Ford joins the quarantine queue as Australia’s biohazard backlog grows

More than 650 Ford utes and four-wheel drives from Thailand have been stopped at Australian ports for quarantine checking and cleaning as the backlog in the latest round of biohazard protection continues to grow.

Ford joins Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi, MG, Nissan and Volkswagen in reporting delivery delays as cars are given extra cleaning to remove seeds in the biggest car quarantine crisis since 2019, when infestations of insects – brown marmorated stink bugs – were detected by the Department of Agriculture.

Drive first reported the problem more than a week again and the number of brands involved has continued to grow with the total number of vehicles involved around 10,000

Ford has now confirmed details of the ships and vehicles involved – and its efforts to clear the backlog.

“There are several boats impacted at the moment. Currently there are four vessels quarantined with approximately 650 Ford vehicles on board, across three ports – Melbourne, Port Kembla and Fremantle,” a Ford spokesperson first told Drive.

“These are mostly Rangers and Everests, plus a few Escapes.

“The exact numbers are 69 Escapes, with 607 Ranger and Everest.”

But the numbers have fallen this week with clearances from the docks, Ford Australia told Drive.

“We've just got an update that the total number of Rangers and Everests held is now 273. No change to Escapes,” the company spokesman said.

Isuzu, which also builds utes and four-wheel drives in Thailand, has been contacted for comment.

The Ford spokesperson said the company was hopeful its backlog could be cleared within a fortnight.

“Some could be cleared in a few days, but some will take a little longer. We're working through it with the authorities,” they said.

“We are keeping our dealer network updated as each vessel is cleared, so they can keep impacted customers updated.”