Ford transforms vehicle production programme

A significant change in manufacturing at the Ford Motor Company of South Africa (FMCSA)’s Silverton assembly plant in Pretoria has positively impacted shipping volumes, says Dave Everett, Safmarine’s Ford global key account owner, “Last year FMCSA transformed its vehicle production programme at its Silverton assembly plant when the company went from a multi-model manufacturing platform (building five different models) to manufacturing exclusively the new Ford Ranger pickup and Mazda BT-50. The SA-manufactured units are exported to Europe and Africa.” FMCSA has also commenced production of the Duratorq TDCi diesel engine (which is used to power the new Ranger) at its Struandale engine plant near Port Elizabeth. “And in addition to supplying these engines to the Silverton assembly plant, FMCSA will also export machined components for engine kits to other new Ranger production plants in Thailand and Argentina,” said Everett. Safmarine provides Ford with weekly shipping services on core trades to South Africa, an on-site container yard service at the assembly plant in Pretoria (to manage the arrival and dispatching of containers to and from the Ford rail siding) and, where required, assists FMCSA in exporting vehicles in containers. A primary ocean carrier of Ford component imports for more than 20 years, Safmarine also moves Ford engine components to Port Elizabeth and provides carriage of engine blocks and crank cases from Port Elizabeth for export. In November last year, Safmarine won three Ford Motor Company of South Africa service excellence awards. Safmarine’s on-site customer services agent, Ammie Holmes, received a 2011 Ford Ambassador Award for his dedicated service to Ford, while Safmarine also received a gold certificate of recognition in the Excellence in Service Provision category, and the silver trophy in the same category (for overall second place).