Luxury vehicles, worth £30 million in total, have been saved from the enormous vehicle carrier that was deliberately grounded.

The Hoegh Osaka was transporting a cargo consisting of a large number of expensive vehicles such as Bentleys worth up to roughly £237,500 each. It was en route from Southampton when it ran aground on Bramble Bank in the Solent after it had started listing.

There were some concerns regarding the expensive cargo, but it was confirmed yesterday that the new Range Rovers were the first vehicles, out of a total of 1, 400, to be driven off the 51, 000-tonne vessel, which has now been moored back at the Southampton Docks in Hampshire.

Some of the cars displayed some visible damage on their exterior.

Jaguars and a £260,000 Rolls-Royce Wraith are part of the cargo on board the Hoegh Osaka, but there is has been no information as of yet, regarding the extent of the damage to the remaining automobiles.

According to experts, the number of potentially damaged vehicles should be relatively small.

All of the ship’s cargo, including cars and other pieces of equipment, will be taken off the vessel by the end of this current week or early next week, as stated by Hoegh Autoliners.

Video: Wonkabar007

Those vehicles that are damaged or are not able to start will be towed off the carrier.

A Hoegh Autoliners’ Navigate Response spokesperson commented:

“The damage sustained by the cargo is limited. Most of the lashings managed to stay in place and only a few pieces of large machinery shifted. Water damage was sustained only by the lowest deck and by the one side of the carrier that was listing.”

The spokesperson further added:

“At this point we’ve managed to perform only preliminary checks on the vehicles. We will be coordinating our operations with other various companies, including manufacturers and dealers, in order to fully assess the cargo.”

The ship was grounded by the captain, as it began listing badly just 45 minutes after having departed from the Southampton port on the 3rd of January.

The carrier, which has a length of 180 meters and is 33 meters wide, had remained stranded off the English coast for the duration of 19 days before finally arriving back in Southampton, Hampshire, on the 22nd of January, via the help and guidance of two tugs.