Plan to dismantle iconic bridge for Bezos superyacht splits opinion in Netherlands

An iconic steel bridge blocking passage to the sea for a superyacht built for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is splitting sentiments along Rotterdam’s windy quays, with opinions swinging between pride and dismay.

At the foot of the Koningshaven Bridge, barge workers were scattering Friday to dodge the attention of the world’s media, with the historic landmark at the centre of the saga about the billionaire and his boat.

The steel-girdered bridge, known to locals as “De Hef” (The Lift) is the last obstacle between Bezos’ yacht, built at a cost of 430 million euros ($485 million) at an upstream shipyard and the North Sea.

With a height of 46 metres (150 feet) the centre part of the bridge needs to be removed to allow the mammoth three-masted yacht to pass, despite city council promises after major renovations ended in 2017 that it will never again be taken apart.

Locals have mixed feelings about the plan.

Some see it as the excesses of wealth, while others say the yacht should be a source of pride for a city with a deep-rooted history of ship building.

“I think it’s a bit of a shame to dismantle the whole bridge just for some person’s private property to pass through it,” said “Ice”, a 34-year-old web developer.

Some angry residents have even vowed on Facebook to throw eggs and tomatoes at the ship as it sails past the dismantled bridge.

“People who have a lot of money should understand that they can’t afford everything,” said Pablo Stroerman, initiator of the action.

“We want to make our voices heard in a playful way,” Stroerman told the Algemeen Dagblad daily tabloid.

“Incredible. At first, I thought it was an April Fool’s joke, to be honest,” added Ton Wesselink, president of a Rotterdam-based association to protect historical monuments.

“What worries me is the precedent, because where will it stop?” he told the NOS public broadcaster.

Yolande Ferree, 62, a local artist in the neighbourhood said she thought the commotion over the bridge and the boat “is a bit exaggerated.”

Yet “De Hef is an old lady, she’s a bit vulnerable,” a pensive Ferree said.

Despite earlier confirmation from officials, Rotterdam’s mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said a decision had not yet been made to remove the middle section of the bridge to give enough clearance for the yacht to pass.

First dating from 1878, De Hef -- which connects the Feijenoord neighbourhood with the North Island -- was heavily damaged when the Nazis bombed Rotterdam on 14 May 1940.

It was finally closed for train traffic in 1993 and has since been declared a national monument.

Mayor Aboutaleb, however, said he too found the “turmoil quite peculiar,” adding that his office had not yet even received an application for a permit to take the bridge apart.

He told the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper that any decision would take into account the economic interest of the region and its “maritime image” as well as the preservation of the bridge.

“Here on the island it’s a madhouse because everyone is completely confused,” said Frouke van Loo, 30, an entrepreneur.

“Let’s see first if this request will come and if it is accepted.”

If dismantlement is “really necessary, then perhaps we should rather be very proud that the ship came from our port,” she told AFP.

Artist Ferree had another proposal: simply to move the site of the shipbuilder to the other side of the bridge.

Bezos, 58, is one of the world’s richest men after transforming online bookseller Amazon into a global shopping giant.

When not travelling by sea on superyachts, he can sometimes be found blasting into space on his Blue Origin capsule.