Shipping Company from Jeddah to Nouakchott 0552803439 | Car Shipping, Furniture and Pilgrims’ Luggage to the Friendship Port

Home Safe is a shipping company from Jeddah to Nouakchott that moves furniture, cars, books, pilgrims’ luggage and goods by two routes: by sea from Jeddah Islamic Port to the port of Nouakchott, known as the Friendship Port, and by air from King Abdulaziz Airport. Nouakchott is about 5,700 km from Jeddah as the aircraft flies, and a full container reaches the consignee’s address in 30 to 45 days. A saloon by sea starts from SAR 2,800, an air kilogram from SAR 28 and an express parcel from SAR 110. To book: 0552803439.

In this guide45ShowHide

1. Who ships from Jeddah to Nouakchott, and what do they ship?
2. Why is Jeddah the nearest starting point for Nouakchott?
3. Shipping route from Jeddah to Nouakchott and its transit time
4. What lengthens the transit time?
5. Loading at Jeddah Islamic Port for Nouakchott
6. Shipping prices from Jeddah to Nouakchott
7. How do you lower the cost?
8. Full container or shared container to Nouakchott?
9. Shipping pilgrims’ luggage and household effects from Jeddah to Nouakchott
10. Moving furniture and packing it for the long Atlantic voyage
11. Shipping books and the libraries of students of learning
12. Car shipping from Jeddah to Nouakchott
13. A car and furniture in one container: how is it arranged?
14. Shipping parcels and gifts from the Two Holy Mosques
15. Shipping commercial goods from Jeddah to Nouakchott
16. Mauritanian customs and the documents required
17. What may not be shipped to Mauritania?
18. Delivery in Nouakchott districts, Rosso and Kiffa
19. Air freight from Jeddah to Nouakchott
20. Collection from Jeddah districts and from Makkah, Madinah and Taif
21. Steps for shipping from Jeddah to Nouakchott
22. Tracking and insuring the shipment
23. Shipping from Nouakchott to Jeddah
24. Tips before shipping from Jeddah to Mauritania
25. How do you choose a shipping company from Jeddah to Nouakchott?
26. Common mistakes when shipping from Jeddah to Nouakchott
27. Why Home Safe for shipping from Jeddah to Nouakchott?
28. Related articles and pages
29. Tags
30. Frequently asked questions about shipping from Jeddah to Nouakchott
31. How much does shipping from Jeddah to Nouakchott cost?
32. How long does a shipment take from Jeddah to the front door in Nouakchott?
33. Does the vessel sail from Jeddah to Nouakchott directly?
34. I live in Makkah or Madinah. Do you collect my shipment for Nouakchott?
35. Can a car and furniture travel together in one container?
36. How old can a car be to be imported into Mauritania?
37. Do you ship Zamzam water with pilgrims’ luggage?
38. How much does it cost to ship a library of books from Jeddah to Nouakchott?
39. Which documents are needed to ship a returnee’s furniture to Mauritania?
40. Is there a direct air freight flight from Jeddah to Nouakchott?
41. Do you deliver outside Nouakchott, to Rosso, Kiffa and Nouadhibou?
42. Do commercial goods need a certificate before shipping?
43. Can the container be tracked after it is moved to another vessel?
44. Is there land freight from Jeddah to Mauritania?
45. Which is the best shipping company from Jeddah to Nouakchott?

Sea route: Jeddah Islamic Port → Suez Canal → Mediterranean → Strait of Gibraltar → Atlantic → the Friendship Port in Nouakchott · Sea distance: about 3,900 nautical miles · Transit time: 30–55 days by sea to the door, and 4–8 days by air.

Who ships from Jeddah to Nouakchott, and what do they ship?

