Illegal shipping container sales lost Nigeria $600m in 30 years – Expert

Nigeria may have lost as much as $600 million in crucial foreign exchange and customs revenue over the past three decades through the unregulated sale of temporary import shipping containers by foreign shipping lines, according to findings by trade experts.

Okey Ibeke, principal consultant at International Trade Advisory Services, who presented the data while speaking to the Shipping Correspondents Association of Nigeria (SCAN) spotlighted Grimaldi Agency Nigeria’s “illegal” planned sale of over 2,500 empty containers priced in dollars as the most recent FX casualty if allowed to happen.

According to him, the structure of the transaction as reported in the media prices a 40-foot container at $2,000 and $1,600 for a 20-foot unit, with payments routed through domiciliary accounts, which runs against ongoing efforts by authorities to curb dollarisation of domestic transactions. Grimaldi has not refuted these claims.

Leaders of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and the Africa Association Of Professional Freight Forwarders And Logistics (APFFLON) have openly opposed the sale, describing it as “economically disruptive” and undermining “financial sovereignty.”

Ibeke, however, insisted the debate misses the fundamental issue that the action itself is illegal and flouts regulatory requirements.

“These containers are in Nigeria under Temporary Import status. They are not Nigerian assets and cannot be sold locally without following customs procedure,” he said.

Under Nigeria’s temporary import regime, containers are admitted strictly for cargo operations and are expected to leave the country once their commercial cycle ends. Any local sale, he explained, must first pass through formal conversion under the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023.

“Application must be made to Customs, valuation carried out, duties paid, and only then is a release order issued converting the container to home use,” he said. “With Grimaldi, those steps are being bypassed.”

Ibeke estimated that, as in the case of Grimaldi, on a single batch of 2,500 containers, government could lose up to $1 million in duties and levies.

“If 250,000 containers were sold without duty payment at an average value of $1,500, Nigeria lost over $375 million in duties and VAT, over N600 billion at today’s rate in 30 years. Money that should fund roads, schools, hospitals, and debt service,” Ibeke said.

He linked the practice to imbalances in Nigeria’s trade, where imports dominate exports, leaving shipping lines with costly empty returns.

“Ships arrive full and leave empty,” he said. “That imbalance has created a shadow market for containers.”

Ibeke claims that the issue is not exclusive to Grimaldi. “For 30 years, multiple global shipping lines have operated similar practices within Nigeria’s ports ecosystem,” he said.

He asked that the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service suspends container sales pending investigation, and audit all temporary import containers from 2006 to reconcile port and customs records, and recover unpaid duties.

“Failure to act,” he warned, “will mean continued revenue leakage and regulatory arbitrage in one of Nigeria’s most strategic sectors.”(BusinessDay)