Rotterdam refuses to dismantle the bridge to allow Jeff Bezos’ yacht to pass: ‘Money does not buy the right to dismantle a national monument’

Not everything can be had with money. It’s the lesson a city teaches Rotterdam, In the Netherlands, she gave Jeff Bezos. In fact, the local administration refused the shipping company’s request Ushenko To dismantle the historic De Hef bridge to allow passage Brand new mega yacht from the founder of Amazon. This is bCurrently the largest sailing ship in the worlda $430 million ship, 127 meters long and 40 meters high, was built in an offshore shipyard, and now it is not known how to deliver it to its owner, the richest – needless to say – man in the world.

But let’s go in order: it all began last February, when Oceanco sent a request to management to dismantle part of the De Hef bridge to allow the superyacht to pass. As soon as news spread that the boat was wanted by Bezos, controversy erupted, with citizens mobilizing themselves in protests to prevent its passage in the center of Rotterdam: “Can money buy the right to dismantle a national monument? “, argued. Although it is no longer in use, the residents actually consider it a true national monument, which is why they opposed its dismantling. The operation envisioned by Oceanco, which would cover all costs, actually planned to remove the horizontal structure connecting the two steel towers.

Given the criticism of citizens, the Rotterdam administration – which was initially ready to agree to the request – had to turn around and refused to authorize the operation: “There is a principle at stake – one of the opponents -. What can you buy if you have unlimited money? Can you bend each base? Can you disassemble the traces? “We think the rich don’t behave normally,” said Eileen Verquelin, a city councilor. Here in the Netherlands we don’t think everyone can be rich As people do in America, where the sky is the limit. We believe to “be mean”. That’s good enough.”

In late June, the city’s deputy mayor reported that Oceanco had withdrawn its request to break up the Hef, a retraction described as a victory for the masses over the billionaire, although it was much more than that. Nate -. It was a chance to see Dutch and American values ​​in a fiery head-to-head encounter. The more you know the Netherlands, of their preference for modesty over extravagance, for community over individual, to conform to rather than stand out, this skirmish seems to have been written by someone whose goal was to bring people here. Mind.” In short, the huge yacht is too big Now the danger of falling into the shipyard. At least until a workaround is found to “free it”.