Shipping via Marine Vessels to East Coast Customers

[Accord07]

For those of us on the East Coast, it looks like Ford is indeed utilizing marine vessels in addition to rails. The first such instance was the Italian-flagged Grande Torino, which departed Veracruz on October 9 and unloaded 354 MME's in Newark, NJ on October 24. The second auto carrier, Norwegian-flagged Hoegh Trader, departed Veracruz on October 29, unloaded 227 MME's in Jacksonville, FL on November 7. Although the shipper/consignee names on the manifests submitted to US Customs are not identical to those, it is obvious they are intended for US delivery: shipper is Ford Trading Company, consignee is Ford North America. The vessel is currently in the Port of Wilmington (right next to the Norfolk Southern rail yard in New Castle, DE), having arrived at 11:04AM today - this is a pleasant surprise because while the port is capable of processing automobiles, it hasn't processed any vehicle imports for at least a couple of years.

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[WCVT]

Hoping mine is on that trip. Up in Vermont with the following info, but no update on any of the trackers

Receipt Date	2021-03-01
ETA End Date	2021-12-06
Production Date	2021-10-09
Ship Date	2021-10-14

 

[generaltso]

Hoping mine is on that trip. Up in Vermont with the following info, but no update on any of the trackers

My Vermont delivery took a train to Ayer, Massachusetts and was trucked from there.

 

[Davedough]

Interesting. Are there any concerns for the massive amount of ships parked off the coast waiting to be unloaded? (I don't remember if that's still a problem. I haven't been keeping up with that news)

 

[Kevin P]

Interesting. Are there any concerns for the massive amount of ships parked off the coast waiting to be unloaded? (I don't remember if that's still a problem. I haven't been keeping up with that news)

That is mostly on the West coast.

 

[Fatawan]

Since my NC-bound GT left Mexico on 10/9 and never showed up in KC, I wonder if it took a boat? Is there any way to track that either on the ship or off the ship?

 

[Glen]

Well, least things are being shipped. Would like to see all those MME's in a parking lot/yard around Newark. What a picture that would make to post here.

 

[Blacklobo]

It looks like I am part of this wonderful group of impatient patient buyers. Shows pending in Palsapp and "in transit" on the tracker site, but no other details. I am South of Northern VA...waiting...

Build week: 8/24
Completed: 10/1
Shipped: 10/1
ETA: 11/14

 

[Plutoman15]

Interesting. Are there any concerns for the massive amount of ships parked off the coast waiting to be unloaded? (I don't remember if that's still a problem. I haven't been keeping up with that news)

I have no expertise but I suspect since these are cars that I believe drive on and off the boat, it is not the same bottle neck at the ports as containers that need cranes. Just my thought.

 

[Plutoman15]

For those of us on the East Coast, it looks like Ford is indeed utilizing marine vessels in addition to rails. The first such instance was the Italian-flagged Grande Torino, which departed Veracruz on October 9 and unloaded 354 MME's in Newark, NJ on October 24. The second auto carrier, Norwegian-flagged Hoegh Trader, departed Veracruz on October 29, unloaded 227 MME's in Jacksonville, FL on November 7. Although the shipper/consignee names on the manifests submitted to US Customs are not identical to those, it is obvious they are intended for US delivery: shipper is Ford Trading Company, consignee is Ford North America. The vessel is currently in the Port of Wilmington (right next to the Norfolk Southern rail yard in New Castle, DE), having arrived at 11:04AM today - this is a pleasant surprise because while the port is capable of processing automobiles, it hasn't processed any vehicle imports for at least a couple of years.

Did you VVR ever show anything to say it was on a boat like @mkhuffman did?

I have a rail car assigned to my car now in the VVR so the boat dream for me is over
Should show in KC in 3-5 days hopefully.

 

[Glen Boise]

The use of ships for moving may reflect that the railroads are as congested as the Port of LA and Long Beach where most of t hose loaded ships are anchored. They are parking entire trains of containers along their lines and storing containers in their container train loading/unloading yards. The container shippers cannot find enough drivers willing to work at low pay to move the containers to their final destinations.

 

[Accord07]

Did you VVR ever show anything to say it was on a boat like @mkhuffman did?

I have a rail car assigned to my car now in the VVR so the boat dream for me is over
Should show in KC in 3-5 days hopefully.

My salesperson never provided a VVR showing last known location, for reason not clear to me. @mkhuffman 's dealer received five GT's and one Premium on November 2, they were delivered by two different trucking companies: the Premium arrived alone from New Castle, Delaware, while the other four GT's presumably arrived from Port of Newark just like his GT. Nearly all VINs I have been watching in New Jersey have been delivered by 11/4, but there has been no progress with ANY on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River.

There is a 2-day delay in when shipping manifests appear on importinfo.com, so the earliest date to find out if Hoegh Trader unloaded any MME's in Port of Wilmington will be tomorrow - it is entirely possible that it only loaded vehicles for export. Between Veracruz and Wilmington the vessel made port calls to Freeport, Texas to unload construction equipment from Europe and Jacksonville, Florida to unload MME's from Mexico and EcoSport from India. It left Wilmington last night and is now crossing the Atlantic.

 

[connoisseurr]

This would be an interesting topic for someone to research who's been notified their vehicle was "shipped" but does not have any data populated on Palsapp.

I'd also like to poll those of you on the east cost near the New Castle distribution area - what companies is Ford using for trucking? I've only seen United Road, however when searching against the deliveries for my dealership, United Road hasn't delivered a single Mach-E to this dealership. They've been moving anything from Escape, Explorer, F-250, Transit and a few others. This entire year, not a single MME was moved by United Road - and I know they had 4 deliveries last month, commented by the inventory manager.

Just trying to track when my MME arrives so I can ensure the dealer isn't going to destroy the front bumper with a plate bracket, among other things.

 

[Blacklobo]

Any update on the ship, did it offload any vehicles?

 

[Glen]

I was at 4 Ford dealers in the past 2 dsys. They had between them a total of 13 MMEs delivered. I looked at every sticker. Delivery by rail, than truck to dealer. Took a picture of the window sticker.

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