Are Ford Ranger and Everest wait times about to get shorter? Ford Australia leases its own ship to speed up popular ute and SUV deliveries!

Ever since the new-generation Ford Ranger ute and the related Everest SUV launched in Australia, the pair have been in hot demand.

In fact, some grades of both models have lengthy wait times, with buyers forced to hang on for up to 12 months.

The reasons for these have been well documented. Pandemic-related factory closures, parts shortages, specifically semiconductors, and more recently, a nightmare situation at Australian ports.

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The congestion at Australian ports has been caused by vehicles arriving here on boats after sitting on literal grass in their country of origin where they have collected bugs, snails, seeds and more. And given Australia’s super strict biosecurity laws, every single vehicle has had to be cleaned and cleared before it moves beyond the port.

The sheer number of available ships has also fallen, and all of this has combined to create a perfect storm of vehicle delivery delays.

But rather than wait around and hope the situation gets better, Ford Australia has decided to take matters into its own hands.

The Blue Oval has taken out a three-year lease of a ship - called the Grand Quest, if you don’t mind - in an attempt to try and reduce some wait times for its two best-selling models, the Ranger and Everest.

The ship, operated by Polaris Autoliners Ltd., has a capacity of 2600 vehicles and it will deliver vehicles manufactured at Ford’s Thailand plant to Australia and New Zealand.

It’s unclear how much faster delivery will be with the new ship, or when that will have an impact on customer deliveries.

This will be in addition to the other ships Ford shares with other manufacturers.

Currently the Ford Australia website says there are lengthy wait times on Ranger Platinum, Wildtrak V6 and Ranger Raptor, but there is some availability now on XLS and XLT.

In terms of the Everest, the Platinum and Sport V6 are experiencing longer wait times, and the special-edition Everest Wildtrak is all but sold out. There are examples of the Ambiente and Trend in dealerships.

Another measure Ford has introduced to help speed things up is to ship some vehicles in shipping containers, which the company believes could move things along at a faster pace at the congested ports.

“We are investing significantly in tackling the ongoing supply chain issues head-on, with a focus on ensuring customer cars are delivered as quickly as possible,” said Ford Australia and New Zealand President and CEO, Andrew Birkic.

“Securing an exclusive three-year lease of the Grand Quest will allow Ford Australia to deliver more vehicles to both Australia and New Zealand as we continue to face unprecedented levels of demand.”

The Ranger is Ford’s best seller by some margin, and it’s currently the second best-selling car in Australia. With 31,884 sales year to date, it is just trailing its key rival, the Toyota HiLux on 32,763 units.

The Everest is experiencing its best sales ever, with 6897 examples finding homes so far this year. It is fourth in the large SUV segment behind the Toyota Prado, Isuzu MU-X and Subaru Outback.