A Bridge Too Far: Rotterdam Won't Dismantle Bridge for Jeff Bezos' Superyacht
Will the 400-foot-long superyacht just float in Dutch waters forever, unfinished?
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Rotterdam's Koningshaven Bridge, aka "De Hef," was built in 1877 and suffered damage during the 1940 German bombings. Since 2017 after the renovation work, the municipality promised that the bridge would never be dismantled again.
Hold the rotten eggs: It seems the Dutch city of Rotterdam won't be dismantling a historic bridge so Amazon founder Jeff Bezos can sail his new superyacht through its waters. And for now it's unclear how the 417-foot-long (121 meters) yacht will leave the area, or if it'll even get finished.
Back in February, Rotterdam city officials announced, but then seemed to reverse, plans to dismantle part of the historic Koningshaven Bridge, which is nicknamed De Hef, for Bezos' gigantic triple-masted yacht. The city ended up saying that the plan wasn't approved, though the shipbuilder, Dutch custom yacht company Oceanco, had requested that the middle section of the bridge be temporarily removed.
On Thursday, The New York Times reported that a Rotterdam City Council member told the paper that representatives for Oceanco decided not to apply for the bridge-dismantling permit.
The bridge alteration was always meant to be temporary.
Still, the idea of the historic bridge giving way to a billionaire's superyacht didn't sit well with many people when news of the possibility first broke. Thousands of folks signed up to throw rotten eggs at Bezos' craft if it did sail past an adjusted bridge. The Facebook page gathering interest from potential eggers once showed that 4,800 people planned to attend and that 16,200 more were interested, though the page is now gone.
Bezos' unfinished yacht was set to become the world's largest sailing yacht and was expected to be completed sometime in 2022.
"It was unclear how Mr. Bezos' yacht would leave the area or whether Oceanco would finish the boat," the Times said. Neither Amazon nor Oceanco responded to a request for comment.