Most of those who call us about this lane are Mauritanians who live in the Makkah region or pass through Jeddah on their way home. They include students of religious learning at the Two Holy Mosques and the universities, imams, teachers and workers who have completed their years of residence, and Hajj and Umrah pilgrims who bought more than an aircraft suitcase holds. Added to them are traders who buy cars and goods in the Jeddah market to sell in Mauritania. Because the method and the paperwork follow the shipper’s status, we ask about it before the price:

Shipper	What they usually ship	Best method	What to watch
Student who has finished studying	A library of books, clothes and room belongings	Cartons in a shared container	The weight of books, so they go in small cartons
Family returning for good	Household furniture, appliances and the car	A 40ft container holding the car and the furniture	The exemption letter and the car’s age
Hajj or Umrah pilgrim	Dates, prayer rugs, copies of the Quran and gifts	Cartons or a drum by sea, urgent items by air	Asking for collection two days before travel
Car trader	4x4s, pickups and saloons	RoRo, or a container for two cars	The age limit and the export certificate
Trader and exporter	Dates, foodstuffs, building materials and spare parts	A full container on pallets	The certificate of conformity before loading

Why is Jeddah the nearest starting point for Nouakchott?

Every container leaving the Kingdom for Mauritania sails from the Red Sea coast, and Jeddah Islamic Port is the largest of its ports and the one with the most sailings towards the Suez Canal. Someone shipping from Jeddah hands over their belongings minutes from the quay, so they do not pay for a truck covering hundreds of kilometres as a shipper from Riyadh does.

The second reason is that the western region is where most Mauritanians in the Kingdom live or pass through. The pilgrim lands at Jeddah airport and leaves from it, the student studies in Makkah or Madinah, and the long-term resident lives near the Haram. That is why we made the consolidation warehouse in Jeddah a single point into which the shipments of the three cities and Taif flow, and from which the container leaves for the port.

• The port: inside the city, with container terminals and car berths.
• The airport: King Abdulaziz International Airport north of Jeddah, with its cargo village.
• Storage: we keep the belongings in the warehouse until the vessel date, as described on the storage page.

Shipping route from Jeddah to Nouakchott and its transit time

The usual sea route heads north up the Red Sea to the Suez Canal, crosses the whole Mediterranean westwards, leaves through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic Ocean and runs south along the African coast to Nouakchott. It is about 3,900 nautical miles long. Large container vessels do not usually sail from Jeddah to Nouakchott directly; the container is discharged at a transhipment port near the strait or in the Canary Islands, and a smaller vessel takes it from there. These are the stages of a full container:

Stage	What happens	Usual duration
Packing and loading in Jeddah	Dismantling and wrapping the furniture, numbering the pieces and lashing the car if there is one	1–2 days
Export and port entry	The Saudi customs declaration and handing the container to the shipping line	2–4 days
Sailing to the transhipment port	The Red Sea, then Suez, then the Mediterranean	10–14 days
Waiting for the second vessel	The container sits in the transhipment port yard	4–9 days
Sailing to Nouakchott	Down the Atlantic coast	5–8 days
Clearance at the Friendship Port	The customs declaration, inspection of the container and payment of duties or application of the relief	4–7 working days
Delivery	A truck to the address in Nouakchott or to the region	1–3 days

Some shipping lines may choose to sail round the Cape of Good Hope instead of the Suez Canal, depending on navigation conditions in the Red Sea, which lengthens the voyage by two weeks or more. That is why we do not quote you a general transit time but the time of the vessel your container is booked on. The table below compares the methods available:

Method	Sailing or flight time	Door to door	Suits
Full 20ft or 40ft container	22–32 days with transhipment	30–45 days	A home’s furniture, a car with furniture, or goods
Shared container by the cubic metre	22–32 days	38–55 days	Cartons, drums and books
RoRo for cars	Depends on the sailing available	30–45 days	A single running car
Air freight	One to two days with a stop	4–8 days	Luggage and urgent parcels

What lengthens the transit time?

• The connection date: if the container misses the second vessel it waits for the next, and the gap can be a week.
• The Cape of Good Hope routing: a line that sails round Africa adds at least two weeks.
• Filling the shared container: your cartons wait in the Jeddah warehouse until the container bound for Nouakchott is full.
• The exemption file: a Ministry of Finance letter not issued before the vessel arrives stops clearance.
• Peak seasons: the lane is busy in the weeks after Hajj and at the end of the academic year.

