The Amazon founder had a superlative sailing yacht built in the Netherlands. In order to bring them into the sea, a historic bridge is to be temporarily dismantled. Contrary to earlier statements, the government now claims that the decision has not yet been made.
The Konigshaven Bridge must temporarily give way to Jeff Bezos’ super yacht.
“What if you want to go your own way?” This is the question asked by the company Oceanco, which builds superlative yachts for the richest in the world, on its website. Oceanco provides visitors with the answer themselves: “Then you have to be prepared to leave the beaten path.” The slogan should be understood figuratively. But Jeff Bezos should have taken it literally when he ordered a superlative new sailing yacht from the Dutch company.
The superlative
It’s now de rigueur to mark one’s position on the list of the world’s richest in terms of yacht size. The longest sailing yacht in the world is 142 meters long and belongs to Russian billionaire Andrei Melnichenko. The Norwegian entrepreneur Kjell Inge Rökke leads the motor yachts with 180 meters. And Bezos’ tech friends Musk and Zuckerberg? Jeff Bezos beats them by far – they’re not even in the top 20.
As of today, Jeff Bezos’ yacht is in second place on the list of the longest sailing yachts. The Amazon founder’s new sailing yacht is said to be 127 meters long and cost 430 million euros. The sailing yacht, which is currently still called “Project Y721”, has three masts and is over 40 meters high. And because a helicopter cannot land on a sailing yacht because of the masts, he also bought an auxiliary ship from another company.
This means that Bezos’ new toy is 7 meters longer than the maximum size of a football field. It takes a person who walks at an average speed more than a minute to walk from one side to the other. But length isn’t the point in this posse about Bezos and his yacht. The problem is the height.
Jeff Bezos’ new yacht is 127 meters long.
The sailing yacht, which is now almost completely built, got stuck on the waterway from the shipyard in Alblasserdam in the Netherlands via Rotterdam. A historic bridge blocks her way because it is 40 meters too low – or the yacht is too high. Contrary to its own slogan, the shipyard prefers to remove obstacles rather than break new ground around them. A spokeswoman for the Rotterdam city government said this week that the bridge for the yacht will be dismantled and then rebuilt in a multi-week endeavour.
The big effort for Jeff Bezos is worth it, a representative of the city authority told the Dutch media. The reason he gave was the economic importance of the luxury yacht industry for the region. Ultimately, such orders create new jobs and other economic benefits. However, the situation does not appear to be quite so clear. The government backtracked late on Thursday evening. A corresponding request from the shipyard had been received, but a decision had not yet been made.
Bezos and the bombs
The announcement that a bridge is to be dismantled for Jeff Bezos and his sailing yacht was met with incomprehension, especially by the historical society of Rotterdam. After all, it’s not just any bridge. The Konigshaven Bridge, also called «De Hef» by locals, which means lifting bridge in German, is part of the Rotterdam identity. A film called “De Brug” was even made about the bridge.
The bridge has had conflicts with ships in the past. In 1878 it was built as a railway bridge and served as a connection to Brussels. Because a German ship collided with the bridge in 1918, the swing bridge was converted into a lifting bridge so that ships can pass more easily. During the Second World War it was severely damaged by German army bombs. Due to its historical importance, it was fully rebuilt only to be rammed by a cargo ship in 1978. The bridge is now no longer in use, and a tunnel replaced the railway line in 1993. Today it is listed as a souvenir and a popular motif for tourists.
After a comprehensive renovation in 2017, the city council of Rotterdam promised that “De Hef” would not be dismantled in the future. Apparently only until Jeff Bezos and his luxury yacht arrived five years later.
No end to the problem in sight
The undertaking would take a total of three weeks and, according to the original announcement, should be completed this summer. It was also said that Bezos and Oceanco would pay for the costs of dismantling the bridge themselves. The alternative of only mounting the masts after crossing the bridge would have been too impractical, the authorities said. Whether Oceanco is behind the argument or independent experts remains to be seen. The fate of the bridge is also open again.
With all the superlatives in the construction of luxury yachts, it seems only a matter of time before more large yachts have to pass under the bridge. The government has not yet indicated how it intends to deal with this problem. The future will show whether the shipyard can overcome obstacles so easily – or whether it will still break new ground.