Project Titan
The SS Titan Foundation is charged with a monumental task, and is at the heart of it and its non-profit operations arm - Titan Line, Ltd.
The project is the construction of Titan, a true ocean going vessel, one which will be built to aesthetically mirror her inspiration, the RMS Titanic. Her interiors will boast all the famous areas known aboard Titanic; the Grand Staircase, Palm Court, Cafe' Parisian, Turkish Bath, and much more. She will also incorporate subtle modernized attributes of other great liners of the golden age of trans-Atlantic ship travel - including the French Liner Normandie, among others.
Titan is envisioned as the world's largest, longest, and fastest ocean liner - ever. Upon completion in 2027, she will easily strip the largest and longest titles from Cunard's Queen Mary 2 and she'll wrest the fastest title from Atlantic greyhound SS United States which was retired in 1969.
It is hoped Titan will be designed by Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries - Titanic's original designer and builder, in Belfast, Northern Ireland beginning by Spring, 2022. The Foundation feels it is historically significant for Titan to be given birth at the same yard where Titanic was painstakingly constructed from 1909 to 1912, as Harland and Wolff is still the world's foremost authority on all aspects of Titanic. The shipyard currently has all faculties in place to begin the initial design phase of Titan within a reasonably short timescale.
Correspondence has established a positive dialogue between the Foundation and principals within Harland and Wolff, and this resulted in a proposal from Harland and Wolff in 2009 to the Foundation to begin the initial design. Due to unforeseen economic delays, the proposal is currently being updated to allow this phase to begin next year. It is also the goal of the Foundation to negotiate the construction of Titan at the yard as well, but those plans are still in the early stages.
Though she is planned to be designed in Ireland, and hopefully constructed there as well, the completed vessel will be registered and flagged in the United States, thus allowing her to bypass stringent regulations contained in the Jones Act, a U.S. maritime law forbidding foreign flagged ships from transporting passengers and/or cargo between U.S. ports - critical success factor for Titan.
It is estimated that construction of Titan will cost approximately $1.6 billion (US), and take up to three years to complete, making her the most expensive ship ever built as well, surpassing the $1.4 billion cost of Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas.
Working with Harland and Wolff can produce an initial cost model, general arrangement, and basic specifications for Titan within a very short time period - two to three weeks for preparation, at a reasonable cost.
Cost Model This will include the latest vendor information and will give a 70% confidence level of eventual price for Titan
General Arrangement Showing deck plans and preliminary accommodation layouts
Specifications Includes principal particulars, main machinery, systems descriptions, acccomodations descriptions, public spaces, etc.
A modern Harland and Wolff design would maximise the use of new technologies, thereby allowing reduced expenditure and operational costs, decreased machinery spaces - which will allow for more cabin and public spaces, better reliability and passenger comfort, all of this while retaining all the visual appeal and impact of Titanic.
She will look and feel like Titanic, but behind her bulkheads Titan will be ultamodern, safe, efficient, and cost effective in her operations.
This will be in keeping with the spirit of Titanic, just as she was intended to be the finest in her day in every respect - grace, elegance, speed, safety, technologically superior, and innovative ...