jeff bezos yacht nederland

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Jeff Bezos’s New Superyacht to Force Dismantling of Dutch Bridge

J eff Bezos’s massive new superyacht is nearing completion, but getting it to its owner will require taking out a bridge.

The 417-foot-long sailing yacht, code-named Y721, is being built by Alblasserdam, Netherlands-based Oceanco. For the boat to reach the ocean, it will have to pass through Rotterdam, and navigate a landmark steel bridge known as De Hef. A lift bridge, De Hef’s central span can be raised more than 130 feet into the air, but that’s still not high enough to accommodate the yacht’s three giant masts.

So the city has agreed to temporarily take apart the bridge’s central section this summer for Bezos’s yacht to pass through, according to Frances van Heijst, a Rotterdam spokeswoman. The NL Times reported the bridge plan earlier Wednesday.

The Y721 will be one of the largest sailing yachts ever built in the Netherlands, the unofficial capital of boat building for the very wealthy. Rotterdam council project leader Marcel Walravens defended the city’s decision to allow the bridge to be dismantled, telling local broadcaster Rijnmond it was the “only alternative” to complete what the municipality considers “a very important project” economically.

Oceanco, and not the city, will foot the cost of the bridge demolition, van Heijst said. It’s likely some of those costs will be passed on to Bezos, the world’s second-richest person with a net worth of $175.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

De Hef is considered an icon of Rotterdam’s industrial heritage as a shipbuilding hub, and news of its partial demolition has caused a stir among locals.

“This man has earned his money by structurally cutting staff, evading taxes, avoiding regulations and now we have to tear down our beautiful national monument?” Rotterdam politician Stephan Leewis wrote on Twitter. “That is really going a bridge too far.”

It’s not the first headache caused by Y721’s tall masts. The enormity of the yacht’s sails will make it unsafe to land a helicopter onboard, so Bezos has commissioned a support yacht equipped with a helipad to trail alongside.

Surging levels of personal wealth pushed superyacht sales to record levels last year. A total of 887 such ships were sold in 2021, a 77% jump from a year earlier and more than double the number in 2019, according to a report from maritime data firm VesselsValue. Boat builder Burgess reported more than 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in superyacht sales last year.

—With assistance from Brad Stone.

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Rotterdam Won’t Dismantle Bridge to Allow Jeff Bezos’ Superyacht Through

The Dutch city faced an uproar as it considered dismantling a section of a 95-year-old bridge. Now the boat’s builder has decided not to apply for a permit.

By Claire Moses

Jeff Bezos will not be able to sail a new, more than 400-foot-long superyacht through the waters of the Dutch city of Rotterdam anytime soon.

The port city faced an uproar months ago as it considered dismantling a section of a 95-year-old bridge to allow the Amazon founder’s yacht to pass. But now the boat’s builder, the Dutch company Oceanco, has decided to refrain from applying for a permit, according to a Rotterdam City Council member.

It was unclear how Mr. Bezos’ yacht would leave the area or whether Oceanco would finish the boat. The company did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday and Thursday. An Amazon spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.

The yacht was supposed to sail through the Koningshaven Bridge, known locally as “De Hef,” over the summer and was on track to become the largest sailing yacht in the world at 417 feet, according to the superyacht industry publication Boat International. The bridge does not have enough clearance for the yacht , which was being built in a nearby town.

Because Oceanco is no longer seeking an application, the middle part of the bridge will not be removed for now, according to a public letter from the councilman, Vincent Karremans . The dismantling process takes about a day, as does putting it back together, according to Peter van Druten, a spokesman for the city of Rotterdam.

De Hef opened in 1927 and was the first vertical lift bridge in the Netherlands, but it is no longer in use. It has been dismantled before — most recently in 2017 for a renovation, Mr. van Druten said. The bridge is “an icon for the city,” he said.

The full cost of the dismantling would have been covered by Oceanco, the city said, and the bridge would have immediately been restored afterward.

City officials told reporters in February that Rotterdam had agreed to briefly dismantle the bridge to allow Mr. Bezos’ yacht to go through. But after backlash, they walked back that statement and said a decision had not been made.

A Facebook event at the time invited residents of the city to throw eggs at the boat. “Dismantling De Hef for Jeff Bezos’s latest toy? Come throw eggs … !” the event’s organizer wrote in February.

Then last month, the Dutch newspaper Trouw reported that Oceanco had decided not to apply for the permit out of fear of vandalism and threats.

“That’s worrisome — the ship builder is just doing his job,” said Dieke van Groningen, a Rotterdam council member for VVD, the Dutch liberal party.

Responses so far were mixed. Some people applauded the fact that the city would not have to bend to the will of Mr. Bezos. Facebook posts by the Dutch public in response to the news included sentiments like: “Class! Keep your spine straight for such oligarchs,” and “Let him get that thing with his own rocket.”

“We’re happy it’s not happening,” said Marvin Biljoen, a councilman for GroenLinks, the Dutch Green Party. “The bridge is a national monument, which shouldn’t be altered too much. That you could still do that with money anyway bothers us.”

But others believed it would have been a good opportunity for the city.

