The shiny decks of Jeff Bezos’ gigantic $500 million Koru sailing yacht were actually built using conflict wood from Myanmar. The famed Dutch shipbuilder Oceanco, which built the vessel, has been fined $158,000 by authorities for using Myanmarese teak.

 

The shiny decks of Jeff Bezos’ gigantic $500 million Koru sailing yacht were actually built using conflict wood from Myanmar. The famed Dutch shipbuilder Oceanco, which built the vessel, has been fined $158,000 by authorities for using Myanmarese teak.

 

Ever since her launch in April 2023, centibillionaire Jeff Bezos’s Koru megayacht has been the recipient of endless praise. Boasting the title of the world’s largest sailing yacht, longer than two Airbus A380s and with an astronomical $500 million price tag, this superyacht shattered boundaries and redefined luxury. It’s hard to find faults in the Oceanco beauty that sets the Amazon billionaire back by at least $137,000 a day.

 

 

Trouble has docked for the 417-foot megayacht, as Dutch daily NRC revealed that the world’s third-richest man’s (worth $223 billion) prized vessel features ‘controversial wood’ sourced from Myanmar. Shipbuilder Oceanco now faces a €150,000 ($158,000) fine for failing to trace the wood’s origin. The shipyard violated the European Timber Regulation, which prohibits the import of illegally logged timber.

 

Also read – Despite paying $100,000 every month for more than a year to maintain the Russian billionaire’s abandoned superyacht, Antigua has made a massive profit of $63 million on the sale of the Alfa Nero to ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt. The proceeds will add 4% to the country’s GDP.

As per the public prosection service, the renowned yacht builder also purchased teak furniture for the ship and teak for its finishing via a Turkish woodworking company without investigating the origin

Though banned, Myanmar teak is revered as ‘the Rolls-Royce of woods,’ celebrated for its unparalleled strength and natural oil-rich resilience. Moreover, it is specifically favored by shipbuilders for its strength, anti-slip properties, and resistance to rot. As a tropical wood, it stays cool under the sun, allowing Bezos and his fiancée Lauren to comfortably walk barefoot on the deck.

 

Built over five years with a remarkable volume of 3,300 GT, the vessel proudly showcases teak decks sourced from Myanmar. The press release from the Public Prosecution Service states that the company never intended to violate the Timber Act but confirms that it did indeed fail to investigate the origin.

 

Also read – After extensively cruising the Mediterranean, Jeff Bezos’ sailing yacht Koru and Steven Spielberg’s brand new $250 million superyacht are now docked near each other, both undergoing maintenance at the La Ciotat shipyard in France.

 

This revelation invites a closer look at Koru’s magnificent wooden features, none more captivating than the elegant figurehead on the prow, a masterfully crafted sculpture bearing an uncanny resemblance to Bezos’s glamorous fiancée, helicopter pilot Lauren Sanchez.

 

According to AIS data, the mammoth megayacht is now making her way to the United States, following a brief stop in Gibraltar and routine maintenance at France’s La Ciotat shipyard. One can only hope Oceanco has learned from its missteps and avoided further oversights.

The Attitude motoryacht is a marvel of engineering and design, redefining expectations for a vessel of its size. Sleek, fast, and undeniably stunning, it strikes the perfect balance between beauty and performance. At the heart of this 35.5-meter Amer 120 is its revolutionary Volvo IPS engine, making it the largest yacht built with this technology by Permare in Italy. This innovation powers the Italian masterpiece to an impressive top speed of 28 knots, cementing its place as a beacon of fast-paced cruising.

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You just cannot pay $25 to Netflix and Chill on the deck of your superyacht, you need Mr Cinema, a specialized hardware solution that costs $16,000 a year that also after a $10,000 activation fee.

Thanks to Elon Musk’s Starlink service, superyacht owners can get fast and uninterrupted internet service at the remotest locations in the world. While browsing the internet has become more accessible than ever, accessing licensed content onboard is getting trickier by the day because of tightening policies and regulations, especially in the case of live sports. A standard Netflix subscription or a $12/month ESPN+ plan won’t work on vessels thanks to geo-blocking, which restricts access to online content based on a user’s geographical location.