Sea and Air Freight From Dakar: How It Works

A container to Europe, a pallet of samples to Abidjan, three boxes of personal effects for family abroad: everything leaves through two gates, the autonomous port of Dakar at the tip of the Plateau, and the freight zone of Blaise Diagne International Airport (AIBD) in Diass, near Diamniadio. Sea freight is cheap and slow, air freight the opposite. The rest comes down to paperwork, incoterms and timing.

The port of Dakar: built for volume

The port runs along the northern edge of the Plateau, with truck access climbing towards the Route de Rufisque, where most freight forwarders and container depots sit. Anything heavier than a few hundred kilos goes through here.

• Full container load (FCL), in 20 or 40 foot boxes: you pay for the box whether it is full or not, which starts making sense from roughly fifteen cubic metres.
• Consolidated cargo (LCL), billed per cubic metre or per tonne, whichever is higher. Perfect for a single pallet, but the forwarder fills the container before it sails.

Realistic transit times out of Dakar: ten to twenty days to European ports, three to five weeks to North America, a few days within West Africa. Add berthing and clearance on arrival, often longer than the crossing itself: keep a week of margin.

The AIBD freight zone: built for speed

AIBD absorbed the air cargo that once moved through Yoff. The cargo terminal sits airside and most customs brokers keep a representative there, while their sales branches stay in town, often around Almadies, Mermoz or Ngor.

Air freight earns its price in three cases: perishables (fish, mangoes, cut flowers), urgent spare parts, and high value goods where warehousing costs more than the airfare. Count two to five days door to door to Europe, provided the paperwork is ready before the cargo reaches the freight zone.

One detail that catches people out: airlines bill on chargeable weight, the higher of actual and volumetric weight. Three boxes of cushions weigh nothing and cost a fortune. Compress and avoid oversized cartons.

Incoterms without the jargon

An incoterm says who pays for what, and when the risk changes hands. Three of them cover almost every shipment leaving Dakar:

• EXW (ex works): the buyer arranges everything from your warehouse in Pikine, Keur Massar or Rufisque onwards. Easy for you, heavy for them.
• FOB Dakar: you deliver to the port, cleared for export and loaded on board. This is the Senegalese trade standard.
• CIF destination port: you add ocean freight and insurance, yet risk still transfers at loading, which surprises many first time sellers.

For air shipments the equivalents are FCA and CIP. Always write the incoterm followed by the named place on the proforma invoice: "FOB Dakar", never just "FOB".

Budget, documents and seasonal traps

Rough orders of magnitude for a standard shipment, no regulated goods: consolidated sea freight to Europe often lands between 80,000 and 200,000 FCFA per cubic metre, a full container runs into millions of FCFA, and general air cargo sits around 3,000 to 8,000 FCFA per chargeable kilo, before file fees, handling and clearance. Those side costs easily make up a third of the bill, so ask for an all inclusive quote.

On documents: commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin if the buyer asks for one, health or phytosanitary certificate for seafood and fruit. A registered business needs its NINEA number for any commercial export.

Two seasonal traps: the rainy season, July to October, which slows handling and ruins badly protected packaging, and the November to January window, when demand for containers and belly capacity spikes before the holidays. Book three to four weeks ahead.

Recommended addresses on SeneFinder

• AERO Services : Almadies
• Colimex Sénégal : Mermoz
• Khoury Transports S.A : Route de Rufisque
• Maersk Sénégal : Route de Rufisque
• MKEA Transports & Logistiques : Route de Rufisque
• Sencargo Shipping Dakar : Dakar

More forwarders and customs brokers are listed: see all addresses.

Useful tools

• Route planner: the run between your warehouse, the port and Diass.
• FCFA currency converter: compare a quote issued in euros or dollars.
• For the last mile in town, see delivery services in Dakar, and for a permanent move, moving companies.

Frequently asked questions

Sea or air for a 100 kg shipment?

If the goods are neither urgent nor perishable, consolidated sea freight remains far cheaper. Air freight starts paying off the moment a delay costs you more than the extra transport charge.

Do I really need a freight forwarder?

For a commercial shipment, in practice yes: the customs declaration must be filed by a licensed broker. For a few personal boxes, some consolidation companies handle the formalities end to end.

How do I avoid demurrage charges?

Start clearance before the vessel arrives and check that every document uses exactly the same wording as the invoice. Most demurrage comes from a missing paper, not from a transport problem.