Australian company Blue Star Line promises to launch the second "Titanic" in 2022. Titanic II passengers will set sail from Southampton to New York on the same route as the liner that sank in 1912.
If the original "Titanic" was positioned as an unsinkable liner, the "Titanic II" can be called indestructible. The idea to recreate the legendary ship belongs to Australian businessman Clive Palmer, the founder of the cruise company Blue Star Line, named by analogy with the shipping company White Star Line, which built the fatal ship.
Palmer announced the construction of a copy of the Titanic in 2012 to commemorate those who died and survived the 1912 crash. It was supposed that the ship will be launched in 2016, but the deadline was moved to 2018, and then in 2019. As a result, the Blue Star Line reported that in 2022 the liner will go to New York, and then make a round-the-world trip.
Seven Star Energy Investment project
Seven Star Energy Investment Company is building a copy of the liner in Sichuan Province. So far, this is the only most successful project, though not without a significant disadvantage to the initiatives of South African and Australian businessmen - it will never go anywhere.
Chinese "Titanic", which will be indistinguishable from the original copy, will be the main attraction of the resort area in Sichuan Province. The ship will stand on the Jijiang River. The keel laying ceremony was held in November 2016, and the first guests will visit the fixed liner in 2019. Let it never make a round-the-world trip or sail from Southampton to New York, the authors of the project are confident in its success. This copy of "Titanic" will become something like a shopping and entertainment center for tourists in the interior of the original liner. The front stairs, ballroom, theater, cabins of three classes, swimming pool - everything that was famous for "Titanic" is in its replica. The ship 269.06 meters long and 28.19 meters wide, designed for tourists, will be loaded into the water for 10.54 meters in the town of Suynin at the resort Romandisea Seven Star.
Construction of a steel structure weighing 50,000 tons cost approximately 105 million pounds (about 9 billion rubles). In the distant 1912 the construction of the ship cost about 1.5 million pounds, which is equivalent to about 33 million pounds by today's standards.
For tourists wishing to stay in a copy of the "Titanic", the cost per night in a standard cabin will be 3000 yuan (29 thousand rubles), with more expensive rooms will cost about 100,000 yuan (980 thousand rubles).
Clive Palmer's project
The Australian businessman admitted that the restoration of the liner was his long-time dream, and therefore "Titanic II" will not be just an expensive tourist attraction. The precise reconstruction of the era will affect not only the interiors and the route across the Atlantic, but also the passengers themselves. They will not be introduced close to the iceberg - modern technological equipment will not allow it - but the costumes of the beginning of XX century will be issued. Entertainment on the ship, of course, will also repeat all the entertainments to which the passengers of the original "Titanic" devoted themselves.
The ship will follow the original route and carry passengers from Southampton to New York City, as well as sail around the world, inspiring and enchanting people around the world," Palmer says. - Millions have dreamed of sailing this ship, seeing it in port and feeling its unique majesty. "The Titanic II can make these dreams come true.
In 2015, the construction of the liner was almost frozen, and the promised launch was not visible on the horizon of 2016. The stop was due to payment disputes between Palmer companies and Chinese Citic. Only in 2017, the Supreme Court of Western England ordered Citic to pay Palmer companies hundreds of millions of dollars. The ruling clarified the fate of "Titanic II".
Now, despite the announcement of the first voyage of the liner in 2022, the Blue Star Line representatives are not in a hurry to reveal the exact dates, until contracts with shipbuilding companies and the ship exists only in animated videos and project images.
The announcement of the voyage in 2022 amused social networking users, who were expected to remember Cameron's film and started asking questions about the number of lifeboats on "Titanic II" (Blue Star Line said that more than 2000 are enough for all passengers) and wish Jack Dawson good luck.
Why is the project to recreate the Titanic so difficult to implement? Partly because of huge financial expenses, not supported by the prospects of success of such an attraction. Partly because of the sad fate of the original liner, which is not on the first place in the list of the largest marine wrecks, has a tragic plume. The Sichuan Titanic, whose construction is progressing much faster, in this case overtook the Australian one due to its immobility.
They are set up to build another Titanic, these people are go getter.