Bezos’ mega yacht under construction at the Oceanco shipbuilding yard in the Alblasserdam, Netherlands is expected to cost $500 million. Upon completion, the 417-foot vessel will need to pass through Rotterdam to reach the ocean. So, what’s the furore about the yacht passing through the Nieuwe Maas?
The Nieuwe Maas (“New Meuse”) is a distributary of the Rhine River, and runs from the confluence of the rivers Noord and Lek, and flows west through Rotterdam and ends west of the city where it meets the Oude Maas (“Old Meuse”), near Vlaardingen, to form Het Scheur. After a few miles, the Scheur continues as the Nieuwe Waterweg (artificial mouth of the River Rhine) and ends up in the ocean. There are several bridges in this length of the river which keeps the Rotterdammers connected.
One such bridge is the Koningshaven bridge, a vertical lift bridge built and commissioned in 1877 and stands up to this day and is now heralded as a heritage bridge and an icon of the city.
To understand the situation in detail, the iconic Koningshaven bridge stands on the tributary 10.5 miles from the Oceanco yard and the yacht has to further travel 25 miles down the river to reach the ocean. On the way, there are other bridges apart from the iconic Koningshaven bridge but the Koning is a vertical lift bridge where the lifted portion is not high enough (it only has a clearance of 131-foot) for the yacht’s masts to pass through whereas the nearby Erasmusbrug is a bascule bridge where such a situation does not arise. Erasmusbrug is a combined cable-stayed and bascule bridge completed in the 90s which also lies ahead of the Koningshaven bridge in the Nieuwe Maas. Industrialists question whether it is a mere heritage that is more important than the positive economic impact, such shipbuilding projects bring to Rotterdam and the Netherlands in the face of stiff competition from their Asian counterparts. A map view of the nearby bridge too can be seen using the following link.
https://www.google.co.in/maps/@51.9102329,4.4944103,236a,35y,37.97h,65.81t/data=!3m1!1e3
The big debate begins here:
Should a redundant bridge stand in the way of development? Post World War I, industrialization grew rapidly and this paved way for the automotive industries to rise. The automotive industry began to demand more connectivity and the need for huge, better bridges also arose. Those days, lack of vision or funds always crept in the way of urbanization and it is the development that happened those days which now stand in the way of modernization and future proof development. The BIG question is – Should we be emotionally attached to structures when it doubles up as modern-day hindrances to our current developments? Where countries compete with each other and rally behind corporations with freebies and icings on land deals and subsidies to attract foreign investment and manufacturing units whether be it cars, mobiles, rockets or just anything, should we allow heritage structures to stand in the way of development?
Let us be more specific here: This debate doesn’t question the still standing Eiffel Tower and does not think that the tower is obstructing anything. That is indeed a priceless monument. But in the case of this vintage bridge, though it is an architectural marvel from the ages of its installation, the water channel is busy these days and the vessels passing beneath it have overgrown in size ever since. Should we be pouring our tears over an icon that is now a burden? Oceanco and other shipbuilders on the banks of the Rhine will land up with more orders for bulkier, taller vessels in the future. Should they give up those orders for the sake of the bridge? Why don’t we modify it to a Bascule bridge or build a new bridge after all or even demolish it if is redundant? Why not?
