Titanic ll Blueprints Unveiled

Australian mining entrepreneur Clive Palmer intends the ship to largely recreate the design and decor of the ill-fated original.

The original design of the Titanic will be modified to keep it in line with current safety rules and shipbuilding practices, and the addition of some modern comforts such as air conditioning, reports the China Daily.

White Star Line, the operator of the original ship, had said the Titanic was designed to be unsinkable. Some 1,500 people died on Titanic's maiden voyage in 1912 from Southampton to New York after the ship collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic. However, Palmer, who created the company Blue Star Line last year, declined to make a similar boast.

Unlike the original, Titanic II will have more than enough space in its lifeboats for every person on board and will have additional escape staircases. Markku Kanerva, sales director at Deltamarin, the Finnish company designing the ship, claimed the replica would be the safest cruise ship in the world. The three passenger classes, however, will be prevented from mingling, as in 1912.

Titanic II will be built by Chinese state-owned CSC Jinling Shipyard, which is already building four ore carriers for Palmer's mining business, although the contract has not yet been formally signed.

Source: China Daily