Blue Star Line Chairman Clive Palmer today announced Blue Star Line in conjunction with German hydrodynamic service and consulting company Hamburg Ship Model Basin (HSVA) will next month be conducting the first model testing of the proposed Titanic II, the Australian company said in a statement.

Palmer said a 9.3m wooden model of Titanic II will be put through resistance and powering tests in a 300m long tank at HSVA’s Hamburg facilities in mid-September. Titanic II is scheduled to be completed in China in 2016, before its maiden passenger voyage retracing its original journey from Southampton to New York, the company said. No firm order has been placed as yet to construct the ship.

“This model testing by HSVA will be an important stage in the Titanic II project,” Palmer said in the statement. “The Titanic II model is to be tested in the HSVA tank at speeds of between 18 and 24 knots. This testing is crucial for assessing the speed and power performance of this prototype vessel design.”

HSVA Director of Resistance and Propulsion, Dr Uwe Hollenbach, said HSVA was delighted to be part of the historic Titanic II project in the company’s centenary year. “Model testing is the only accurate and reliable method for a passenger vessel prototype such as Titanic II,” he said.

“Titanic II is a prototype as present day passenger vessels have a completely different type of main hull parameters and therefore are unsuitable as references. The speed and power performance model testing is one of the critical aspects for a prototype vessel and needs to be verified before a construction contract is completed.”