Services
and Costs of Freight Companies Shipping to Nigeria
from UK
Nigeria is a country in the
western part of Africa. It gained its
independence in 1960 from Great
Britain. After more than 15 years of
military rule, the country peacefully transitioned into a civilian government
in the year 1999. The economy of Nigeria is mainly petroleum based.
It has a relatively poor infrastructure. The goods that are being shipped to
the Nigeria
include heavy equipment, machinery, food and consumer products. Container
shipping has always been the most cost-effective method of shipping for exports
to Nigeria.
Nevertheless, there are still many freight
companies shipping to Nigeria
from UK.
Containerized shopping
makes use of standard sized containers which are carried on ships designed
specially to accommodate the containers. Though shipping containers were used
first by the US
during the Second World War, the first commercial container operation started
in 1956. There was an increase in the popularity of containerized shipping in
the late 1960s. Many shipping lines are offering container services to Nigeria.
The standard sizes of
containers normally shipped to Nigeria
are 20 and 40 foot containers. 20-foot containers can hold up to 1050 cubic
feet. Often, this depends on the design. 40-fot container on other hand can
hold up to 2,200 cubic feet and again this depends on the design. The container
ports of Nigeria
are outfitted to handle safely these types of containers.
A number of freight
companies shipping to Nigeria
from UK can arrange for
the container shipments to Nigeria.
Apart from the above mentioned containers, some freight companies also offer
partial containers. Such companies are also known as freight consolidators as
they consolidate partial container loads to full sized containers. When you
contact a shipping company, make sure to ask for a quote that is portal to
portal. In some instances, freight companies may only quote prices to the
destination port. Generally, Nigeria’s
destination port is Lagos.
It is important to obtain a quote so you can get the container from the port
into its ultimate destination.
Container Shipping Cost
The costs of shipping containers will vary. The factors
affecting the cost include the size of the container, the season and popularity
of the route. Since the US
is important so much, most containers go back to foreign destinations either
completely or partially empty. But Nigeria is not a huge exporting
country so this may not be always the case. In addition to the cost of the
container, a charge can be levied for transport of the container to the
location for loading and processing the container through the Nigerian customs
as well as container delivery.
Container freighters are considered to be so much faster
compared to other types of freighters. The time it will take for containers
ship to reach Nigeria depends on the UK port from which it left. For instance,
Atlantic shipments would take around two weeks before the freighter will leave
port. The shipments which originated from the Pacific Coast
tend to take longer and are considered more expensive. In some instances, the
arrangements to move container into an Atlantic port by truck or rail in
cheaper compared to shipping from any Pacific Port.
