No decision has yet been made to temporarily dismantle the Koningshaven Bridge in Rotterdam, better known as De Hef, for a yacht owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. That says Mayor Aboutaleb against the AD. According to Aboutaleb, a permit has not yet been applied for and it is therefore not possible to decide on the request.
The announcement of the dismantling of De Hef caused a lot of fuss. In 2017, after renovation, Rotterdam had said that the iconic bridge would never be dismantled again. The bridge is a national monument. No trains have run over it since 1993.
The bridge is forty meters high, but that is too low for the masts of Jeff Bezos’ planned superyacht, which is being built in Alblasserdam. The yacht is said to cost 430 million euros. Builder Oceanco and Bezos have indicated that they want to bear the costs of dismantling the bridge.
On Wednesday, the municipality reported that a permit had been requested and that it had been decided to agree to the request, but according to Aboutaleb, this is not the case. When the application is received, the interests are weighed up: “The economic, especially the maritime image of our region, and the technical: can it be done without damage? And we want to know whether the costs are indeed reimbursed by the buyer.”
In Rotterdam, the reaction to the intention to dismantle De Hef was surprised:
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