At around 1435 on the afternoon of 22nd January the operation to salvage the 51,770gt/2000 built Hoegh Osaka reached a critical stage. Over the previous week or so pumps had been placed aboard the ship whilst at Alpha Anchorage in the Solent off Lee-on-Solent, around one mile east of Bramble Bank where the vessel was deliberately grounded on the evening of 3rd January 2015 when a potential capsize situation arose. The rapid actions of the Captain and Pilot ultimately saved the ship and her crew, not to mention the cargo. The 52 degree list to starboard was reduced to 5 degrees as a result of pumping 300 tonnes of water from the ship, much of which was ingress via a hole punched in the hull by an excavator that broke loose during the incident. The tug Thorax was assigned to the ship at Alpha Anchorage, joining the Multratug 4, Ginger and Solent Towage’s Lomax. Williams Shipping work vessels and a helicopter ferried the Salvors to and from the Hoegh Osaka each day.

So, on 22nd January the Thorax towed the Hoegh Osaka, complete with 5 degree list, back in the port of Southampton 20 days after she departed bound for Bremerhaven. With a flotilla of tugs and other work vessels around her the Hoegh Osaka was berthed at City Cruise Terminal, with her bow facing west, at around 1730. The following afternoon the large stern ramp was lowered, as seen above, and, once the Salvage Team had handed the ship back to the shipping company, the cargo of vehicles was gradually disembarked. The condition of the cargo was variable with many vehicles emerging unscathed whilst others had side impact, crush or water damage.

At around 0700 on 16th January the 72,408gt/2011 built vehicle carrier G Poseidon arrived at 101 berth, western docks, having experienced rough seas off Brest causing some of her cargo to break free and punch holes in both sides of the ship. The 232m long ship was moved forward to free the berth for the Hoegh Osaka and spent two weeks or more in port being patched up.

The Hoegh Osaka sailed from Southampton on 10th February to be drydocked at Falmouth as shown in the above photograph.