We offer no land freight on this lane: the road crosses North Africa and the Sahara with many borders, and no regular trucks run on it from the Kingdom. The methods are compared on the shipping methods comparison page, and approximate times for other destinations are on the transit times page.

Loading at Jeddah Islamic Port for Nouakchott

Having the port inside Jeddah changes how the work is arranged. We bring the empty container to your front door or to our warehouse, it is loaded in front of you, then closed, and it enters the port the same day or the next. If your belongings are less than a container, they are taken to the consolidation warehouse and loaded with other shipments bound for the Friendship Port.

Before the doors are closed we photograph the container from the inside row by row, then photograph its number and the number of the metal seal fitted on the lock. That number is written in the bill of lading, and the consignee in Nouakchott matches it before breaking the seal. The container will be lifted on and off at least twice because of the transhipment, so the photographs and the seal are your proof that what left Jeddah is what arrived.

Container	Approximate internal volume	What it holds
20ft	About 33 m³	The furniture of a two- to three-room flat, or one car with a few cartons
40ft	About 67 m³	A whole home’s furniture, or a car with a flat’s furniture
40ft high cube	About 76 m³	Tall furniture and light, bulky goods
A share of a shared container	From one cubic metre	Cartons of books, drums and luggage

To work out the volume of your belongings before calling, use the CBM calculator; the measurements of each container are on the container sizes page. The sea journey from this port is explained in the article on international sea freight from Jeddah.

Shipping prices from Jeddah to Nouakchott

Sea freight to West Africa does not stay fixed for long, because it is the sum of two freights: the first vessel to the transhipment port and the second to Nouakchott. So we publish the starting prices of our fixed services, and set the container and cubic-metre freight on the day of the request for the vessel available. These are the figures:

Service	Price starts from	Note
Saloon by sea to the Friendship Port	Starts from SAR 2,800	A running car; a 4×4 costs more according to its size
Air freight per kilogram	Starts from SAR 28	On chargeable weight, falling as the weight rises
Express parcel up to 5 kg	Starts from SAR 110	To the consignee’s door in Nouakchott
Express documents	Starts from SAR 83	An envelope up to one kilogram
Full 20ft or 40ft container	Set on request	According to the vessel date and the transhipment port
Cubic metre in a shared container	Set on request	According to the date the container fills
Car and furniture in a 40ft container	Set on request	The container freight with lashing and the partition

Prices circulating in the market: the pages that offer shipping from the Kingdom to Mauritania publish no specific figures for this lane. What we found on them are general promises such as “the cheapest prices” or a percentage discount with no mention of the price it is taken off, and our own earlier article on this lane gave no figures either. So we took the car, air and parcel prices from our nearest priced lane in West Africa, and left the container to the daily rate rather than an estimate that might not hold.

What sets the price	Its effect on this lane
Shipping method	RoRo is cheaper for a car alone, a container holding car and furniture is cheaper for a returnee, and the cubic metre suits a student
Car category and volume of belongings	A saloon costs less than a 4×4 or a pickup, and furniture is charged on its volume after packing
Place of collection	Jeddah districts with no inland haul to speak of; Makkah, Madinah and Taif with a haulage charge written in the offer
Region of delivery	Nouakchott is the lowest, and the inland regions follow their distance from the port
Mauritanian duties	Paid to customs according to item and value, and not part of the freight

How do you lower the cost?

• Put the car and the furniture in one container if you are shipping both, so you pay one container freight and one clearance.
• Agree with colleagues returning in the same season on a container shared among you, and we split the cost by each one’s volume.
• Send the books and furniture by sea, and leave to the aircraft only what you need in your first week.
• Book three weeks before the post-Hajj peak, when space on the vessel shrinks and the freight rises.
• Have the exemption letter ready before the container arrives, because storage at the Friendship Port is charged by the day.

The items that make up a price are explained on the pricing factors page.

