More water leaking overnight into the stricken Hoegh Osaka car ship stranded on a Southampton sandbank has forced the postponement of any refloat today (7 January).
The operation to right the 51,000t vessel carrying around 1,300 Jaguar, Land Rover, BMW and JCB machines, has been complicated by a crack in the ship caused by shifting agricultural implements, while salvage crews are now anxiously eyeing worsening weather forecast to hit Southampton later this week.
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“Because they found a bit more water ingress, they are not able to do that [refloat] today (7 January),” a spokesman for Hoegh Osaka owners, Hoegh Autoliners, told just-auto.
“If they think there will be a window tomorrow, I guess they will try to lift the vessel tomorrow. If not, they will try to secure [it]. It is all now weather dependent.
“There was more water than they expected. The first crack they found they patched up – they just need to pump it [water] out. There was this agricultural piece of machinery that caused the first crack.”
The condition of around 1,200 Jaguars and Land Rovers, as well as 65 Minis, one Rolls-Royce Wraith, 105 JCBs and other possible vehicles, is not known following the deliberate grounding of the ship on Saturday (3 January) evening after the vessel developed a severe list when leaving Southampton.
Danish salvors, Svitzer, are evaluating the Norwegian vessel, which although not yet leaking any of its 500t of mixed fuel, has triggered the UK spill response level to one of active readiness.
The Hoegh Osaka was due to dock first in Bremerhaven and Hamburg in Germany, before sailing to several Middle East destinations including Jeddah, Bahrain, Dubai and Kuwait, although JCB maintains ownership of its vehicles is now in the hand of overseas dealers.
JCB’s 105 machines include 50t and 33t tracked excavators, while also on board are backhoe loaders, loadall telescopic handlers, wheeled loading shovels and Teletruk forklifts from the manufacturer’s Staffordshire factories.
“The thing to remember is because the machines have left our factory, they become the property of their dealers and in this case, they are in the Middle East,” a JCB spokesman told just-auto.
“Yes, we are liaising with the shipping company, but the machines are not now owned by JCB. We are not resigned to anything yet until the picture becomes clearer.
“We would hope the machines could be salvaged, but we are reliant on the expertise of the [salvors].”
BMW told just-auto it was still waiting to hear about the condition of its vehicles, which it previously estimated were worth around GBP1.3m (US$2m). Other estimates have put the Wraith value at around GBP240,000, although BMW stressed its Rolls-Royces were bespoke vehicles.
Jaguar Land Rover was not immediately available for comment.
Further information on the Hoegh Osaka is expected later today.
