Oceanco backtracks on delivery of Y721 to Jeff Bezos
After withdrawing its proposal to dismantle part of the De Hef bridge to allow the Amazon founder to pass through and deliver his three-masted mega yacht, the Rotterdam shipyard had to find an alternative solution.
The 127-meter megayacht built for Jeff Bezos, the man ranked second among the world's richest by Forbes, has left the Oceanco shipyard in Rotterdam.
According to international media reports, the Amazon and Blue Origin owner will not be able to cross the historic De Hef Bridge with his three-masted sailing vessel—also in the running for the title of the world's largest sailing yacht—because the operation to make the passage possible, involving the dismantling of the structure joining the bridge's two steel towers, proposed by the Oceanco shipyard, which would have assumed all costs, will not be carried out.
Initially accepted last February by city officials and deemed feasible within a short timeframe, the proposed solution of removing the horizontal section of the bridge—built in 1927 to connect the city to Breda via the railway line that allows the passage of ships with a maximum height of 40 meters and now almost completely disused due to the use of a more recent bridge nearby—raised strong controversy and outrage among residents as soon as the identity of the shipowner was revealed. This controversy later made international headlines and forced the shipyard to backtrack.
"At the end of June, the city's deputy mayor reported that Oceanco had withdrawn its request to dismantle HEF, a withdrawal that was described as a victory for the masses over a billionaire, although it was much more than that," wrote the New York Times after gathering the opinions of Dutch citizens and finding that the heart of the issue lay in the Dutch mentality and values, which fundamentally prioritize community over individuality and modesty over extravagant excess, believing the latter to be the preserve of the ultra-rich. Among the considerations collected and reported by the American newspaper were the idea that the whole thing had been deliberately orchestrated to spark protest and dissatisfaction among citizens, and a statement by city council member Ellen Verkoelen: "We think rich people don't behave normally. Here in Holland, we don't believe you can behave like rich people do in America, where the sky's the limit. Here, we think 'Be average,' because that's the right thing to do."
For the delivery to Jeff Bezos of the yacht Y721 with its three enormous masts, much higher than the 40 meters allowed by the De Hef deck, Oceanco had to find an alternative solution, but in the meantime the owner will be able to count on the equally luxurious Lürssen christened Flying Fox, purchased in 2019 and spotted last year also off the coast of Sicily.
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