Full container or shared container to Nouakchott?

A full container is yours alone: it is loaded at your door, sealed and not opened until Mauritanian customs. A shared container carries the belongings of several shippers to the same port, and each pays for their own volume. In practice the dividing line is about 15 cubic metres: below it the cubic metre is cheaper, and above it the cost approaches the freight of a 20ft container.

Point of comparison	Full container	Shared container
Who it suits	A returning family, a trader, or the owner of a car with furniture	A student, a pilgrim or a small family with few belongings
How it is charged	One freight whatever is inside	By the cubic metre after packing
Time to the door	30–45 days	38–55 days
A car	Possible with the furniture	Not possible

Shipping pilgrims’ luggage and household effects from Jeddah to Nouakchott

The Mauritanian pilgrim leaves from Jeddah with more in the room than the aircraft allowance permits: cartons of dates, prayer rugs, copies of the Quran, fabrics and gifts for the family. Instead of paying excess baggage at the airport, we collect this luggage from the place of stay in Jeddah or Makkah before the travel date and ship it by sea, so it arrives weeks after its owner, or by air if it is small and urgent.

We pack the luggage in double-wall cartons or in plastic drums with a tight lid and a metal ring. A drum suits clothes, fabrics, kitchenware and anything at risk from damp, and it is unaffected if another load is placed on top of it in the shared container. A carton suits packed dates, books and assorted gifts.

• Collection: from the hotel, the residence or a relative’s home, at a time agreed at least two days before travel.
• Dates: in sealed packs and in a reasonable personal quantity. A commercial quantity has its own papers.
• Zamzam water: it is not shipped with the luggage. The pilgrim carries it personally in the pack dedicated to travellers.
• A resident’s household effects: kitchenware, small appliances, carpets and bedding are shipped the same way with an inventory.
• The consignee: the name of a relative in Nouakchott with a copy of their identity card is enough, and we call them when the shipment arrives.

How each item is packed is in the packing guide.

Moving furniture and packing it for the long Atlantic voyage

Furniture travelling to Nouakchott stays in a closed container for more than a month and passes through two seas and an ocean whose heat and humidity differ. The water vapour trapped inside the container condenses on the roof at night and falls as drops, and that is what ruins wood and fabric if they are not wrapped for it. So for this lane we wrap in more layers than we use for a short road trip:

Item	How it is packed	Why
Bedrooms and wardrobes	Dismantled, the panels wrapped in corrugated card and then film, and the screws gathered in a numbered bag	Dismantled panels stack flat and their corners do not break
Sofas and mattresses	Fabric bags or paper that lets air through, then loose film	A complete seal traps moisture and causes mould
Glass and mirrors	Foam on both faces and a timber frame, loaded upright	The container tilts and shakes at every lift
Fridge, washing machine and air conditioner	Dried inside, moving parts secured, wrapped in foam and card	Water left inside rusts and goes mouldy within a month
The container itself	Moisture-absorbing bags hung on the walls, and a floor of pallets	They catch the water vapour and keep the belongings off a floor that may get wet

Electricity in Mauritania is 220 volts at a frequency of 50 hertz, which is not the frequency of the Kingdom’s grid, so look at the rating plate of an older air conditioner or washing machine before paying to ship it. On arrival we unload the furniture inside the home and reassemble what we dismantled if the contract asks for it. The home service is described on the furniture shipping page.

Shipping books and the libraries of students of learning

The library of a student who spent years studying at the Two Holy Mosques may be the most valuable thing they own and the heaviest thing they ship. Books cannot stand two things: damp, which ripples the paper and sticks the pages, and the big carton whose bottom opens under its own weight. So we pack them in small cartons weighing no more than 20 kg each, lined with film on the inside, and put a moisture-absorbing bag in every carton.

We number the cartons and write the subject on each one: exegesis, hadith, jurisprudence, language. The numbers are recorded on a list the student keeps, so they can put the library back in order quickly in Nouakchott and know if a carton is missing. Old volumes, manuscripts or rare copies are mentioned to us before packing, so they are wrapped individually and their value is written in the insurance policy, and they are not placed among ordinary books.

