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Shipping A Container to Nigeria
An American Perspective

April 15, 2010: I call my shipping company Sallaum Group on 703 726-2516 and was transferred to Mr Chadi Nassif. Mr Nassif said that shipping a 20 feet container to Lagos will cost $2600 while 40 feet will cost $3800. He emailed me the "Request for Container Dock Receipt Form" to begin the process. You can download the form here. 

He also asked me to send a $200 Cashier's Check to book the container. This $200 is a deposit and will be applied to the final cost. Once he receives the check, he will give me a booking number which I will use to pick up the container. 

April 16, 2010: Today, I sent a $200 Cashier's check to Sallaum Group to book the Container.

April 26, 2010: I receive the Container Booking Number via email from Chadi Nassif. Mr Nassif said he actually sent it the previous week. But for some reason, I did not get it.

May 1, 2010: I give the Container Booking Number to my truck driver who picked it up and dropped it off at a designated location. He will come back and pick it up once we finish loading. For this, he charged me $700. Since this is my first time, I do not know if this amount is too big, too small or just about right. If you know, please respond via the Comment form below.

Note: Do not pick up the container until everything is ready on your end. This is because, the facility where you keep it might charge daily or weekly. In that case, the longer the container stays, the more money you may have to pay.

Important: Remember to copy the Container number. This number is different from the booking number and can be found on the body of the Container. It will be required by the Shipping Company when processing the dock receipt.

May 3, 2010: The 4 cars are loaded into the Container. Usually a 40 feet container will fit 2 cars, but the loaders made it fit 4. They did this by hanging 2 cars on top with chains while 2 went under. This can only be done if you are shipping cars. It cannot be done with SUVs. In our case, we had 3 Honda Accords and 1 Toyota Camry.

Note: To hang a car inside a container, the loaders usually pass chains through the tires before lifting. This can easily be done on cars with alloy wheels. If a car do not have alloy wheels, they would have to remove the tires entirely and wrap the chains around the wheel drums. Bear this in mind when making your plans.

May 5, 2010: We load 25 boxes of books, clothes, toiletries and other personal items on the container. The boxes range in size from 12 x 12 x 12 to 14 x 14 x 14. When we were done, we noticed that the container still had a lot of space left. We plan to add more items to fill the empty spaces in a few days. See picture on the left for the amount of space left after 4 cars were loaded.

Click on a picture for larger image.

May 7, 2010: We have completed loading. The container is now ready to be taken to the Port. But before we do that, we need to submit the dock receipt to the shipping company. The dock receipt is a manifest that indicates the shipper, receiver and a list of items being shipped. We hope to get this done in the next few days.

May 10, 2010: We filled out and emailed the dock receipt to the shipping company today. Once they process and return it to us, the container will be sent to the Port.

May 11, 2010: We receive the processed dock receipt from the shipping company via email. It is quite different from the one we sent earlier. Everything is now complete and the container can be taken to the Port. To see what a processed dock receipt looks like, click here (personal information were obscured).

May 12, 2010: The Container was finally taken to the Port today. We now await receipt of the bill of lading from the shipping company. That will tell us when the ship left for Lagos.

May 13, 2010: Our Container is rejected by US Customs after inspection at the Port. They complained that the 2 cars hanging inside the Container were shaky. We tightened the chains holding the cars and on second inspection, it was accepted. However we had to pay the $98.97 inspection fee a second time.

So, if you decide to hang cars in your Container, make sure that the chains holding them are secured properly. 

May 20, 2010: I called my shipping company today for an update. They said the ship will leave for Nigeria today. They asked me to call back on Tuesday May 25 for confirmation.

Note on US Customs Inspection: While loading your Container, ensure there is space on one side. The space should be big enough to pass a human being. This is very important because a Customs inspector will need it to move around when checking the VINs of the cars inside. VIN stands for Vehicle Identification Number. The VIN on each title must match the VIN of a car inside the Container.

So far this is what we have spent on this Container:

• $3800* - Cost of Container
• $700 - Container pick-up and drop-off
• $200 - Container storage space for 1 week
• $400 - Transporting 4 cars to Container location
• $250 - Transporting other items to Container location
• $500 - Lifting and placing 4 cars inside the Container
• $98.97 - Money Order payable to US Customs for inspection
• $98.97 - Money Order payable to US Customs for re-inspection

Total: $6047.94**

*Out of the $3800, we have only made a $200 deposit. The balance will be paid once the ship sets sail.

**The next major expense will involve clearing the Container at Lagos Port. According to our agent, Containers are no longer cleared on a flat fee basis. Customs may have to go through the contents before coming up with a figure.

To be alerted when new entry is made, Click Here.

By Jay in MD.