Nigeria have lost over $600 million in customs duties, VAT and other applicable levies over 30 years due to the illegal sale of empty shipping containers by foreign shipping lines operating at the seaports.
The Principal Consultant at International Trade Advisory Services, Mr. Okey Ibeke listed some of the liners as Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, COSCO, ONE, Evergreen, and PIL.
He called on the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to immediately suspend all sales of containers by Grimaldi Agency Nigeria and other shipping lines pending a full audit.
Ibeke’s intervention followed media reports that Grimaldi Agency Nigeria plans to sell over 2,500 empty containers to the Nigerian public.
According to the reports, which Grimaldi has not refuted, the sale terms are: $2,000 for a 40ft container and $1,600 for a 20ft container. Inspection is allowed at terminals, but invoices will be issued in dollars only and payment must be made through domiciliary accounts before release.
Ibeke said: “This is happening while the Federal Government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Ministry of Finance were intensifying efforts to stabilise the Naira and stop the dollarisation of domestic transactions.”
He noted that the core violation was not pricing, but legal status, saying that the containers were in Nigeria under
“Temporary Import” status, meaning they were brought in to carry cargo and must be re-exported.
“They cannot be sold locally unless converted to permanent import through the Nigeria Customs Service'” he explained.
According to him, “under the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023 and Temporary Import Guidelines, conversion requires: application to NCS, customs valuation, payment of duties, VAT and levies into government accounts, and issuance of a release order. Only then can the container be sold legally in Nigeria, and the transaction must be in Naira unless the CBN grants an exemption.
“With Grimaldi, Step 5 is happening without Steps 1-4. That is illegal,” Ibeke stated. Using the 2026 customs tariff for HS Code 86.09 — 5 per cent import duty + 7.5 per cent VAT + 0.5 per cent, ECOWAS ETLS + 4 per cent FOB levy — Ibeke calculated that government loses $350-$400 in duties and taxes per $2,000 container if sold without conversion.
For 2,500 units, the loss is $875,000 to $1,000,000 from one company in one transaction.”
Extending the analysis, ibeke said that the industry estimates show hundreds of thousands of containers have been sold locally over 30 years for use as shops, cold rooms, and building materials, etc.
If 250,000 containers were sold at an average $1,500 without duty payment, he noted that Nigeria lost over $375 million in duties and VAT — over ₦600 billion at current exchange rates.
Ibeke added that Grimaldi was not an isolated case. For 30 years, he noted that Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, COSCO, ONE, Evergreen, and PIL had operated in Nigerian ports under similar conditions.
Ibeke linked the problem to Nigeria’s trade imbalance: imports account for 75 per cent of dry cargo while exports are just 15 per cent.
