Update: Tug Collides with H?egh Osaka

Published Jan 12, 2015 8:45 AM by Wendy Laursen

One of the two tugs securing Höegh Osaka collided with the vessel on Saturday afternoon. The damaged tug has now been replaced, and no pollution occurred during the incident.

Höegh Osaka remains at anchor, and Saturday’s weather conditions prevented any activity on the vessel other than to connect a third tug.

The main concern at the moment is the weather. The forecast is for continuing high winds in the coming week, says the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). Plans are therefore being refined to meet the challenges this presents.

In particular, the salvors Svitzer now intend to start ballasting work before pumping the 3,000t of water out of the vessel. They managed to board the ship on Sunday and will ensure the pump is working, but they will also look at the ballast system.

Overnight on Saturday the Höegh Osaka dragged anchor for approximately 100m due to very high winds. This did not change the state of the vessel. The list has not altered, and there is still no evidence of pollution, the MCA reported at the time.

During the time the Höegh Osaka dragged anchor, between 4am to 5am, the Queen Mary 2 was coming into port reporting 72 knot winds. Therefore, two tugs remain attached to the vessel, one fore and one aft.

Water, described as being lightly contaminated with oil is to be pumped from the ship’s hold, which will cause the ship’s 50-degree list to decrease. Salvage work to get the ship back to the Port of Southampton is expected to take between five and seven days.

The Höegh Osaka has been secured two miles (3.2km) east of the Bramble Bank sandbank from which it was refloated on a high tide a few days ago.

The Norwegian owned vessel was departing Southampton bound for Germany last weekend when it developed a severe list. The pilot and master then decided to intentionally ground the vessel on the nearby Bramble Bank.

There are 1,400 cars on board including 1,200 Jaguars and Land Rovers, 65 Minis, 105 JCB excavating machines and 500 tons of fuel.