History

Can you spot the tiny flaw in this billionaire’s plan?

The BBC reports:

Clive Palmer, one of Australia’s richest men, has commissioned a Chinese state-owned company to build a 21st Century version of the Titanic.

The mining billionaire told Australian media that construction would start at the end of next year.

It would be ready to set sail in 2016.

The plan, he added, was for the vessel to be as similar as possible to the original Titanic in design and specifications.

Copying the design and specifications of a ship that coped brilliantly with an accident is a great idea. Oh hang on…

UPDATE: That was back in 2012. The plan ran into funding difficulties, but in late 2016 construction started on a slimmed-down plan – a partial replica that would be permanently moored on a lake. Less iceberg risk. More WiFi.

UPDATE 2: After the 2016 plans stalled, in 2018 a news release claimed the project was going to go ahead once more:

The Chairman of Blue Star Line Mr Clive Palmer confirmed in London today that work has recommenced by Blue Star Line to build Titanic ll and to put Titanic ll into service on the London – New York route across the Atlantic.

Clive Palmer last announced progress on the Titanic ll project in 2015 when work was suspended due to his flagship company, Mineralogy, being in dispute with Chinese Government owned Citic Limited over the non-payment of hundreds of millions of dollars of royalties owed to Palmer companies.

 

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