Hoegh Osaka arrived in Falmouth for repairs: PICTURES

A&P Falmouth managing director Peter Child said: “ The Hoegh Osaka will have to wait at a lay-by berth until the Irish Ferries super-ferry Oscar Wilde has completed her drydocking. Hoegh Osaka will then enter number 2 drydock for repairs and an inspection.”

Picture: David Barnicoat

A spokesman for the owners of the ship, Hoegh Autoliners, said: “It would be at the yard for two or three weeks. After repairs to steelwork and the hydraulics, it will sail back to Southampton to be loaded with cars for the voyage to Bremerhaven in Germany, which it was supposed to complete on 3 January.”

Following a clean up of the accommodation and cargo spaces and testing of the main engine at Southampton the vessel arrived here under her own power.

Picture: David Barnicoat

Sailing from Southampton on January 3rd, under the direction of a port pilot, the 180 metres long Hoegh Osaka suddenly developed a 50 degree  list when approaching the Bramble Bank. The ship’s master and pilot deliberately ran the ship aground on the bank for safety reasons. The ship’s crew of 25 were then airlifted to safety.

The ship spent 19 days on Bramble Bank, then at Alpha Anchorage between East Cowes and Lee-on-the-Solent, before being towed to Berth 101 at Southampton. In a two week long operation 1,400 luxury cars including Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Land Rover, Hyundai, Mini cars as well as JCB units have been discharged at Southampton docks.

Experts believe that the ship may have suffered a loss of stability due to water ballasting.  

The officers’ union Nautilus International national secretary Allan Graveson said:

‘In reality, these vessels – both vehicle and livestock carriers - are built to the edge of safety for commercial reasons. Their design has gone beyond what is reasonable and these ships need a lot of careful management,’ he added.

‘There is manifest failure of the regulator that permits the design and operation of ships in this way. Improvements are required and we hope the investigation will examine the root causes of this incident.’

The incident is being investigated by the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch.

Another car carrier of similar size to the Hoegh Osaka, the Mitsui OSK Lines Cougar Ace was almost lost in 2006 off the Aleutian Islands when during ballast transfer she developed a 60 degree list. She was eventually towed into Portland, Oregon where Mazda decided that all 4,812 new cars onboard had to be crushed in an operation that lasted over one year.