Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa has undertaken its first shipment of 1 000 locally assembled Ford Rangers from Port Elizabeth to markets in Europe.

The Ford Rangers, which are produced at Ford’s Silverton Assembly Plant in Pretoria, are being transported to Port Elizabeth using Transnet Freight Rail infrastructure. Traditionally, Port Elizabeth-based vehicle manufacturers transport units to Gauteng by rail and these rail assets return empty.

Ford will now be using the return leg to move export vehicles from Silverton to Port Elizabeth for shipping to selected markets around the world.

Currently, all of Ford’s incoming and outbound vehicles are processed through Durban Harbour’s Roll On Roll Off (RORO) Terminal, which is the country’s primary import and export hub for most original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), importers and distributors.

“We are experiencing unprecedented demand for the Ford Ranger around the world, and have invested over R3-billion in the recent expansion of our production capacity in our South African operations to fulfil these orders,” said Ockert Berry, VP Operations, Ford Middle East and Africa.