At the beginning of this year it was revealed that Bezos, founder of Amazon and one of the richest in the world, had ordered a superyacht from the Oceanco shipyard in Alblasserdam. In order to get the ship to sea, it would first have to pass the iconic bridge, where it cannot fit under with masts of 70 meters high.
The company would therefore have planned to apply for a permit to dismantle the historic Hef. The rumors about this caused a storm of criticism. In 2017, after a thorough renovation, the municipality of Rotterdam had promised that the national monument could in principle never be dismantled again.
At the end of June it appeared that shipyard Oceanco was not planning to apply for the dismantling of De Hef for the time being. The company was shocked by the fuss and employees felt threatened, according to an appeal to the Open Government Act of Fidelity. Rotterdam alderman Vincent Karremans wrote that the bridge would not be dismantled in the near future.
Now that the ship has been brought to the Eemhaven in Rotterdam without masts, De Hef does not have to disassemble for Bezos’ ship. Transport company Koninklijke van der Wees, which was hired for the job, reports to the maritime news site Schuttevaer that the ship has followed a different route and De Hef ‘did not pass’.
The mega yacht is currently at the Greenport shipyard where the masts can still be placed on it. There are no bridges between the current berth and the North Sea, so that the ship can go to sea without delay once completed.
Biggest superyacht ever
The 127-metre three-masted ship, now known as Project Y721, is the largest superyacht ever built in the Netherlands. Bezos is reported to pay around 430 million euros for the ship.
In recent years, Dutch shipyards have specialized in the lucrative construction of superyachts for the very rich. Because the waterways to and from the location of their yards, sometimes far inland, were not originally intended for the enormous colossus, the transport of the yachts leads to logistical problems. At the beginning of this year, a mega yacht of 80 meters did not fit under a bridge at Heusden.
It is possible that De Hef will have to dismantle in the coming years for the transport of a superyacht built inland. The municipality of Rotterdam has agreed with shipyards that the bridge may be separated twice a year for a maximum of three weeks, provided a permit has been issued.