Bezos' unfinished yacht quietly towed away to avoid more bridge drama

Jeff Bezos’ unfinished mega yacht was sheepishly towed away in the middle of the night after the Dutch shipyard building it decided not to ask Rotterdam to dismantle a historic bridge blocking its route to the sea.

Once completed, the 417-foot, 3-masted yacht would not have fit under the century-old Koningshavenbrug Bridge on its route to the Atlantic Ocean. The Amazon CEO had offered to pay for the bridge’s temporary deconstruction so his new boat could pass.

This drew an immediate backlash from locals, with residents of the Dutch port city vowing to throw eggs at the estimated $500 million ship as it floated by.

"Calling all Rotterdammers, take a box of rotten eggs with you and let's throw them en masse at Jeff's superyacht when it sails through the Hef in Rotterdam," read a viral Facebook event titled “Throwing eggs at superyacht Jeff Bezos,” which gathered thousands of RSVPs in February.

Video of the boat’s towing was posted to YouTube by Dutch yacht enthusiast Hanco Bol, who said the yacht was released into the water at the Oceanco shipyard around 3 a.m. and made a 3 hour trip to nearby Greenport yard, about 24 miles away from Rotterdam.

Bol told German-language paper Der Spiegel that the route, which has four bridge openings, usually takes twice as long to traverse. He speculated the timing and speed of the trip was an attempt by Oceanco, the company commissioned to build the yacht, to keep it under wraps amid the negative press it has generated.

The luxury boat’s route notably avoided traveling through the Rotterdam city center and underneath “De Hef,” even though it would have saved more time.

Bol told Der Spiegel that the towing crew shined a searchlight on him as he tried to take photos from one of the bridges, as if they were intentionally obscuring his view.

Dutch media reports say the yacht will take several months more to complete.