Titanic replica to set sail by 2022

Titanic replica to set sail by 2022

An Australian businessman is to spend $500m to construct a replica of the Belfast-built Titanic, the cruise liner which sank in 1912 with the loss of more than 1500 lives.

Dubbed Titanic II, the ship will mirror its namesake almost exactly in terms of its dimensions, its architecture and the layout of its rooms.

Clive Palmer is the man behind the project and he hopes that the replica liner will be ready to carry 2,400 passengers across the Atlantic by 2022.

In an interview with the Blue Star Line recently, Palmer is quoted as saying, ‘We want to recreate…the whole experience, the wonder that was in Titanic, and I think we can do that.’

The project was originally announced as far back as 2013 but a series of financial snags caused it to be delayed.

Once launched, the modern liner would sail along the same route as its ill-fated predecessor, from Southampton to New York. However, the replica will be fitted out with 21st century navigational technology and shouldn’t fall victim to the same fate as the original.

Ticket prices are not yet available for the cruise, but by way of comparison, the cost of a bunk in a third-class cabin would be around £277 in today’s money and a first-class cabin would have set you back a staggering £79,000.