A Chinese shipyard is in the process of updating its facilities in preparation to build a full-size, serviceable replica of the ill-fated RMS Titanic.
Nanjing, China-based CSC Jinling Shipyard Company appears to have won the contract to build the vessel from Clive Palmer, the billionaire Australian businessman who is funding the project.
While aesthetically the ship will be the exact image and dimensions of the iceberg-prone original, nervous potential passengers will be pleased to know that it will be powered and navigated by the latest technology. Similar to the original, it will have 9 floors and 840 cabins, to carry 2,400 passengers and 900 crew.
On completion of its 3-year build programme, the ship is also expected to have luxurious facilities including fitness rooms and a swimming pool. Access to certain of the vessel’s facilities could be selective however, as three classes of ticket will be available, to keep faith with the levels of service that were available on the original liner.
Tickets for the 40,000-ton vessel’s maiden voyage in 2016 are already high on the wish lists of the rich and famous. The ship will be following the same route from Southampton to New York as the first Titanic, and rumours are suggesting that well-heeled potential passengers are offering as much as USD1 million to guarantee their berth.
Hopefully they will get to see the New York skyline, unlike their unfortunate predecessors in 1912. On April 10 that year the ‘unsinkable’ ship defied it’s billing and sank to the bottom of the Atlantic after hitting an iceberg. 1,517 passengers lost their lives before help could arrive.
