Car Shipping to Nigeria

Why ship a car to Nigeria from the UK

Ship Cars RoRo is a specialist UK vehicle export company moving cars, SUVs, classics, motorbikes and light commercials to Nigeria every month. African importers absorb more used UK vehicle volume than any other region, with West, East and Southern African ports each running their own weekly RORO calls and consolidated container schedules out of Tilbury, Southampton and Felixstowe. Typical clients on this lane include fleet operators and SACU buyers, alongside private owners relocating to Nigeria and returning residents importing a personal vehicle. Our UK-to-Nigeria corridor is engineered around predictable transit, transparent pricing and full compliance with Nigeria customs.

Vehicles depart from Tilbury, Immingham, Liverpool and arrive at Lagos (Tin Can Island), Lagos (Apapa), Onne via Cape routing via Walvis Bay and Durban. Typical door-to-port turnaround is 18–24 days to lagos from tilbury/southampton, supported by marine all-risks insurance, GPS-tracked UK collection and bonded warehousing where required. For an instant indication of cost, use our car shipping cost calculator or request a tailored quote on our quote page.

How UK to Nigeria car shipping works

Every shipment to Nigeria follows the same six-step pipeline: free quotation, UK collection or self-drop at Tilbury, bonded UK warehousing and pre-shipment photos, HMRC NOVA / C88 export clearance handled by our UK customs clearance team, ocean transit to Lagos (Tin Can Island) (and onward feeder to Lagos (Apapa) where required), and destination customs handover. You choose the shipping mode that best matches the vehicle profile and budget — see the full breakdown on our car shipping costs page or compare live RORO sailing dates to Nigeria.

Nigeria ports, routing and transit

Vehicles bound for Nigeria are typically routed through Lagos (Tin Can Island) as the lead discharge port, with Lagos (Apapa), Onne available as alternatives depending on sailing schedule and onward inland transport. We schedule loads to match weekly RORO sailing schedules to Nigeria and consolidated shared container departures from the UK. For sole-use loads we book 20ft and 40ft container slots on the same rotation.

• Port of Lagos (Tin Can Island)
• Port of Lagos (Apapa)
• Port of Onne
• UK departure: Southampton
• UK departure: Tilbury
• UK departure: Bristol (Portbury)

Nigeria import duty, VAT and customs in 2026

Importing a vehicle into Nigeria is regulated and document-driven. The headline framework is summarised below; our team verifies every figure against the latest Nigeria customs schedule before quoting.

• Vehicle age limits and pre-shipment inspection (PSI/SGS/Intertek)
• Country-specific import duties, VAT and excise on engine size
• RORO and shared container handling at Tema, Apapa, Mombasa and Durban
• Right-hand-drive compatibility in most markets

Document checklist for Nigeria

• V5C registration
• Passport
• Commercial invoice
• Bill of Lading
• Form M (import declaration)
• PAAR (Pre-Arrival Assessment Report)

For full country-specific customs rules, see our Nigeria import guides and articles, our UK and Nigeria customs clearance service, or use the duty-inclusive cost calculator for a landed estimate to Lagos (Tin Can Island).

Other Africa destinations from the UK

We ship to 8+ other Africa countries from the UK on the same trade lanes as Nigeria. Many customers shipping to Nigeria also enquire about Ghana, South Africa because routing, customs documentation and transit windows overlap.