Maersk Nigeria Limited is the Nigerian arm of A.P. Moller-Maersk, the Danish shipping group. It runs offices in Lagos, Kano and Onne, and moves import and export containers through Apapa, Tin Can Island, Lekki and Onne.
This guide gives you the office addresses, phone numbers and email addresses Maersk publishes itself. It also covers what the carrier does, what it does not do, the naira detention rates listed on its own Nigeria import page, and the checks that stop you paying a fake agent.
Key takeaways
- The Lagos office is at 1226 Bishop Oluwole, Victoria Island. It is an office, not a container terminal.
- The published lines are 0201 700 2100 and 0201 227 9176. Import mail goes to ng.import@maersk.com, export mail to ng.export@maersk.com.
- Maersk carries the cargo and can clear it. It does not replace your bank, your insurer or your duty payment.
- Free time is not a fixed number of days. It sits on your own shipment in the Maersk Hub.
- Dry container detention starts showing a rate from day 8, at ₦10,150 a day for a 20ft and ₦15,225 for a 40ft.
Maersk Nigeria offices, addresses and phone numbers
These are the details on Maersk’s Nigeria local information page. Confirm them on the page before you travel, because offices and numbers change.
| Office | Address | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Lagos | 1226 Bishop Oluwole, Victoria Island, Lagos | 0201 700 2100; 0201 227 9176 (Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 17:00) |
| Kano | No. 375, JBS Plaza, First Floor, Suite 10B, Civic Centre Road, Kano | 0201 700 2100; 0201 227 9176 (Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 17:00) |
| Onne, Rivers State | West Africa Container Terminal main building, Federal Ocean Terminal, Onne | Terminal care lines +234 907 048 8812 and +234 907 048 8822 |
Maersk also lists ng.import@maersk.com and ng.export@maersk.com for customer service and invoicing questions, with +234 20 17 002 100 as the main line.
Two things confuse people here. First, the Victoria Island office is an office, not a container terminal. Your container sits at APM Terminals Apapa, TICT at Tin Can Island, WACT at Onne, or Lekki Deep Sea Port, depending on the booking. Check who operates the terminal on your paperwork. Our Lagos shipping port guide breaks that down port by port.
Second, Maersk’s own site lists Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt. The Port Harcourt presence it publishes is the WACT terminal building at Onne, which is in Rivers State but not inside Port Harcourt city. A street address in Port Harcourt city that claims to be Maersk should be treated as unconfirmed until Maersk’s own page shows it.
Directories also carry an old Maersk House, 121 Louis Solomon Close, Victoria Island listing with different numbers. Maersk does not show that address on its current Nigeria page. If a document, invoice or WhatsApp message quotes it as the current head office, ask for the page it came from.
What Maersk Nigeria Limited does
Maersk describes itself on its Nigeria page as the country’s largest shipping line, handling standard, refrigerated and oversized cargo from all major Nigerian ports. In practice, its Nigerian work falls into four buckets.
Ocean freight. Full container loads in 20ft and 40ft boxes, less-than-container loads where your goods share a box, and reefer boxes for temperature-controlled cargo.
Customs services. Maersk Customs Services handles import and export clearance, including customs formalities and paying duties and taxes on the importer’s behalf. Documentation help is available on request. Costs for customs and port entries land on a Maersk Logistics and Services invoice, which surprises some importers who expected a single carrier bill.
Inland transport. Maersk combines truck, barge, rail and depots in one booking. Its listed Nigerian hubs are APM Terminal Apapa (truck and barge), TICT Tin Can Island (truck and barge) and WACT Onne (truck only). No rail is listed at those three hubs.
Warehousing and cold chain. Maersk has published a Nigerian case study covering warehousing, cold chain, drayage and inland trucking for an FMCG importer. It does not publish warehouse addresses or capacity, so ask for the site and the storage terms in writing before you plan around it.
What Maersk does not do is act as your bank, your insurer, or your customs broker of record unless you appoint its customs arm. Duty is still assessed by the Nigeria Customs Service. Cargo cover is still a separate policy, and carrier liability limits rarely match the value of your goods. Our cargo insurance in Nigeria guide explains where that gap opens.
Shipping services on the ground in Nigeria
Maersk’s Nigeria pages cover booking, payment, import, export, routes and customs as separate topics. Read the one that matches your job before you call.
