After the new Netflix documentary about the Titan submersible disaster, everyone is asking the same thing: Is OceanGate still operating now?
The film, called Titan: The OceanGate Submersible Disaster, focuses on the years leading up to the 2023 incident and delves into CEO Stockton Rush’s business.
OceanGate is his privately owned company that provides crewed submersible services for tourism, industry, research and exploration, including trips down to the Titanic wreck.
So, where is OceanGate now? Here’s everything you need to know about the company after the tragic implosion.
Credit: Netflix
Is OceanGate still operating now?
No, OceanGate isn’t operating anymore. After the disaster, they suspended all operations and a notice on the website now says: “OceanGate has suspended all exploration and commercial operations.”
The company closed its main headquarters in Everett, Washington indefinitely after the implosion. However, OceanGate hasn’t actually been filed as bankrupt, and the dormant company technically still exists as a registered business.
Mark Monroe, the director of the new Netflix documentary, told Today: “The only meaningful capacity in which OceanGate still exists is that it hasn’t become insolvent.”
They also had another based in the Bahamas called Argus Expeditions Ltd, which traded as OceanGate Expeditions, and an independent nonprofit organisation called the OceanGate Foundation which supported research in ocean exploration and marine science.
To public knowledge, both of these have also now closed.
Credit: Netflix
So, what happened to the submarines?
OceanGate owned three different submersibles, Titan, Antipodes and Cyclops 1, which they used for various sea missions. Titan was the only one capable of getting down to the Titanic wreck.
Antipodes, a bright yellow submarine that was built in 1973 by the Perry Submarine Company, is currently on sale for a whopping $795,000, but it’s not expected to ever actually sell.
It went on the market seven years ago in 2018, before the disaster even happened. Nobody wanted to buy it from Stockton Rush then, and they definitely don’t want to now.
Yacht broker Steve Reoch, who works for the company trying to sell the submarine, told Insider in 2023: “I don’t want to have anything to do with it.”
“We’re in the process of disassociating ourselves from the vessel because it won’t sell. Nobody’s going to be able to sell the submersible for years because of litigation — it’s a waste of my time and has been for five years,” he explained.
It’s not clear what has happened to the other submersible, Cyclops 1.
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