Cruise ship to be converted into floating cemetery

Sep 30, 2016

In order to tackle shortage of urn spaces in Honk Kong several entrepreneurs plan to build the world’s first columbarium at sea. According to the main investor H.K. Ship Art Club, this project will cost around $65 million reports South China Morning Post.

A cruise ship will be adapted to accommodate about 48,000 funerary urn spaces, and people can purchase a space to store the cremated remains of their loved ones onboard for $8.000. Investors of this project say that this innovative idea will tackle the critical shortage of urn spaces in Hong Kong and high prices for their storage.

The project leaders are looking to purchase 60,000 tonne cruise ship and so far they have three offers. The ship will also have capacity to accommodate about 1,000 visitors, and aboard will be religious personnel from all major religions in order to perform rituals for visitors. There will be no cremation onboard due to safety reasons.

The ship will be mostly anchored in Kowloon Bay near the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal. Tours of the ship will also be provided to the curious visitors. According to Mr. Tam, the project manager, this will be a fully functional cruise ship with restaurants, gym, hotel rooms and a movie theatre. Back In 2012, another company revealed plans to adapt ocean liner into a seafaring cemetery for 370,000 people to alleviate the shortage of burial space.

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