For a decade, we have followed the various announcements by Australian billionaire Clive Palmer regarding his Titanic II project. In 2012, Palmer announced the construction of a modern “replica” of the doomed passenger liner RMS Titanic which sank after striking an iceberg in 1912.
Palmer’s Titanic II was to be built in a Chinese shipyard and go into service in 2016. Since then the project has moved in fits and starts. The project finances fell apart for several years. The ship delivery dates moved first to 2018 and then to 2022. Despite an abundance of announcements, CGI drawings, and videos, apparently, no steel has actually been cut and no new delivery date has been announced.
Recently, Bright Sun Films posted a Youtube video, Cancelled – Titanic 2, that looks at the history of various projects to build a “replica” of the ill-fated ship. And while there is no definitive word that Palmer’s Titanic II has been “canceled,” the prospects for it moving forward look exceptionally dim.
The film also looks at the landlocked construction of a full-sized Titanic replica being fabricated in Suining, Sichuan province, China, 745 miles from the sea. The replica ship is intended as the centerpiece of a new resort development called Romandisea, along the Qijiang River. The project has ground to a pandemic halt with the ship only partially completed.
Things have not gone well, even for existing Titanic attractions. Last August, a wall of ice, representing an iceberg, collapsed at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, injuring three guests.