Jeff Bezos’ giant boat has departed a Dutch shipyard. The billionaire clearly wanted to avoid local attention, so he had it done when less people were likely to be around. The shipbuilding business Oceanco has been constructing the 417-foot Y721 in a shipyard in Alblasserdam, the Netherlands, for an estimated $500 million. According to the famous German publication Der Spiegel, it was towed to the Greenport shipyard located in Rotterdam during the early morning hours.
The luxurious vessel became the center of controversy when Oceanco asked Rotterdam to dismantle the Koningshaven Bridge so that the yacht could transit through the city. The famous bridge sometimes referred to as De Hef, is regarded as somewhat of a monument by the locals. It is almost a century old. When finished, the boat will feature three masts that are too tall for the 131-foot clearance provided by the bridge.
Dutch citizens were upset and prepared to hurl eggs at Bezos’ yacht if the bridge had to be pulled down in order for it to pass. Within a few days, Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb declared that no decision had been taken about the bridge’s removal and that Bezos or Oceanco might be responsible for the associated costs if the dismantling took place.
Following the outrage from the public, Oceanco withdrew its proposal for the dismantling. According to Der Spiegel, Hanco Bol, a local yachting fan from the yacht fan club Dutch Yachting, witnessed the relocation and shot a video of it. He then posted the video on YouTube. According to him, the move’s preparations began at one in the morning, and the yacht left at three, said Forbes.
Oceanco may have “tried to keep the launch and shipment under wraps,” according to Bol if the vessel traveled a longer-than-necessary route to avoid passing the Koningshaven Bridge and through the city center. The caption read, “We never saw a transport going that fast,” indicating that Bezos’ megayacht reached the Greenport shipyard three hours and 24 miles later. The yacht appears to have been towed without its mast, which was supposed to be added later.
Given the circumstances, it is understandable why the crowd was so captivated by the Eat The Rich popsicles: This week, city dwellers can get a significant piece of major capitalism by biting into popsicles shaped to look like the world’s leading billionaires – Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma – but of course, they cost $10 per pop.
A collective of Brooklyn artists called MSCHF is selling miniatures of the luscious tech titans from their own ice cream truck. The sale has started on July 11th outside of Columbus Circle. The group will be holding this activity around the city, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. throughout the week. On July 12th, the ice cream truck was at McCarren Park in Brooklyn. On July 13th, the truck made its stop at Washington Square Park. The special sale is also underway in Los Angeles. The tasty art project, appropriately titled “Eat The Rich,” is selling the ice cream at its own inflated price of $10 a piece under the brand name “Mschfsicle” in a parody logo of “Popsicle.”