One of the bridges is being dismantled for the sake of the yacht.
The shipyard where a yacht is being built, asks to dismantle the middle part of the historic centuries-old bridge so that the ship can go to the open sea. According to media reports, Bezos has already paid the bill for the temporary dismantling of attractions, reports the Chronicle.info with reference to Focus.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos's $540 Y721 superyacht has not yet left the Oceano shipyard in Alblasserdam in the west of the Netherlands , but a huge scandal has already flared up around her.
An announcement has appeared on Facebook of an event scheduled for June 1 this year, in which Pablo Strörmann encourages the people of Rotterdam to go to the Koningshavenbrug bridge in Rotterdam, known as De Hef, with rotten eggs and throw them at a luxury ship when it passes through the bridge.
«Take a carton of (rotten) eggs with you and let's drop them into Jeff's superyacht as it passes through De Hef in Rotterdam. Rotterdam was built from rubble by the people of Rotterdam, and we're not just tearing it apart for the sake of the phallus, the symbol of the megalomaniac billionaire. Not without a fight!», the publication says.
The reason for such an event was the information that in order for the yacht to leave the shipyard and go to sea, it will be necessary to partially dismantle the middle part of the historic railway bridge. According to media reports, the shipyard has already asked for it, and Bezos has paid the bill.
Typically new ships pass under the bridge with a clearance of 40 meters before their masts are assembled. But the superstructure of the Bezos ship is higher than the bridge: the height of the vessel is 41 meters and the length is 127 meters. It has three huge masts and three decks. the shipyard considers it impractical to release an unfinished object.
So far, Rotterdam has not received permission to temporarily remove the bridge to let Bezos' superyacht through, and the city's mayor, Ahmed Abutaleb, has denied the decision has been made. He added that all will be known after the permit application and impact assessment is filed.
However, Marcel Vlravens, a spokesman for the local government, offered an opinion that could indicate what the city's final verdict would be. The official claims that this project is very important for the economy of Rotterdam, and it is simply impossible to complete the construction of a yacht anywhere.
«Rotterdam highly values its reputation as «the sea capital of Europe». Shipbuilding and all work in this sector is the most important pillar of the city», he said.
In turn, the local leftist party GroenLinks called for an emergency debate in the council over the bridge.
«This man made his money squeezing staff, dodging taxes and regulations, and now we have to tear down our beautiful national monument? This is really going too far», said GroenLinks advisor Stefan Leavis.
The decision to temporarily dismantle part of the bridge was also criticized by the head of the Rotterdam Historical Society, Ton Wesselink. According to him, at first he considered the information that appeared to be a joke, but when he found out that it was true, he was very angry.
De Hef was first built over the Nieuwe Maas River in 1927 and has become a key attraction of Rotterdam. In 1933, the Dutchman Lou Vlasblom made a record dive from the top of the bridge for that time. Two weeks later, Ian Tubberney died trying to repeat the trick.
The bridge with two towers and a green tint of steel was badly damaged in 1940 during the bombing of Rotterdam and is now officially protected as a tourist attraction. » />
Previous attempts to permanently demolish the bridge, such as in 1993, met with fierce resistance from local residents who managed to block the plan. From 2014 to 2017, the pedestrian bridge between the two towers did not function due to restoration work, after which the mayor's office promised not to take it apart again.
The passage of the superyacht under the Koningshaven bridge is scheduled for the upcoming summer. The semi-dismantled bridge is expected to last a few weeks at most.
What is known about the Y721
In October last year, the superyacht, known as the Y721, was launched from the Zwijndrecht shipyard and then transported to Alblasserdam for final fitting. She is being built by Oceanco and is believed to be based on the 106m Black Pearl. Built in 2018 for Russian billionaire Oleg Burlakov, who died last June, this is the largest sailing yacht in the world with three 70m high carbon fiber masts.
A smaller escort ship with a length of 75 meters is supposed to accompany the yacht. It will have a helipad, as there is no space for it on the main vessel due to the huge masts.
It will also carry cars, speedboats and, most likely, a mini-submarine.