Excentric Australian billionaire Clive Palmer made quite a splash in 2012 when he announced his plans to build a 21st-century almost a replica of theTitanic and sail it from England to New York by the end of 2016. That didn’t happen. In fact, the project has been dead in the water since 2015, reportedly over disputed royalties from a Chinese conglomerate. 

Last October, reports emerged that the project was back on again, and in mid-January, Clive Palmer’s Blue Star Line entered into a contract with the Finnish naval architecture and engineering firm, Deltamarin, to continue with the design of the ship. The newly announced delivery date of the ship is 2022.

How real is the project? Since 2012, there has been a preliminary agreement with Chinese state-owned CSC Jinling Shipyard. So far, there is no actual shipbuilding contract, however. Titanic II would be the first major passenger vessel constructed in China. It is an open question whether CSC Jinling is capable of building a ship of this size.

As a general rule, I would suggest that nothing is real until they are cutting steel. There is still a considerable distance from design to fabrication. 

Even though the new ship has been described as a near replica it is significantly different from the original in many respects, including:

• More beam — to meet current stability requirements the Titanic II will be 4.2 meters wider than the original.
• No steam — the new ship will have modern diesel-electric propulsion with three pod drives in lieu of propeller shafts and rudders.
• No sheer — Unlike the original, the new ship will have no hull sheer.
• Welded hull, no rivets, improved quality of steel.
• More lifeboats (no surprise there.) New “Safety deck” to move the lifeboats lower and to provide access
• Air conditioning
• Modern navigation and electronics but no internet or wireless aboard.

Thanks to Michael Howorth for contributing to this post.