• A cubic metre holds about 30 small cartons, so an average library takes two to three cubic metres.
• Students returning together share a container, and each one’s belongings are sorted by the colour of their label.

Car shipping from Jeddah to Nouakchott

The car is what people ask about most on this lane. 4x4s and pickups are in demand in Mauritania for its desert roads, and economical saloons for the city, and the Jeddah market supplies them in good condition. The steering wheel in Mauritania is on the left as in the Kingdom, so the car needs no conversion. From the Jeddah quay a car has two methods:

Point of comparison	RoRo	Inside a container
Method	The car is driven into the vessel and lashed on the car deck	It is lashed by the four wheels inside a closed, sealed container
Suits	A single running car	Two cars together, a car with furniture, or a non-running car
Availability to Nouakchott	Depends on car-carrier sailings, and we confirm it on the booking day	Available on every container vessel
Belongings inside the car	Not allowed; it travels empty	Belongings go in the container, not in the cabin
Price	Starts from SAR 2,800 for a saloon	Set on request

Before you buy a car intending to ship it, check its age. The rule applied in Mauritania bans the import of used cars more than eight years old, and duties on used cars are high and calculated on a value assessed by customs. These rules change, so we go over the year of manufacture and the chassis number with the clearing agent in Nouakchott and confirm what is in force before shipping.

• Export papers: an export certificate from the traffic department after fines are paid and the plates handed in, the registration, and the owner’s identity or authorisation. If the car is financed, a release letter from the finance provider.
• Preparation: a quarter tank of fuel, a sound battery, personal items removed, and the car photographed from all sides with its odometer.
• Sell or ship? We work out the freight plus the estimated duties, so you can compare it with the price of the same car in Nouakchott before deciding.
• Handover: to the owner or whoever they authorise at the Friendship Port, after the photographs are matched.

Both methods are explained on the RoRo car shipping and container car shipping pages, and the Jeddah quays are detailed in the article on sea car shipping from Jeddah.

A car and furniture in one container: how is it arranged?

A person returning for good who owns a car and a home’s furniture saves by putting both in a 40ft container. The container is about 12 metres long inside and the car takes roughly five of them, leaving about 35 cubic metres for furniture, which is enough for a three-room flat once its wardrobes are dismantled.

1. The car goes in first to the far end of the container on timber boards, and the battery terminal is disconnected.
2. It is strapped by its four wheels to the rings in the container floor, and timber chocks are placed in front of and behind the tyres.
3. A partition of timber and boards is built behind it so that no piece of furniture can reach it.
4. The wrapped furniture is stowed: heavy items at the bottom, cartons above, and the gaps filled with blankets and mattresses.
5. One list is written with the car’s details and the piece numbers, and one bill of lading is issued.

An example: a resident of Makkah returning to Boutilimit with a 4×4, sixty cartons of books and the furniture of three rooms. The container is loaded in one day outside the home, enters Jeddah port the next day, is cleared at the Friendship Port on one file, and then the truck carries on to Boutilimit, about 150 km away.

Shipping parcels and gifts from the Two Holy Mosques

Not everyone who calls us has a container. Many want to send a carton of dates to their mother, copies of the Quran to the neighbourhood mosque, or Eid clothes to their brothers and sisters. These small shipments have three routes according to their weight and urgency: express for a document envelope from SAR 83 and for a parcel up to 5 kg from SAR 110, air freight above that from SAR 28 per kilogram, and a sea share charged on volume for the heavy carton whose owner is in no hurry.

A light but bulky parcel is charged on its volume, not its weight, which you can check with the volumetric weight calculator. The whole parcel service is on the parcel shipping page.

Shipping commercial goods from Jeddah to Nouakchott

The Mauritanian trader buys dates, tinned food, building materials, plastics, car spare parts, perfumes and abayas from the Kingdom. These goods travel in a full container on pallets, or as a share by the cubic metre when the quantity is a trial order. They differ from personal belongings in having customs duties and extra papers.

