SS Rotterdam should be World Heritage site: VVD

The VVD in Rotterdam want the SS Rotterdam cruise ship to become a World Heritage Site after UNESCO granted the same fate to the Van Nelle Factory at the end of last month.  The factory, which was built in the late 1920s, used to produce Van Nelle coffee, tea, tobacco and cigarettes, but is now a multi-purpose events premises. At the end of last month it became the tenth object from the Kingdom of The Netherlands to be placed on the World Heritage list. Other Dutch items on the list are the Amsterdam canals and the windmills on the Kinderdijk. The VVD believe that the cruise ship should also be on the list because it is one of the last cruise ships from the line between Rotterdam and New York. Maarten van de Donk, a member of the party, says that the vessel's design was also revolutionary for the time. Her maiden voyage across the Atlantic ocean was in 1959. The ship was christened by Queen Juliana the previous year. The process of getting the ship on the Heritage list is long-drawn out. Van de Donk thinks it will take around five years as it will first need to be put on the municipal monuments list. The VVD has asked the municipal council for cooperation on this.