No, this massive beach here in Pakistan’s restive Baluchistan province is not your typical sandy shoreline.

It’s one of a handful of “shipbreaking” sites across South Asia.

Looming above the flat sand are beached ocean liners, cargo ships and oil tankers that once brought goods to markets in the US and elsewhere around the world. They once bore the flags of the world’s great shipping hubs: Greece, Norway and the UK, but when they arrive at this ignoble resting ground they fly flags of convenience — Panama, Liberia and Bahamas — to launder them from what is about to happen.

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Addressing the elephant in the room at a press conference today, Palmer did not at all assuage peoples's concerns when he said: "Anything will sink if you put a hole in it."

"I'm not super-superstitious," he said. "We are staying true to the original Titanic and a lot of those designs and full experience that never saw the light of day, but there will be some updates too." But Palmer also explained that the company is working on preventing worst-case scenarios, and a Blue Line representative said pretty much exactly what shipbuilders said in 1912, that "It will be the most safe cruise ship in the world when it launches."

People who don't realize that this is not the real Titanic have already offered to pay $1 million to be on the first voyage, which will follow the same route as the ill-fated ship that sailed from Southhampton, England to New York. But, says Palmer, "We aren't going to divulge the cost because I have enough money to pay for it. Cost isn't what it is about. It's about creating a memory of the Titanic."

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