Jeff Bezos’ yacht quietly moved out of Dutch shipyard after backlash | Watch

Running the yacht will cost Amazon founder Jeff Bezos $25 million a year.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Jeff Bezos’ superyacht was quietly moved out of the Dutch shipyard where it was built, according to the German magazine Der Spiegel. No bridge was dismantled to move the mega yacht, which was constructed at an estimated cost of $500 million by yachting firm Oceanco. No crowds milled around to catch a glimpse of the vessel being towed, just as no protesters threw eggs at it - as had earlier been threatened.

For the unversed, the controversy around the 417-foot yacht began when Oceanco requested the city of Rotterdam to temporarily dismantle a historic bridge so the vessel could be moved. The yacht, built for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is too big to pass under the iconic Koningshaven Bridge, which dates from 1878 and was rebuilt after being bombed by the Nazis in 1940 during World War II.

Locals protested fiercely plans to dismantle the bridge, with thousands also planning a protest to pelt the superyacht with rotten eggs if the city of Rotterdam went ahead with the dismantling of the iconic structure.

After facing massive public backlash, Oceanco, the firm commissioned to build the $500 million superyacht, decided not to ask Rotterdam to temporarily dismantle the bridge.

The New York Post reported that Dutch yacht enthusiast Hanco Bol posted footage of the yacht being towed on YouTube Tuesday.

Der Spiegel reported that it was transported to the Greenport shipyard in a journey that took three hours to complete.

“Most likely Oceanco tried to keep the launch and transport under wraps,” Hanco Bol wrote on YouTube as a possible explanation to why the yacht took a longer route to Greenport.

(With inputs from AFP)