At 2021 on the evening of 3rd January the 51,770gt/2000 built Hoegh Osaka departed from Southampton’s eastern docks bound for Bremerhaven on a routine sailing. It was a calm evening and, as the ship negotiated the turn to port at West Bramble Cardinal Buoy from the Thorn Channel into the Solent off Cowes to head eastwards to The Nab, she became unstable and developed a severe list to starboard. In a commendable attempt to save the ship and her crew the Captain and Pilot decided to turn the ship hard to port and beach her on the Bramble Bank.

The emergency turn and dead stop halt on the bank all happened in around 3 minutes. The Hoegh Osaka came to rest at a 52 degree list and immediately on scene was the ABP Patrol vessel SP Pathfinder. The Calshot, Cowes and Yarmouth lifeboats attended with most of the 25 on board being airlifted to safety by Coastguard helicopter to HMS Daedalus at Stubbington, plus one with a suspected broken leg who went to hospital. Fawley based Solent Towage tug Apex and Svitzer (Southampton) tugs Svitzer Ferriby and Svitzer Sussex were next on the scene, later joined by Solent Towage’s Lomax which remained on station all night.

The grounding happened an hour after departure as the 72,295gt/2011 built car carrier Tugela was approaching the scene, inward bound. This ship went to Alpha Anchorage off East Cowes where she spent the night. The shipping channel was not affected by the incident but a speed restriction and 200m exclusion zone was put in place. Tugs stabilised the ship 24 hours a day with the Lomax being on scene the longest, certainly in the first few days. Other tugs involved included the Phenix, Vortex, Svitzer Surrey, Svitzer Sarah and Svitzer Bargate (the port’s latest tug). The Salvage contract was handled by Svitzer and Williams Shipping’s Willsupply and Willjive have been used by the Salvors to access the ship as from 4th January. The ship was assessed externally and internally from that time. One JCB had reportedly broken free and punched a hole in the ship’s side on Deck 6 allowing some ingress of water.

The Pure Car and Truck Carrier was reported to be carrying 1,400 cars plus construction equipment. According to a spokesman for Jaguar Land Rover, its vehicles total about 1,200 with a combined retail price of around £30 million. There were also 65 BMW Mini cars, each retailing at £20,000, and 105 JCB machines. The total cargo was in excess of 4,600 tonnes/£100 million and also included 10 new buses, other plant equipment and at least one £260,000 Rolls Royce Wraith. The fuel aboard the Hoegh Osaka was estimated to be roughly 500 tonnes.

Sightseers swamped the coastline at Calshot and Cowes plus the Red Funnel car ferry service received an unexpected boost in foot passenger numbers as the ferry provided a grandstand view of the scene. An initial attempt to refloat the ship on Wednesday 7th January was abandoned beforehand due to the weather forecast among other factors. However, at around 1415 on that day the Hoegh Osaka began to float free of the Bramble Bank and move in a south/southwesterly direction. The ship surprised almost everyone by freeing herself in increasingly rough conditions. The tugs Lomax and Vortex could not fully control the ship as she slewed around anticlockwise by around 90 degrees until the bow was facing westwards.

Additional tugs in the form of Svitzer Sarah, Svitzer Surrey and Phenix quickly attended and slowly dragged the listing ship eastwards to Alpha Anchorage at around 2.2 knots. The ensemble was accompanied by Williams Shipping’s Willsupply and Admiralty Pilot vessel SD Solent Racer. A 500m exclusion zone was placed around the Hoegh Osaka plus the air exclusion zone was also increased. The Hoegh Osaka had 3,000 tonnes of water aboard and preparations were made to pump this out of the ship prior to returning her to an upright position. An oily film had formed on top of this water from the hydraulics of the vehicles on board. The Salvors used a technique that draws the water from the bottom of the vessel to avoid this oily film. Weather conditions once the ship was at her holding position deteriorated making the task that bit more complex.

At the time of writing no date had been set for the righting exercise or tow back to Southampton for unloading. On 8th January the Dutch registered 487gt/2010 built tug Ginger joined the Vortex and Lomax at the Hoegh Osaka. In the early hours of 10th January winds gusting to 72 knots caused the Hoegh Osaka to drag her anchor by around 100 metres. The bad weather has also delayed preparations to pump the water from the ship. The Lomax was replaced by the Phenix on 10th January as the former had exchanged blows with the Hoegh Osaka in high winds. Two days later the 497gt/2006 built Multratug 4 arrived in place of a Solent Towage vessel.