- Nigeria booking and shipping home
- Import services and charges
- Export services and charges
- Payment and MyFinance
- Customs services
- Inland services
- Routes
Online booking now confirms instantly and shows sailing options, vessel space and depots that hold empty containers. Use that instead of a phone call for standard bookings, then keep the confirmation PDF.
For the import side, our Apapa port clearing charges guide shows what sits outside the carrier invoice.
Documents you need before the vessel sails
Exporters and importers need different paper. Miss one early and your container starts burning free time the day it berths.
For imports, the chain runs through a Form M raised with your bank, any regulatory certificate your product needs, a PAAR from Customs, then declaration, assessment, payment and release. The Nigeria Customs Service publishes its own guidance at customs.gov.ng. Product certification depends on the goods: SON for many manufactured items and NAFDAC for food, drugs and cosmetics.
For exports, the Nigeria Export Proceeds Form (NXP) is the anchor document. NEPC’s export documents and procedures page lists what applies to your cargo, including the export contract, invoices, packing list, NXP, certificate of origin and transport document. Your bank handles the NXP. FirstBank’s published trade terms state export proceeds must be repatriated within 180 days of the bill of lading date for non-oil exports, and 90 days for oil.
On the 4% FOB import charge announced by Customs, the Federal Ministry of Finance has published a notice that collection is suspended pending consultation. Treat the charge as not currently payable and confirm with your bank before you budget for it.
Detention, deposits and the costs that catch importers
This is where most of the money goes wrong, so read the numbers slowly.
Maersk does not publish one fixed free-time period for Nigeria. It directs customers to the import demurrage and detention view inside the Maersk Hub. Enter the shipment number, open the details, and read the free days and charges that apply to that container. You may be able to buy extra free days, subject to the terms. Maersk’s definitions sit in its detention and demurrage terms, and its support page explains how to request free time.
The Nigeria import page does publish dry container detention daily rates in naira:
| Detention band | 20ft per day | 40ft per day |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 7 | none listed | none listed |
| Days 8 to 10 | ₦10,150 | ₦15,225 |
| Days 11 to 16 | ₦13,485 | ₦21,170 |
| Days 17 to 22 | ₦16,820 | ₦25,375 |
| Day 23 onward | ₦20,155 | ₦29,580 |
Those are tariff bands, not your invoice. Your shipment view decides. A 40ft box sitting 24 days past the tariff start would face roughly ₦543,000 in detention alone on these bands, before terminal storage, and that is why a late PAAR sometimes costs more than the duty.
Deposits are murkier. The same Maersk page shows import invoice deposits within Lagos of ₦100,000 for a 20ft and ₦200,000 for a 40ft in one table, and ₦525,000 and ₦900,000 in another. The page does not explain which table applies when. Ask your Maersk contact which figure applies to your booking, and get the answer by email. The page also offers a deposit waiver application template, and MyFinance on the payment page handles deposits and refunds.
For the terminal side of the same problem, read Lagos port demurrage charges. For the empty box at the end of the cycle, empty container return in Lagos explains why the depot on your instruction sheet decides the trip, not the port you collected from.
How to ship with Maersk Nigeria: a working sequence
- Confirm the route and the port. Check which terminal your service calls before you book inland transport. Lagos shipping lanes lists the services that call Lagos.
- Get a written quote. Ask for ocean freight, origin and destination charges, and customs separately. A single number hides the extras.
- Book online and save the confirmation. Instant booking confirmation gives you a reference you can track at maersk.com/tracking.
- Start import documents before the vessel leaves origin. Form M and PAAR take time. Your clearing agent should be working while the ship is still at sea.
- Agree the VGM route. Nigeria requires a verified gross mass before loading. Ask Maersk, for your booking, how it wants the VGM submitted. Do not copy another carrier’s email address. The rule comes from SOLAS and applies to every line.
- Line up the truck before release. Terminal gates run on booking systems. Our Lagos port truck call-up guide covers the gate checks that stop trucks at the entrance.
- Book the empty return date. Return instructions come from the line, and late return turns into detention.
- Keep every invoice and release note until your goods reach your warehouse and the deposit is refunded.
If you would rather hand the clearance leg to a third party, compare firms first. Freight forwarders in Lagos explains what they do and what they charge. A CRFFN registration and a Customs agent licence are separate credentials, so ask for both.
Apapa and the port you should actually plan around
Apapa handles the heaviest container traffic and the worst road access. Tin Can Island sits on the same island corridor. Lekki Deep Sea Port on the Lekki-Epe axis is newer, with different road conditions and less congestion history.
