Strong benefits from a fixed Fehmarnbelt link

The fixed link across the Fehmarnbelt between Denmark and Germany is one of the world's system-changing mega projects. The change to infastructure and accessibility generated by the link has the potential for creating a new economic, cultural and social development in the regions and countries surrounding the link. The future benefits are considerable.

This is the conclusion from a new scientific study of the regional effects of the fixed link.

New infrastructure of this magnitude has always caused major change, the book states. New relationships will arise and create the basis for new trade, tourism, jobs and lifestyle choice. This is bound to have a profound impact on the communities surrounding the link - both with regard to the neighbouring areas of Southern Zealand, Lolland, Falster and East Holstein and further afield, i.e. between Copenhagen, Malmö and Lund (the Øresund City) and Hamburg. The major Northern German cities of Kiel, Lübeck and Rostock are also set to gain from the new regional development perspectives.

"We will see growth and development both close to the link and in the two metropolises, the Øresund City and Hamburg, following the opening of the fixed link," says Professor Christian Wichmann Matthiessen from Copenhagen University, who headed up the multi-national team of researchers who have analysed the effects of the fixed Fehmarnbelt link:

 "The report highlights a number of obvious areas for development. However, it should be noted that in order to achieve the link's full potential, a strong political involvement in breaking down barriers, supporting partnerships and making funds available for information and enlightenment is needed now. Developments around the Fehmarnbelt link will not be as rapid as was the case, for example, with the Øresund Bridge between Copenhagen and Malmö. In terms of the Fehmarnbelt region, the administrative, cultural and psychological barriers between Denmark and Germany are substantially larger than between Denmark and Sweden. In addition, there is the fact that the part of the region close to the Fehmarnbelt lacks important centres.

The report also points out that the local labour market around the link as well as weekly commuting between Copenhagen and Hamburg will see rapid development following the opening of the link. There is currently little commuting, but the improvements to the infrastructure and the cuts in travelling time will prompt new commuting patterns. Commuters are important for the region's development in that they are carriers of social and cultural contacts which, in turn, is a pre-requisite for partnerships. Thus they engender economic and human value in the border area.  All in all, we expect to see a trend towards an integrated Copenhagen-Hamburg corridor under which property prices will rise and where new localisation patterns will materialise.  One result, for instance, will be that the plans for a new transport centre near the Fehmarnbelt will become more realistic. 

Since economic growth is concentrated on the world's centres, the international major cities and regional hierarchy play a role in the assessment of opportunities for investment, development and growth. The Fehmarnbelt Region has no world cities - in fact the region's two metropolises, Copenhagen and Hamburg, are in the second division measured by population and economic power. However, if the two cities can establish partnerships, which will link their economies and development together - in close interaction with the major Northern German cities - this urban system will join the world centres' first division in line with Amsterdam, Milan, Brussels and Singapore. With stronger contacts and alliances, the entire corridor's international competitiveness will be enhanced.

Culture is the glue that can cement the growth process together, the book's section on cultural collaboration states. It points to a number of cultural meetings that can already be set in motion with a view to disseminating knowledge, promoting understanding and creating contacts. However, the authors warn against tying culture to a political project by attempting to create a common sense of identity across a large region of 10 million. This would be unpopular, difficult and unnecessary.

Entitled  ”The Fehmarnbelt Link and its Regional Perspectives", the 440 page book costs DKK 300 (DKK 150 as an e-book) and can be purchased from the University Press of Southern Denmark, www.universitypress.dk

Pictures of the presentation of the study in Lübeck on 28 January 2011 can be found here.

  Further information:
Contact to Professor Christian Wichmann Matthiessen (cwm@geo.ku.dk) and Market Development Director Jacob Vestergaard (jv@femern.dk) via Press Manager Karsten Holmegaard, tel. + 45 40 10 42 50, kho@femern.dk