Few people would have the audacity to ask city officials to dismantle a historic bridge just so their obnoxiously oversized superyacht could pass under it. But as it turns out, Jeff Bezos is one of them. The billionaire Amazon founder has commissioned a $485 million sailing yacht, currently being built at the Oceanco shipyard in the Netherlands, and its three masts are too high to pass beneath the 130-foot clearance of Rotterdam’s Koningshaven Bridge.

The city granted the request, and locals aren’t thrilled about it. “It’s the only route to the sea,” a spokesman for the mayor of Rotterdam told AFP. He added that Bezos will pay for the operation, but that’s beside the point for some residents, who plan to throw rotten eggs at the ship as it passes. The Koningshaven Bridge, known to Rotterdam residents as De Hef, was first built in 1877. It was rebuilt after sustaining significant damage during World War II, giving it a midsection that could be lifted to allow ships to pass underneath. In 1994, the steel bridge was replaced by a tunnel and decommissioned.
The city wanted to demolish it at the time, but public protests saved it, and it became a national historic monument in the aftermath. Back in 2017, the bridge underwent a restoration, and officials promised at the time that they would never dismantle it again. But then along came one of the world’s richest men, seeking an exception for his 417-foot-long boat.
Plans to egg the ship ...