Amazon founder
His yacht is too big: Rotterdam has to dismantle the bridge so that Jeff Bezos can cast off
Environment. So important. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, soon to be the owner of one of the world’s largest sailing yachts, speaks at the UN climate conference.
© Paul Ellis / DPA
One of the largest sailing yachts in the world is currently being built in Rotterdam. The city has to dismantle a historic bridge so that its owner Jeff Bezos can drive his ship out of the shipyard and into the ocean.
In 2022, Jeff Bezos (58) can finally herald his early retirement. The Amazon founder awaits the delivery of his new yacht. The Y721 is 127 meters long and is currently docked at Oceanco in Alblasserdam. But a problem awaits one of the richest people in the world: his ship is so big in all its glory that the city of Rotterdam has to temporarily dismantle the historic lifting bridge De Hef.
The Rijksmonument (Dutch, literally “Imperial Monument”) has been a listed building since 2000 and has stood in its current form since 1927. The bridge has a clear height of 46.5 meters, too low for the masts of the Y72. And although a representative of the shipyard said that there was no other way, criticism of the project is great. Because the city actually promised after the bridge renovation in 2017 that there would be no further dismantling of the landmark.
“Our Beautiful Monument”
The Dutch party GroenLinks requested an urgent debate in the Rotterdam Council. A spokesman for the party summed up the criticism of the project to Rijnmond as follows: “Jeff Bezos made his money with structural downsizing, tax evasion, circumvention of regulations and now we have to tear down our beautiful national monument? That really goes too far.”
There is actually no talk of demolition – dismantling would be temporary and for the project manager and bridge manager Marcel Walravens there was no alternative. He explains: “From an economic point of view and in terms of preserving jobs, the community considers this project to be very important,” he explains. Parts of the Rotterdam Council take a similar view and reassure: “What reassures me is that all costs will be fully reimbursed. To be honest, I understand the excitement, but if the risk lies exclusively with Bezos or Oceanco, then the matter is over for me. “says Dennis Take, councilor of the Partij van de Arbeid.
It’s about the principle
For some critics of the project, it also seems to be a matter of principle how much the city should accommodate Jeff Bezos. Dutch journalist and TV presenter Tim Hofman hits on twitter “How nice it would be if the city of Rotterdam just said, ‘Sorry, that doesn’t fit,’ like Bezos says to his warehouse workers when they need a break.”
Despite all the excitement, it is to be expected that the city of Rotterdam will not let the billionaire’s money go to waste – plans to dismantle the bridge are already in full swing and there should not be a lack of onlookers on the day of the maiden voyage.
Once Bezos is finally allowed on board and the ship is complete, he can boast of owning one of the largest sailing yachts in the world. More precisely, the second largest. Because the Y721 is around 20 meters longer than the previous second place, the Black Pearl of the Russian billionaire Oleg Burlakov († 72). Only the so-called SY A of the Russian oligarch Andrei Melnitschenko is larger with a length of almost 143 meters.
$500 million
Jeff’s yacht is estimated to cost around $500 million. The blog Superyacht-Fan reports that the Y721 is intended to sail in the fleet association. Accordingly, a second ship is to be used to transport parts of the crew, the helicopter and parts of the cargo.
Source: Boat International, Oceanco, Wikipedia [1], Wikipedia [2], Rijnmond [1], Rijnmond [2], Superyacht fan