Mauritania applies a programme for verifying the conformity of imports: a commercial consignment above a certain value has its documents examined and may be inspected before shipment, and a certificate of conformity is issued for it, which customs asks for on arrival. Personal belongings, samples and parcels of no commercial value are exempt from it. We check your product and its value before booking the container and confirm the current requirement with the clearing agent.

• Documents: the invoice, the packing list, proof of origin and the bill of lading, plus the conformity certificate when the consignment falls under the programme.
• Foodstuffs and dates: the expiry date and the list of ingredients on the pack, and a health or plant certificate may be requested.
• Language: customs works in French and Arabic, so we prepare the invoice and the list in whatever the clearing agent asks for.
• Samples: sent by air ahead of the container for the buyer to examine.

The service for companies is detailed on the commercial shipping page.

Mauritanian customs and the documents required

Clearance in Nouakchott follows the consignee’s status. A person returning for good and a resident moving home have relief on their used furniture and belongings if the file is complete and the exemption letter has been issued. A trader pays customs duty by tariff heading and then value added tax, whose general rate in force is 16%. Nothing enters the Friendship Port without a licensed customs broker, and we appoint one before the vessel arrives.

Type of shipment	Documents	Note
A returnee’s furniture and belongings	Passport, change-of-residence certificate, an inventory in French dated and signed, an undertaking not to sell, invoices for appliances bought within the last six months, and the exemption letter	The letter is issued by the Ministry of Finance, and by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for diplomats
A pilgrim’s luggage or gifts	A copy of the sender’s passport, the consignee’s name and identity, and a list of contents	Treated according to its declared quantity and value
A car	Export certificate, registration, purchase invoice or valuation, the owner’s identity and the bill of lading	We confirm the age limit and the duties before shipping
Commercial goods	Invoice, packing list, certificate of origin, bill of lading, and a certificate of conformity where required	The importer needs a commercial registration and a tax number

Some West African countries require an electronic cargo tracking note for every container before loading. We found nothing establishing a general requirement for it at the port of Nouakchott; even so, we ask the clearing agent about each shipment before the bill of lading is issued, so that you are not surprised by a demand on arrival. The general list of papers is on the shipping documents page, and what we do at both ports is on the customs clearance page.

What may not be shipped to Mauritania?

Prohibited items are of two kinds: what sea and air transport rules ban everywhere, and what Mauritania bans or restricts as a Muslim country with its own controls. The rule we apply: anything not written in the inventory does not enter the container.

Item	Status	What we do
Alcohol, narcotics, pork and its derivatives	Prohibited	Not accepted
Weapons, ammunition and fireworks	Prohibited without a licence	Not accepted
Gas cylinders, fuel, paints and pressurised sprays	Prohibited in transport	Set aside during packing
Zamzam water	Not shipped as cargo	The traveller carries it in its dedicated pack
Medicines	Restricted	A personal quantity with a prescription only
Cash, gold and original documents	Not shipped	They stay with their owner in hand luggage
Manuscripts and valuable pieces	Need a declaration and insurance	Mentioned before packing and wrapped individually

The general list is on the prohibited items page.

Delivery in Nouakchott districts, Rosso and Kiffa

The Friendship Port lies south-west of Nouakchott, about 15 km from its centre, and the truck leaves from it after release. Inside the capital we deliver in all the districts; the nearest to the port are El Mina and Sebkha, then Ksar and Tevragh-Zeina. The streets of some neighbourhoods are sandy and narrow and a container truck cannot enter them, so the belongings are transferred to a smaller vehicle that completes the trip to the door.

Outside the capital, delivery moves along two main axes: the southern road to Rosso on the Senegal River, and the Road of Hope, which heads east to Boutilimit, Aleg and Kiffa and then Aioun and Nema. The northern towns are served by the Nouadhibou road and the Atar road.

