The Freedom Ship Floating City Concept

Freedom Ship, or floating city, is a highly innovative maritime housing project conceptualised by an American engineering pioneer, Norman Nixon. The project is quite similar to the idea of floating cities serving as alternate residential locales in the distant future. Once constructed, it would become the largest vessel in the world.

According to the Freedom Ship International team, it will abide by international maritime laws and the laws of the country whose flag it would fly.

It goes beyond any conventional ship and even the floating residential complexes. Instead, it would be like a series of barges. This cruise ship concept aims to provide permanent residential, recreational and commercial avenues aboard a ship to help patrons be free of the innumerable taxation burdens. It will have a luxurious modern city complex with a large residential space. An airport would be built at the ship’s top deck for the convenience of the residents.

Freedom Ship Concept: Details

Freedom Ship has been visualised as a self-contained vessel with large areas of open space and ultra-luxurious amenities that include dockage facilities for private yachts, private aircraft, premium healthcare institutes and a first-class hospital.

For a vessel that promises to offer so many feasibilities, it’s estimated that the construction cost of the mile-long city could total over US$ 10 billion. Although actual construction hasn’t yet been started on the vessel, if the Freedom Ship concept duly takes off, Norman Nixon’s maritime marvel would be the biggest commercial vessel in the world with the following salient features:

• The first ship of its kind with a mobile ocean colony facilitating a free international lifestyle would measure over 4,000 feet lengthwise and have a width of over 700 ft. It will be four times longer than Queen Mary.

• Maximum occupancy of over 60,000 residents, including 15,000 crew members.

• Educational institutions with quality educational programs

• Exemption from taxation norms prevalent in the major countries of the world

• A Huge Shopping mall, wholesale shops, warehouses, assembly enterprises, light manufacturing and other complexes with non-taxable shopping luxuries.

• Sports venues and athletic facilities like golf, basketball and tennis courts, state-of-the-art gymnasiums, tracks for cycling and bowling alleys

• Entertainment facilities include restaurants, pubs, discotheques, movie theaters, and recreational facilities.

Freedom Ship will traverse throughout the world and, when not in transit, will be harboured near some of the significant ports, thus allowing its occupants to disembark at their port of choice if so required.

Freedom Ship: Constructional Characteristics

Because of the enormous size of the Freedom Ship, the construction of the vessel has been pinpointed to be of pivotal importance. To ensure that the vessel doesn’t turn turtle because of uneven balance in its base structuring, the foundation of the vessel will be built by connecting steel cubicles as if to form a longer flat-bottomed hoy.

The Freedom Ship concept also offers highly suitable eco-friendly additions to its engineering concepts. This includes effective waste management systems, sewerage disposal systems and highly effective methodologies for reprocessing and recycling. The engineering brilliance of the ship is also seen in the blueprint of its engine systems. As per the innovator’s vision, around 100 diesel engine systems will be incorporated to manoeuvre the vessel. The cost of equipping these engine systems, each with a capacity to generate almost 4,000 HPs, is expected to touch around US$ one million.

Potential owners must register to book their residential units within the Freedom Ship. Smaller units of around 300 square feet are expected to cost slightly over US$ 1 00,000 while crossing several million dollars for bigger residential units.

Present-day Status

Construction of the Freedom Ship has been stalled because of several doubts about the vessel’s workability. Although various maritime experts are confident about the vessel’s success, the immense cost has also acted as a barrier to the vessel’s construction. If these barriers are eliminated appropriately, then the Freedom Ship concept will be genuinely a wonder worth spending money on.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the Freedom ship project?

It is a highly innovative maritime housing project conceptualised by American engineer Norman Nixon. It is similar to the idea of floating modern cities for residential purposes, housing about 60,000 residents and 15,000 crews.

2. Why has the ship not been built yet?

Construction of the project was stopped because of doubts arising about the workability of the project. Although many experts and stakeholders are confident about its success, its enormous construction cost has dissuaded some from supporting it.

3. What will be the dimensions of the freedom ship once constructed?

It would be 4500 ft long and have a 750 m width, enough for housing over 60,000 people. It will also have hotels and accommodation for tourists and visitors.

4. What will be the amenities onboard the floating city?

The ship will have everything for all age groups. Apart from basic amenities, there will be ample recreation, entertainment, sports facilities, premium hospitals, theme parks, shopping centres, gardens, an airport etc.

5. How much would it cost to build the Freedom ship?

It would be a very expensive affair, as it is not just any ship but a full-fledged floating city. It would be designed to offer luxury and comfort to its residents. Hence, in 2013 the company announced that the entire project would cost around 10 Billion US Dollars.

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References: HowStuffWorks, sabotage times, SFGate

Image Credit: giftphweb urbanistist, sabotage times

About Author

An ardent sailor and a techie, Anish Wankhede has voyaged on a number of ships as a marine engineer officer. He loves multitasking, networking, and troubleshooting. He is the one behind the unique creativity and aesthetics at Marine Insight.

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