Authorities dealing with the listing Hoegh Osaka carliner carrying 1,300 vehicles, say they are “battening down the hatches” as 100mph winds are forecast to tear into Southampton Water tonight (14 January).
All salvage work on the 51,000t ship has ground to a halt and although a helicopter to winch salvers on board the vessel has finally arrived from Norway via Holland, the extreme winds make it too dangerous to fly.
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Earlier, salver, Svitzer, revealed it had requisitioned teams of rope experts to move around the ship heeled over at 52 degrees, but the extremely physical nature of that work meant crews would now take advantage of tonight’s storm to recuperate.
Anchors and three tugs are being deployed to try and secure the Hoegh Osaka, although previous high winds have seen the vessel dragged 100m from its position just outside the Port of Southampton on England’s south coast.
“The teams are very confident they have done what they can to keep the vessel in position at Alpha Anchorage,” a UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency spokeswoman told just-auto from Southampton. “Nothing much is going to happen until this weather has passed.
“The salver helicopter is on scene, which happened today, with equipment and there is a temporary air exclusion zone [of] 2,000ft.
“The diving they wanted to do did not take place, but they managed to test some water pumps. By the weekend, salvers will be getting on with stuff and hopefully will be able to continue with this operation when the weather allows.”
Around 3,000t of water remains on board after shifting machinery cracked the ship, but Svitzer says it will leave this in place until the worst of the weather is finished, with the huge weight acting as a form of stabiliser.
“We were very lucky the water came in because it helped increase stability,” said Svitzer operations manager, Bram Sperling. “We will leave it in for the bad weather coming.
“We can pump it out but the stability of the vessel will be less.”
The UK’s Secretary of State Representative (SOSREP) Hugh Shaw, noted the Marine Accidents Investigation Branch (MAIB) is working in tandem with the salvage, but would only be able to access the Hoegh Osaka once its list had reduced to between 15 and 20 degrees.
The fate of the 1,300 Jaguar Land Rovers, Minis, one Rolls-Royce Wraith and more than 100 JCBs is not yet clear, with very little information emanating from the automakers, whose vehicles were bound for Germany and then multiple Middle East destinations.
Previous similar incidents have seen cars completely scrapped after water ingress, but there is no indication yet of the Hoegh Osaka’s cargo as the ship is in semi-darkness.
