A historic Dutch bridge will be dismantled so that Jeff Bezos’ giant superyacht can make its way out to sea.
The Amazon founder’s vessel will be the world’s largest sailing yacht at 417ft long, and its 40-metre high trio of masts is too tall to make it under Rotterdam’s Koningshaven bridge, according to Boat International.
The yacht’s builder, Oceanco, have asked the city to temporarily remove the bridge, which is known as De Hef dates from 1878 and was last renovated in 2017, and the company and billionaire have offered to pay for the work.
Marcel Walravens who managed the renovation project, told RTV that it was “not practical” to partially finish the vessel and complete construction elsewhere.
“If you carry out a big job somewhere, you want all your tools in that place. Otherwise you have to go back and forth constantly. In addition, this is such a large project that there are hardly any locations where this work is finished.”
And he added: “From an economic perspective and maintaining employment, the municipality considers this a very important project. Rotterdam has also been declared the maritime capital of Europe.
“Shipbuilding and activity within that sector are therefore an important pillar for the municipality.”
“As the plans look now, the preparation will take about a week. There are a lot of cables on De Hef, and as soon as you remove the first one, it no longer works.
“After that week, we remove the middle part, and with a bit of luck, we will have it back a day later. After that it will take another week to put everything back in place.”
The superyacht, which is known as Y721, was first spotted being rolled out of a shed at the shipbuilding yard in October 2021 and it features a black hull and white superstructure.
And not everyone is happy at Mr Bezos and his yacht being accommodated by the city.
“Employment is important, but there are limits to what you can and may do to our heritage,” Ton Wesselink, of the Rotterdam Historical Society told RTV.
The world’s largest sailing yacht is currently the Seacloud, which was built in 1931 in Germany and measures in at 359ft in length.
