A 262-foot superyacht is not exactly built for squeezing through Dutch village waterways, yet that is precisely the journey Feadship’s latest creation has been making. Superyacht Love has been spotted heading toward Rotterdam for her sea trials after leaving the shipbuilder’s De Vries facility in Aalsmeer, where she was launched in August. Before she can stretch her legs in open water, however, the enormous yacht has had to navigate a route of bridges, locks and narrow waterways that looks almost impossibly small around her. Her arrival in Rotterdam will now bring her closer to the moment when her engines, propulsion systems and onboard machinery can finally be put through their first serious tests at sea.
According to Alphens.nl, the next stage will see the tugs disconnected after Love reaches Rotterdam, with her propellers installed while she is in dry dock. Once that work is completed, the yacht is expected to head into the North Sea for trials operating from Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Those tests will be used to examine everything from propulsion and maneuvering to electrical systems, vibration and noise, although Feadship has not disclosed the precise testing schedule or the results. For a yacht this large, the sea trials represent the point where months of construction and commissioning begin to translate into real-world performance.
Getting to Rotterdam has already been something of an adventure. The passage from Aalsmeer reportedly takes two days and involves 18 bridges and locks, taking Love through parts of the Netherlands where an ordinary road bridge can become a serious logistical obstacle for a yacht of her proportions. In Alphen aan den Rijn, she had to pass the Koningin Julianabrug, reported to be roughly 14 meters wide, against a beam of 13.5 meters. That leaves only about half a meter of nominal difference across the entire width before accounting for positioning and protective measures, making every movement through the waterway a carefully managed operation.
The scale of the yacht was equally striking when her hull made the journey in the opposite direction in 2025. Shipyard personnel were seen using protective fenders as the enormous steel structure passed bridges along the route, while photographs prompted one observer to compare the scene with Madurodam, the Dutch miniature park. It is an amusing comparison, but it captures the unusual perspective created when an almost 80-meter superyacht moves through a landscape designed around much smaller vessels.
Love and her quintessential Feadship design
Previously known as Project 716, Love measures 79.75 meters with a 13.5-meter beam and approximately 2,450 GT of volume. She combines a steel hull with an aluminum superstructure and carries the unmistakable proportions of a large Feadship, with a near-vertical bow, broad foredeck, sculpted upper deck and partially sheltered sundeck. Her tiered decks and long, flowing profile give the yacht a traditional silhouette, while the sweeping bridge deck and substantial forward sections hint at the generous interior volume hidden behind the exterior.
Construction began in 2022, with the hull emerging from Scheepswerf Slob in April 2025 before being transferred to Aalsmeer for outfitting. Feadship launched the completed yacht on August 6, 2026, and has described diesel-electric propulsion as central to the vessel’s engineering, placing quiet efficiency at the heart of the design. The vessel’s propulsion system includes four Caterpillar C32 engines and two propulsion pods, with a combined engine rating of about 5,880 horsepower, although the figure have not been officially confirmed as of yet. After her extraordinary journey through the Dutch waterways, Love is now approaching the part of her pre-delivery journey that matters most, when she leaves the bridges behind and heads into the North Sea under her own power.
[Images via Boat International and Feadship]
