Corona Buoys Superyacht Boom

A bridge too far? In Rotterdam a bridge is set to be demolished so that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ ship superyacht has free passage.

What the mountain chalet is to the merely well-to-do, the superyacht is to billionaires. Sales of extra-large luxury yachts have risen by 77 percent in 2021 compared to the previous year, the German Manager Magazin writes.

Costing hundreds of millions of dollars and whose maintenance consumes millions more each year, 887 of these floating palaces were sold last year.

Prices for superyachts rose last year by about 5 to 8 percent in line with high demand.

Oligarchs like Roman Abramovich, sheikhs from the Middle East, and tech founders, including Jeff Bezos, are lovers of such status symbols and compete in terms of size and extravagance.

The Eclipse, Abramovich’s yacht, has two helipads because you never know how many guests are on approach. Swimming pools and jet skis are standard equipment of a sensible boat anyway, and well, money is no object.

In Holland, the Rotterdam city council plans to remove a historic bridge so that Bezos’ new yacht can glide unhindered into the sea. Bezos and the shipyard, Oceano, plan to share the cost of removing and then rebuilding the De Hef bridge.

Compared with the price of the yacht, 430 million euros, the cost of the conversion is likely to fall under the category of “petty cash”. That the free ride for billionaires does not suit everyone, on the other hand, is hardly surprising.

The Rotterdam Historical Society promptly made its displeasure known about the demolition of the bridge.

In times of Corona, perhaps this is the best way for billionaires to self-isolate.