“I talk to a lot of residents of Rotterdam,” Ms. van Groningen, the VVD councilwoman, said. “They’re incredibly proud that these kinds of ships sail through our city.”

Rotterdam is the biggest port in Europe and a main hub for shipbuilding, including superyachts.

“This is the Netherlands at its best,” Ms. van Groningen said. “It’s about the image of the port, and you should be proud of that.”

Claire Moses is a writer for The Morning based in London. Before joining The Times in 2017, she worked at BuzzFeed News and other news outlets. She is originally from the Netherlands. More about Claire Moses

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Jeff Bezos vs the bridge: Rotterdam’s dilemma over billionaire’s superyacht

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Jeff Bezos faces an obstacle before he can sail the world’s biggest superyacht, commissioned by the Amazon founder at the cost of $500mn: Rotterdam’s Koningshaven Bridge.

Oceanco, the Dutch maker of the 417-foot boat codenamed Y721, is seeking permission from the city to temporarily dismantle the central section of the 95-year-old bridge, known by the locals as “De Hef”. That would allow the yacht’s three 70-metre tall masts to pass through Rotterdam’s port from the nearby shipyard where it is being constructed.

The request has led to a furious debate among locals, one that has left them grappling with issues of global inequality and the power of tech billionaires. A proudly working-class city has been left with a dilemma: what is the real cost of making way for the world’s richest person?

“Are we going to bow our heads for Jeff Bezos just to give him his pleasure boat?” said Paul van de Laar, head of the history department at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. “Is this city built to make sure that the billionaires can have a good time?”

City officials insist the application process to dismantle the bridge is ongoing, adding that a permit has not been officially requested. A formal decision is expected as early as this month with the ship ready in August.

Oceanco’s back-up plan is to assemble the mast after the hull passes through — it remains unclear why Bezos does not take this option instead.

Two people with direct knowledge of the discussions suggest that a tacit agreement is in place between the city of Rotterdam and the shipmaker. They said the city may allow De Hef to be dismantled for short periods once or twice a year so large boats get safe passage for an estimated fee of €100,000.

“It doesn’t make sense to start building a $500mn ship with no prior approval, otherwise you have a $500mn problem in your hands,” said one of these people.

Bezos’s representatives did not reply to requests for comment. Oceanco declined to comment other than saying it values the “privacy and confidentiality” of its clients.

Rotterdam’s town hall said the application process was ongoing and, when deciding whether to issue a permit, the city will consider how many jobs have been created as a result of building the ship, the “possible environmental nuisance” and risks that could have an impact on the preservation of the monument.

There is a growing expectation that the city will accommodate Bezos’s wishes, though. That has split local opinion.

Some view Bezos as an avatar of aggressive capitalism who built a $1tn company with a patchy reputation over its treatment of blue-collar workers. Others welcome him as a job creator, whose willingness to spend lavishly on the superyacht is seen as an endorsement of the Netherlands’ centuries-old reputation as a seafaring superpower.

“It’s becoming a question of ego and arrogance,” said Dianthus Panacho, a 55-year-old entrepreneur and Rotterdam native. Panacho said Bezos should pay double the expected fee “so that he can contribute this extra €100,000 to help out impoverished families near the bridge”.

Ellen Verkoelen, a politician campaigning for the rights of people over the age of 50 and a member of the newly elected city council, argued that the boat should be allowed to sail through. “I think [some are jealous of those] who have money to do anything they want,” she said. “And they are right but when they have money why not spend it here?”

Built in 1927, the bridge was originally designed to connect the north and south parts of the city via a railway as Rotterdam’s first-ever railway bridge and a recognition of the port’s growing importance in the industrialisation of the Netherlands.

Having captured the imagination of locals, it was the subject of a silent film by Dutch film-maker Joris Ivens, who explored the complexity of the vertical-lift railroad bridge. It was later decommissioned in 1993 as a working bridge, though later restored as a monument in 2017.

Piet Momofer, a school governor, said the boat showed off the nation’s status as among the world’s premier shipbuilders. “People from different countries come to work here,” he said. “It’s important for the Dutch to have an outstanding quality of making those ships.”

The details of Bezos’s yacht have been kept top secret, but the design is reportedly inspired by Oceanco’s Black Pearl, currently the world’s largest and, it is claimed, most ecological sailing yacht, which can cross the Atlantic without the need for fuel and reaches top speeds of 30 knots. The Black Pearl has a spa pool, hot tub and a beach club cinema onboard. Reported early sightings of Bezos’s ship showed a white superstructure with a black hull.

Elko van Winzum, a 58-year-old industrial psychologist, said the idea of a billionaire sailing his luxury boat through the city’s canals went against the “Rotterdam way of life”, which he defined as “working hard, building things, having a laugh, drinking a beer and looking out for each other”.

“And then there is some ultra-rich guy from abroad. OK, he created some jobs for building this ship but after the transaction is over those jobs will be gone,” he said.

Van de Laar, the history professor, said the dilemma was whether “the city is in control of its own public space”, or whether the ultra-rich “always find a way” to override popular opinion.

“There is more than lifting a bridge,” he said. “From an engineering point of view it is not a big deal. But that’s not the point. You should take your citizens seriously.”

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