Historical story

Jeff Bezos:Rotterdam's historic bridge will be torn down for the passage of his yacht

The municipality of Rotterdam announced today that a historic bridge in the Dutch port city will be temporarily dismantled to allow the passage of a ship, a huge sailboat being built for former Amazon chairman and CEO Jeff Bezos, local media reported .

The iconic 1878 bridge, which was repaired after it was bombed in 1940 during World War II, is too low for the American billionaire's ship, a luxury yacht worth 430 million euros, to pass through, according to the local media.

The shipbuilding company asked the municipality of Rotterdam to temporarily dismantle the bridge, removing its central section, so that the ship could pass under it.

"This is the only passage to the sea," a spokesman for the municipality of Rotterdam told AFP, adding that the costs of the operation would be paid by the shipbuilding company.

The yacht is currently being built in Alblasserdam, near Rotterdam, and is expected to spend this summer under the Koningshavenbrugg Bridge, which is too low for the three-masted sailing vessel.

The municipality agreed to dismantle the bridge even though it had promised after a major renovation in 2017 that this artefact would never be dismantled again.

The municipality of Rotterdam pointed to the economic importance and jobs created by the construction of the yacht and assured that the bridge will regain its current form.

The "Koningshavenbrug", also known as "De Hef"

The "Koningshavenbrug", also known as "De Hef", part of which dates back to 1878, is located in Rotterdam and was originally used as a railway bridge connecting the city with Antwerp and Brussels, being the first such bridge in the West Europe.

It is a historic bridge, with a significant contribution to the transport network and to the general development of the largest municipality in the Netherlands. She was, however, also "suffering", as at least the facts testify.

Her original design created a problem for shipping, which was evident when a German ship rammed her in November 1918.

Thus, her middle section was redesigned by engineer Pieter Joosting and commissioned on October 31, 1927.

In May 1940 she was seriously damaged during the bombing of Rotterdam, while in 1978 there was another ship collision (Nedlloyd Bahrain) during its towing from the Van der Giessen-De Noord shipyard.

From 1993 onwards, when the "Willemsspoor" railway tunnel was completed, the bridge was considered unnecessary for transport, however, any thoughts of demolition were "knocked down" by the protests of the residents of Rotterdam.

Today, almost a century after its design, the bridge in question is a cultural heritage monument for the Dutch, as is evident from its registration among the country's "national monuments" in 2000.

In fact, in 2014, the renovation procedures began, with the works being completed in 2017 and the officials of Rotterdam, in addition to the costs, taking responsibility so that there is no new intervention in it.

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