Jaguar Land Rover Awaits News of 1,200 Cars Aboard Beached Ship

PARIS, Jan 6 (Reuters) – Jaguar Land Rover said on Tuesday it was awaiting word on the fate of 1,200 luxury vehicles aboard a 51,000-tonne car transporter ship that has run aground in the English Channel.

Salvage experts are working around the clock to right the Hoegh Osaka, which has been stuck on a sandbank off the south coast of England since Saturday.

Range Rovers and other Jaguar Land Rover models accounting for most of the 1,400 vehicles aboard are covered by insurance, said a spokesman for the British carmaker, owned by India’s Tata Motors Ltd.

“We’re still evaluating what has happened,” the spokesman said. “Our main objective is to get sold orders to customers.”

The company has not given any indication of the value of its cargo. According to Reuters calculations, 1,200 of the company’s luxury cars could be worth close to 100 million pounds ($151.80 million).

Salvage experts have yet to report back on the condition of the cargo, which may have moved as the vessel listed to a near-45 degree angle.

The ship’s owner, Hoegh Autoliners, has said its crew deliberately beached the ship after it began listing dangerously following its departure from the port of Southampton, bound for Germany. An investigation is underway. ($1 = 0.6588 pounds) (Reporting by Laurence Frost; editing by Susan Thomas)