Shipping to Nigeria From UK

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.