung & Co (Germany), BAM Infra (Holland), BAM International (Holland), Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau (Germany), Solétanche-Bachy International (France), CFE (Belgium), and Dredging International (Belgium).

DI Erwin Schneller, managing director of SBM Mineral Processing, said, “Concrete has become a high-tech product. As a machine and plant manufacturer with decades of experience we can offer innovative solutions and sophisticated concepts to our customers. This ensures that FLC can produce concrete economically, quickly, as sustainably as possible, and in accordance with the necessary quality criteria.”

Emphasising the importance of innovative operations and future-oriented thinking, he added, “A special thing on the side is that the entire order was negotiated via video calls & conferences and we have never met our customer in person before and since the contract was signed. Our challenge is to continuously expand our technological leadership and to further strengthen our expertise in process engineering technology.”