Ingar Skiaker, chief executive of Hoegh Autoliners which owns the vessel, said the ship was run aground on purpose after it began to list badly – but the reason for the fault is still unknown.
According to a maritime expert were efforts would now be taken to re-float the 51,000-tonne car carrier safely.
Simon Boxall, oceanographer at the University of Southampton’s National Oceanography Centre, said a close inspection would have to be carried out to establish whether the ship had been damaged.
This would help to establish whether the ship was capable of being re-floated.
He said: “The key thing is take things gently. There were reports of trying to re-float it yesterday but they weren’t planning to. The reason is they want to know if the structure is still together. They don’t want to just drag it off and it splits in two, causing the major disaster that they have so far avoided.
“They need to make sure it is capable of floating first and establish the best time and best way of doing this.”