The practical point: your carrier choice does not decide the terminal. Your service does. Ask which terminal the vessel will discharge at, then plan trucking, storage and clearance around that. Freight quotes that ignore the terminal are guesses.
When Maersk is the right call, and when it is not
Use Maersk when you ship full containers regularly and want one provider covering the ocean leg, customs and inland haulage. The coordination saves you managing three vendors. It also helps when you need reefer capacity or a service that calls a specific Nigerian port on a fixed day.
Look elsewhere when your consignment is small and price is the only variable. Shared container space through a consolidator often beats a direct carrier booking for a few cartons. If you need someone chasing your container at the gate every morning, a local forwarder with a desk at the port may serve you better than a carrier’s contact centre.
The honest bottom line. Maersk is a carrier with a real Nigerian operation and published rates. It is not a shortcut around Customs, and it cannot stop congestion at Apapa. Plan for both, price both, and you will not be surprised.
How to verify anyone who claims to represent Maersk
Anyone can put Maersk in a WhatsApp profile and quote you a rate. Check these five things before money or documents move.
- Start from the official page. Open maersk.com Nigeria yourself. Check the address and the email domain. Real Maersk mail ends in @maersk.com, not @maersk-shipping-ng.com or a Gmail address.
- Check the booking reference in tracking. A real booking exists at maersk.com/tracking. If nothing shows, there is no shipment.
- Confirm the clearing agent’s registration. A customs agent should show a CRFFN registration and a Customs agent licence. The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria is the regulator. Ask for the number, then verify it.
- Check the company at CAC. Ask for the RC number and confirm the business exists. Pay the carrier, never an individual.
- Insist on a written quote and an invoice. Refuse payment into a personal account. Refuse screenshots as proof of payment.
If someone claims to work for Maersk Nigeria, ask which office they sit in and call that office on the number published on Maersk’s own page. Do not call the number they gave you. Office details and phone numbers change, so recheck each time you ship.
Cargo cover is a separate check. A real forwarder will tell you what their liability covers and what it does not. The NAICOM FAQ explains how insurance is regulated in Nigeria, and our cargo insurance guide covers what a policy should include.
Maersk Nigeria Limited: questions readers ask before paying
What is Maersk Nigeria Limited’s office address in Lagos?
1226 Bishop Oluwole, Victoria Island, Lagos. The published lines are 0201 700 2100 and 0201 227 9176, open Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 17:00. It is an office, not a terminal. Containers are not collected there.
Is Maersk Nigeria Limited the same as Maersk Line?
Maersk Line is the ocean shipping brand. Maersk Nigeria Limited is the local company that also sells customs and inland services. Your ocean freight invoice and your customs invoice can arrive as separate documents, which explains a total that looks higher than the quote.
How much is Maersk detention in Nigeria?
Dry container detention shows a rate from day 8 at ₦10,150 a day for a 20ft and ₦15,225 for a 40ft. It climbs to ₦20,155 and ₦29,580 a day from day 23. Free days sit on your own shipment in the Maersk Hub, so no blog post can give you the exact figure for your box.
Does Maersk clear customs in Nigeria?
Yes. Maersk Customs Services files import and export declarations and can pay duty on your behalf. It still needs your Form M, your PAAR, and any SON or NAFDAC certificate your product requires. Clearance is a service you buy, not something that comes free with the container.
How do I know a Maersk agent is genuine?
Open maersk.com Nigeria yourself and check that the email domain ends in @maersk.com. Confirm the booking reference at maersk.com/tracking. Then check the clearing agent’s CRFFN registration and CAC RC number. Pay the carrier, never a personal account.
Can I ship a small parcel with Maersk?
No. Maersk moves containers, not parcels. Use a courier for documents and small boxes. Small commercial loads can share a container through a consolidator, but you book that through a forwarder, not at a courier counter. Our freight forwarders in Lagos guide explains the difference in cost and control.
Your next step
Get three numbers before you commit: the ocean freight, the destination charges, and the clearance cost. Ask for each in writing. Then check the free days on your own shipment before the vessel sails, because that is the figure that decides whether this shipment is cheap or expensive.
If you are still choosing a carrier, our Lagos shipping lanes page lists the services that call Lagos port. Sending a parcel instead of a container is a different job; our shipping companies in Lagos guide covers couriers and parcel services. If your goods are coming from Asia, read shipping from China to Nigeria before you book.