Destination	Approximate distance from Nouakchott	Delivery time after release
Nouakchott districts: El Mina, Sebkha, Ksar, Tevragh-Zeina	10–20 km from the port	The same day or the next
Arafat, Riyad, Toujounine, Dar Naim, Teyarett	15–30 km from the port	One day
Boutilimit	About 150 km	One day
Rosso	About 200 km	One to two days
Nouadhibou	About 470 km	Two days
Kiffa	About 600 km	2–3 days
Aioun, Nema, Selibaby and Zouerate	More than 650 km	Set on request

Nouadhibou has another port in the far north, but containers from Jeddah are usually booked to the Friendship Port and then moved by road, unless a suitable sailing to it exists. What the delivery service covers is on the door-to-door page.

Air freight from Jeddah to Nouakchott

The aircraft cuts the month down to a week. The shipment leaves the cargo village at King Abdulaziz International Airport, usually passes through one intermediate airport, and then lands at Nouakchott Oumtounsy Airport, about 25 km north of the capital. Under the schedules currently in force we do not rely on a direct flight between Jeddah and Nouakchott, so the time follows the connection at the intermediate airport.

Air is chosen by someone with a little urgent luggage, and by someone sending medicine, a spare part or a commercial sample. Its price is calculated on chargeable weight, that is the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight, so a light, large carton costs more than its weight suggests.

Item	Detail
Departure airport	King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah
Arrival airport	Nouakchott Oumtounsy International Airport
Time to the consignee’s hand	4–8 days including clearance
Price	Starts from SAR 28 per kilogram, falling as the weight rises
Express parcel up to 5 kg	Starts from SAR 110
What does not fly	Flammable liquids and perfumes in quantity, loose batteries and sprays

We collect the air shipment from your home or hotel in Jeddah, or you hand it in at our office, and we send you the air waybill number on the day of departure. The service is explained on the air freight page and in the article on the air freight office in Jeddah.

Collection from Jeddah districts and from Makkah, Madinah and Taif

We collect from every district of Jeddah with a closed vehicle and a packing crew, and from the nearby cities where students of the Two Holy Mosques and long-term residents live. In Makkah large trucks enter at regulated hours that tighten in Ramadan and Hajj, and some of its hillside districts can only be reached by a small vehicle. In Madinah truck movement near the central area is regulated too, so we confirm the hours in force before the loading day.

Area	Examples	Distance from Jeddah port	Note
North and east Jeddah	Obhur, Al-Muhammadiyah, Al-Naeem, Al-Salamah, Al-Hamdaniyah, Al-Samer	15–35 km	Close to the airport, and the source of most air shipments
Central and south Jeddah	Al-Rawdah, Al-Safa, Al-Marwah, Bani Malik, Al-Balad, Al-Kandarah, Al-Jamiah	Less than 20 km	Apartment blocks and some narrow streets, so we ask about the lift and send a small vehicle in
Makkah	Al-Aziziyah, Al-Shawqiyah, Al-Awali, Al-Naseem, hotels near the Haram	About 80 km	Pilgrims’ luggage and long-term residents’ books
Taif	The city’s districts and Al-Hawiyah	About 170 km	On a date when more than one order is combined
Madinah	Residential districts, student housing and hotels	About 420 km	Students’ libraries and visitors’ luggage

Haulage from Makkah, Taif and Madinah to Jeddah is set on request and written in the offer as a separate line. The rest of what we provide from Jeddah is explained in the article on international shipping companies in Jeddah.

Steps for shipping from Jeddah to Nouakchott

1. The call: you tell us what you are shipping, your status (returnee, student, pilgrim or trader) and the consignee’s address in Mauritania.
2. The estimate: you send photographs or a list of the belongings and the car’s details, and we set the volume, the method and the price.
3. Checking the papers: we go over the exemption file, the car’s age or the certificate of conformity before booking the vessel.
4. Booking: we book on a specific vessel and tell you the transhipment port and the expected time.
5. Packing and loading: the crew comes to your address, wraps, numbers and writes the inventory that you sign.
6. The port: the container is photographed, sealed and enters Jeddah Islamic Port, and we send you the bill of lading.
7. Follow-up: you receive notices of sailing, transhipment and berthing at the Friendship Port.
8. Clearance and handover: the broker completes the formalities, then the shipment is handed to you or to the person you authorised, with the list matched.

