The Fehmarnbelt fixed link is a major infrastructure project: when the 18.1 kilometre tunnel between Puttgarden on Fehmarn and Rodby on Lolland is completed, it will not only connect Germany and Denmark and significantly reduce travel times between Hamburg and Copenhagen, for example. For the first time, there will also be a continuous direct road link from Sicily to the North Cape. According to current planning, the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel is scheduled to open in 2029 after a nine-year construction period
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Until then, the Fehmarnbelt will remain a construction site: The individual tunnel elements built on land will gradually be lowered into a dredged trench and connected. The necessary restricted areas to safeguard shipping will move with the respective work areas above and below water.
The Baltic Waterways and Shipping Authority, which is responsible on the German side, has now adjusted the location of the two restricted areas "OWA North" and "OWA South" together with the Danish authorities (see map). As before, they are marked along their boundaries by yellow-lit yellow-red-yellow restricted area buoys ("N 1" to "N 8" for "OWA North"; "S 1" to "S 8" for "OWA South"). The exact positions of all buoys with their identifiers can be found in the corresponding official Notice to Mariners (BfS) 146/24 of 23.04.2024.
Shipping is requested to keep sufficient distance in the area of the construction site and to show increased attention and consideration towards working vessels. Fehmarnbelt Traffic will provide further information on VHF channel 68 on request. Adverse circumstances may necessitate changes at short notice.
