Deteriorating weather in the English Channel is adding to a sense of urgency surrounding the righting of the grounded Hoegh Osaka ship, carrying 1,200 Jaguar and Land Rover cars, as well as what are thought to be other luxury makes.
No details of other cars on board the stricken vessel are yet available, following the deliberate grounding of the huge vessel weighing 51,000t and which is nearly 600ft long, onto a bank near the Port of Southampton as it developed a severe list shortly after leaving the UK south coast port.
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A plethora of authorities, including the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA), salvors, Svitzer, the British Secretary of State Representative in Maritime Salvage and Intervention, as well as the Port of Southampton, is involved, although no oil spillage has yet been reported from the vessel, which is currently listing alarmingly at around 50 degrees.
“Around 20min ago (6 January), a meeting started with all key parties involved,” a spokesman for Hoegh Osaka owners, Hoegh Autoliners, told just-auto.
“Weather conditions today – the last I heard is they are expected to deteriorate. But obviously the weather is a changeable thing and at the meeting, they will be discussing that.
“The MCA is obviously looking a the cordon around [the] ship and the no-fly zone above [as well as] the whole environmental side to make sure everything is being monitored as it should be.
“It [the ship] is in an isolated position, so normal port operations are able to continue.”
A JLR spokeswoman confirmed to just-auto in a statement it had around 1,200 of its vehicles on board, although the automaker was unable to say what state the cars were in until the salvage operation begins.
“The most important consideration is the crew are safe and well,” added the JLR statement.
A total of 25 crew were evacuated from the ship, with two members taken to hospital with injuries, while Hoegh Autoliners notes the UK spill response has been brought to a state of readiness.
The salvors have boarded the vessel and once assessment is complete, a salvage plan will be considered by the Secretary of State’s Representative for Maritime Salvage.
The Port of Southampton is reporting no knock-on effects so far from the Hoegh Osaka incident.
