Reasons why I think Titanic II has failed

We are now a few days away to Titanic week and in this journal entry today, I'm going to talk about Clive Palmer's Titanic II, a modern-day replica of the famous ship. Now this is something I don't really like to talk about as I have been against the project ever since it was announced back in April of 2012. Now three years have almost gone by and still nothing has happened and yet Blue Star Line still insists that the project is "on track." I otherwise don't think so.

The way I see it, the project has most likely become a failure and I believe it's because of these reasons:

Building the Titanic II in China:

This has to be the poorest decision Palmer has made on where this so-called "replica" will be built. According to the Titanic II page on Wikipedia, it would be built in China, a country that has more experience building cargo and container vessels than cruise ships. If Palmer were smarter, he would have Titanic II built in places like Germany, France, or Italy where most of today's cruise ships are constructed.

The Chinese shipyard, CSC Jinling, has admitted that they have never built a large passenger vessel like the Titanic II and it has no drydock but instead uses side launching from a 200 m slipway. To build Titanic II there would require a significant extension to it's shipyard facilities much like Harland & Woff had to do with their shipyard when the original Titanic was built. In March of 2014, CSC Jinling left the project for even they must have realized that what Palmer was trying to do was not possible.

Modernizing this replica:

To meet with modern-day safety regulations, Titanic II would have to be modernized inside and out. The problem with that is it takes away all accuracy to the original and would make Titanic II not a faithful replica but a modern-day cruise ship made to look like the original. Compared to day's passenger vessels, Titanic II would be out-of-date and unlike the original, it would no longer hold the title for the world's largest ship as it would be dwarfed by the many cruise ships that sails on the world's oceans and seas.

This has been done before:

Clive Palmer isn't the first person to try and make a replica of the Titanic. The first attempt was by South African businessman Sarel Gous back in 1998 most likely influenced by James Cameron's blockbuster film. Gous gets extra points for the fact that unlike Palmer, he was going to have his replica built at the Harland & Woff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. However, at the same time, Gous also loses points that he was going down the same route as Palmer and modernize his replica. In 2006, after years of trying to secure investment and failing each time, Gous abandoned his project .

Palmer failing his his grand projects:

Quoting from the Wikipedia page on the Titanic II, Palmer has been described as an 'eccentric billionaire' with a reputation for bizarre publicity stunts, such as the attempt to create a massive Jurassic Park style dinosaur theme park at his golf resort. This does not paint a good image of him to me and it makes all the more reason why Titanic II has likely failed and it seems that he is repeating another failed attempt from his past. About five years ago, Palmer made a company called Zeppelin International with the intention of bring back a commercially viable Zeppelin. But of course, that never happened and was ridiculed by Australian business website Smartcompany for being a 'bizarre move of the year'. I should also note that just after he announced the Titanic II project, he went into Australian federal politics. Just what we need to.

A mockery to the original Titanic:

Now we come to the biggest thing about this project being insensitive to all the people who died on Titanic and is the reason why I am against it. Palmer isn't doing it to to be respectful to those who died; he's doing all for one thing: the green stuff. Money. Trying to make a quick buck off the most famous disaster in history. As a history buff myself, all I can say about that is, "Shame on you, Palmer."

If Millvina Dean, the last living survivor of the tragically who passed away in May of 2009, were still around today, she would most likely appose the project and I would fully support her. But because there are no more living survivors today, people like Palmer think that they can do whatever they want without being apposed.

So there are the reasons why I feel that Titanic II has failed. To those people out there who still support Palmer, he's crushing your dreams. It's time to let it go. Titanic belongs back in the early 20th century and not the Information Age that we are in now. Leave the Titanic alone. Don't try to damage her legacy by doing these stupid things.

I still await the day when Palmer announces that his project is a complete and utter failure.