Jeff Bezos has it all. Billions of dollars, spaceships at his disposal, and soon, a $500 million super-schooner. The megayacht has been under construction for years and is being built in the Netherlands. At the end, Y721 will be the largest sailing yacht in the world, with three masts, a black hull and an accompanying “ghost ship” with a helipad and room for Bezos’ other water toys. However, misfortune still befell him. The yacht is big. Too big, by at least one critical metric: it cannot pass under the historic Koningshaven Bridge in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, which it will have to cross to reach the ocean.

City officials are said to have come up with a plan: they would temporarily dismantle part of the bridge so that the Bezos yacht could pass under it. Bezos and Oceanco, the company building his superyacht upstream, would foot the bill rather than the city itself, and the bridge would be rebuilt after its ordeal. But officials have now backtracked, saying the plan has not yet been approved.

This may have been because locals weren’t thrilled to learn that the bridge – known as ‘De Hef’, and a beloved local landmark even though it is no longer a a working bridge – would be dismantled. “I think that’s why there’s so much excitement around Jeff Bezos and his boat,” Dutch author Siebe Thissen told The New York Times. Time. “People say, ‘Why this guy?’ It’s a working-class town, and they all know that Jeff Bezos, of course, exploits his workers, so people say, “Why should this guy be able to tear down his boat deck?” Time reported that hundreds of locals had posted on Facebook that they would be attending an event called “Laying Eggs on the Jeff Bezos Superyacht,” which sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon.

“The people of Rotterdam are proud of their city and don’t tear down iconic buildings just because you’re super rich,” said event organizer Pablo Strörmann. Time. (Strörmann also told the newspaper that the event was “mostly” a joke. Too bad!)

It is now unclear whether the city of Rotterdam will actually dismantle De Hef in favor of Bezos. It’s also unclear what will happen to the superyacht, which presumably has to find another way to open up the sea or be built closer to it – unless Bezos is willing to settle for the bigger one. world river boat. Bezos may have finally discovered a problem money can’t solve. Massive wealth will bring you a lot. It will appease the city’s grumpy officials and quash union campaigns, but maybe it won’t be able to overcome the feeling of a city that cares about an old bridge.

Bezos is currently the second richest man alive, behind Elon Musk. He has practically conquered everything he studies. He can use his money to slip the surly bonds of Earth and touch the borders of space. But for now, De Hef is standing in the way of his domain on the sea. Congratulations to the people of Rotterdam.