An Australian mining tycoon wants to make his dream come true at all costs by announcing that he is preparing to build a ship identical and superior to the Titanic.
The man in question is wealthy businessman Clive Palmer, who, as the British Guardian reports, has rented space in Sydney’s iconic Opera House to let the public know that he is completing a faithful replica of the ill-fated ocean liner.
Distributing the press release to reporters, in which he said his company, Blue Star Line, would build “the ship of love, style and luxury”, the Australian billionaire admitted that he had not yet reached an agreement with a shipyard.
Since 2012, the 70-year-old Palmer had announced his plans for the Titanic II.
However, work was suspended three years later after a payment dispute between one of Palmer’s companies and Chinese firm Citic.
In 2018 he came back with a vengeance with the promise that the new ocean liner would sail in 2022.
Today he blamed the coronavirus pandemic for the delays over its construction.
He also stressed that he could not conceive of the time when it would come to pass into eternity without having done “nothing”.
“I could, well, build the Titanic. And I will.
It’s a lot more fun to build the Titanic than to sit at home and count my money,” Palmer said.
According to the Australian businessman, the Titanic II is scheduled to sail in June 2027.
He is confident that he will find a shipyard in time to start building the 56,000-tonne ocean liner early next year. Titanic II will follow the original’s voyage from Southampton to New York in 1912.
About the estimated cost of building the replica Titanic is estimated at between half a billion and a billion dollars, and among the companies that supported the project was Finland-based Deltamarin.
Palmer said it would bring together some of “some of the best cruise ship designers in the world” stressing that the interiors, cabins, as well as the ballroom, pool and steam rooms of the new Titanic would be identical to those of the original.
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The event featured a five-minute video showing a three-dimensional representation of the nine decks of Titanic 2 to the sound of Johann Strauss’ famous waltz “Blue Danube”.
The original Titanic struck an iceberg during her maiden voyage and sank in the Atlantic on 15 April 1912, carrying over 1,500 passengers and crew to her watery grave.
Palmer wants to make a faithful replica of the Titanic with the voyage having a happy ending.
“Titanic II can offer peace. It can be a ship of peace between all the countries of the world.
Millions have dreamed of sailing on it, of seeing it in port and experiencing its unique splendor,” Palmer stressed.
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