CSC Jinling Shipyard to Build Titanic II for One of Australia’s Wealthiest Businessmen ?

One of Australia’s wealthiest businessmen, Clive Palmer, announced his plans to build a replica of the Titanic just hours after he started his political career.

Palmer claimed that the ship will be equipped with the latest technology: “It will be every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic but of course it will have state-of-the-art 21st-century technology and the latest navigation and safety systems.”

Some questioned the faith of the replica and whether it could sink, but Palmer stated: “Of course it will sink if you put a hole in it. Of course, if you are superstitious … you never know what could happen.”

The businessman signed a MoU with the Chinese state-owned company CSC Jinling Shipyard to build Titanic II, and invited the Chinese navy to escort Titanic II on its maiden voyage from Britain to New York, America.

Palmer stated that this will be a tribute to the people that built the original ship: “These people produced work that is still marveled at more than 100 years later and we want that spirit to go on for another 100 years.”

The ship is expected to set sails in 2016.

Built in Belfast, County Antrim, Ireland, the RMS Titanic was the second of the three Olympic-class ocean liners – the others were the RMS Olympic and the HMHS Britannic (originally named Gigantic). They were by far the largest vessels of the British shipping company White Star Line’s fleet, which comprised 29 steamers and tenders in 1912. The ships were constructed by the Belfast shipbuilders Harland and Wolff, who had a long-established relationship with the White Star Line dating back to 1867. Cost considerations were relatively low on the agenda and Harland and Wolff was authorised to spend what it needed on the ships, plus a five percent profit margin. In the case of the Olympic-class ships, a cost of £3 million for the first two ships was agreed plus “extras to contract” and the usual five percent fee.

Harland and Wolff put their leading designers to work designing the Olympic-class vessels. It was overseen by Lord Pirrie, a director of both Harland and Wolff and the White Star Line; naval architect Thomas Andrews, the managing director of Harland and Wolff’s design department; Edward Wilding, Andrews’ deputy and responsible for calculating the ship’s design, stability and trim; and Alexander Carlisle, the shipyard’s chief draughtsman and general manager. Carlisle’s responsibilities included the decorations, equipment and all general arrangements, including the implementation of an efficient lifeboat davit design.

[mappress]

Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, April 30, 2012;