By: OrePulse

West African freight forwarder SACO Shipping has opened a new office in Lagos, Nigeria, and a branch in Port Harcourt, extending its footprint in the region, the company said.

The Lagos office will handle less-than-container-load, or LCL, import bookings — shipments consolidated with other cargo to share space, rather than importers needing to fill an entire shipping container. Onne, near Port Harcourt, will also be served under the new setup. Customers working with the Nigerian offices can additionally arrange full-container-load imports and international airfreight bookings through SACO's wider corporate network, which includes affiliated companies Air Cargo Group and SACO Air, broadening access across key logistics services.

On the shipping side, Lagos is scheduled to receive bi-monthly sailings from Hamburg, Antwerp, Durban, Mumbai and Ningbo. In contrast, a separate bi-monthly connection from Hamburg will serve Onne. SACO said cargo originating in markets such as the United States, Australia, Italy and France can also be routed into Nigeria through its broader network of offices and partners, reinforcing its role as a gateway for international trade.

"Nigeria is a strategic hub for West African trade, but infrastructure constraints, market volatility and fragmented consolidation services have historically presented challenges for freight forwarders," said Ian Treder, SACO's West Africa director.

The company said the new Lagos and Port Harcourt offices are meant to give forwarders more predictable groupage sailing schedules and direct routings to and from Europe, Asia and southern Africa, reducing how often cargo must be transferred between ships before reaching Nigeria and improving service reliability for regional trade flows.

The two new offices will also connect into SACO's existing footprint in southern Africa — Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Gqeberha — as well as its offices elsewhere in West Africa, including Abidjan, Tema, Dakar, Cotonou and Conakry, extending the company's consolidated-cargo network across both regions and strengthening its regional logistics platform.