THE huge operation to refloat the stranded Hoegh Osaka could be re-launched within the next 48 hours, it has been revealed.

Salvors are today in a race against time preparing to move the vessel beached in the Solent off the coast of the Isle of Wight.

An ambitious £10m mission to carefully move the 51,000 tonne vessel to deeper water for re-floating was scrapped last night after rescue crews working on it said the vessel had taken on more water than first thought.

It came as a high winds bringing heavy rain bear down on the region today and severe weather batters the area into the weekend.

Now crews are saying the mission could be resurrected in the next few days after this morning's efforts in frantically pumping out water of the 180m ship's hold.

A spokesman for global maritime firm Svitzer, which is spearheading the salvaging operation, said: “They would like to move it as quickly as possible.

“But it depends on how much water they have to pump out.

"They will make an assessment tomorrow morning and it could be tomorrow afternoon.

“They've been pumping it out like mad and trying to get out as much as possible.

“But they've got to pump it out of the side and it's quite a high-sided ship.”

He said the teams are monitoring the weather situation with heavy rain and winds of up to 55mph forecast for the region tonight and into the weekend.

But he said that if conditions are not as bad as anticipated it could be a window for them to move the ship.

He said: “They don't seem to be completely worried and they are used to working in weather conditions all over the world.

“They will be waiting for the weather window to be open.”

Crews had planned to carefully move the 180m ship from its position grounded and tilting at 50 degrees on Bramble Bank.

It was deliberately grounded there when it began listing after leaving Southampton Docks on Saturday.

The delicate operation involved using two tugs to tow it to deeper water.

The intention was to put in place a 500m exclusion zone while the convoy crawled at around three knots to a temporary location so they could begin righting her without obstructing the shipping lane.

The alternative involves securing the ship to the sandbank with several anchors while a number of tugs will be attached to the vessel with crews onboard the smaller boats monitoring her stability.

Water had initially seeped in after a digger it was carrying came loose and smashed into the hull puncturing a hole which has since been fixed.

The rest of the 1,400 cars and nearly 100 pieces of excavators and heavy plant machinery and the vessel's 500 tonnes of fuel are secure, salvors say.

Earlier this morning a spokesman for vessel owners Hoegh said: “She's going to be there longer, but the best thing in salvage operations is that things are done safely.

“We hope it will be carefully done as the ship contains cargo and risks have to be mitigated.”

Winds are expected to reach gale force at times tomorrow and into Friday, while gales could resume into the middle of next week.

Nigel Bolton, shipping forecaster for the Met Office, said: “With a south-westerly wind, the winds are going to funnel through that stretch of the Solent and the sea could be choppy.

“Winds will get up to 45 knots heading into Thursday, and then it will ease for a time before the start to increase again for Thursday into Friday.

“This time the winds will be stronger, with gale forces, possibly up to nine which could be up to 55 miles per hour.