Tracking and insuring the shipment

The transfer from one vessel to another is what worries the owner of a shipment most on this lane, because they do not know where their container is during those days. The container number stays the same throughout the journey and shows on the shipping line’s website at every port where it is discharged. We call the consignee in Nouakchott days before berthing so they can prepare their papers. The shipment tracking page explains how to read a shipment’s status.

Insurance is optional and we recommend it for this lane in particular, because the journey is long and the handling repeated. Its premium is a percentage of the value you declare on the list, and it covers loss and damage arising from transport accidents. It does not cover anything not mentioned on the list. Rare books and the car have their value written in the policy as separate items. Details are on the cargo insurance page.

Shipping from Nouakchott to Jeddah

The opposite direction is quieter but available. It is asked for by the student arriving to study with their books, the family joining its resident breadwinner, and the trader sending samples. We arrange collection in Nouakchott through the agent there, and the container sails from the Friendship Port to Jeddah Islamic Port with the same transhipment, or the shipment flies to King Abdulaziz Airport.

• A resident’s used personal belongings enter the Kingdom with a customs declaration, an inventory and a copy of the residence permit.
• Used cars have an age limit on import into the Kingdom, and we confirm what is in force before shipping.
• The price in this direction is set on request.

Tips before shipping from Jeddah to Mauritania

• Do not buy a car for shipping before we confirm that its age is accepted in Mauritania.
• Start by asking the embassy for the change-of-residence certificate before the loading date, as it is the first paper in the exemption file.
• Do not pack your books yourself at night in Jeddah’s humid air and then close the carton on them, because the damp travels with them.
• Write the inventory in French or ask us to prepare it, and sign and date it.
• Appoint a consignee in Nouakchott who holds an authorisation and answers the telephone, because their absence means daily storage charges.

Securing methods inside the container are on the packing and lashing page.

How do you choose a shipping company from Jeddah to Nouakchott?

Nouakchott is a destination with few sailings, so it is easy for a broker who has never sent a container there to price it. The following questions show you in one call whether the person you are talking to knows the lane or is guessing:

Ask	The answer of someone who knows the lane	The warning sign
At which port is the container transhipped?	Names the port and gives the date of the second vessel	“The vessel is direct and arrives in two weeks”
Is my car accepted there?	Asks for the year of manufacture and the chassis number before the price	Prices at once without asking about the age
What about the returnee’s relief?	Lists the papers in the file and mentions the ministry letter	“Used goods pay no customs”
Where does the price end?	In writing: to the port or to the door	One figure with no breakdown
Are you a registered establishment?	Commercial registration, a contract and a stamped receipt	A mobile number and cash payment with no receipt

Common mistakes when shipping from Jeddah to Nouakchott

• Buying a car at auction and then discovering that its age exceeds what may be imported.
• Counting the time on sailing days alone, and forgetting the wait at the transhipment port and the clearance days.
• Packing books in big cartons that tear at the first lift.
• Placing bottles of Zamzam water or liquids among the luggage, so the whole shipment is opened and delayed.
• Filling the car’s cabin with belongings on a RoRo vessel, so it is refused at the port gate.
• Accepting a quote that stops at the Friendship Port while assuming it reaches the house, and then meeting the broker’s and the truck’s bills in Nouakchott.
• Hiding a manuscript or a valuable piece among ordinary books with no declaration and no insurance.

Why Home Safe for shipping from Jeddah to Nouakchott?

You can order the service in one of three ways: a call, a WhatsApp message with photographs of the belongings and the car’s details, or the website form. To book: 0552803439 by call or WhatsApp, from 7 am to 11 pm. Or use the request a quote page.

Related articles and pages

• Shipping company from Saudi Arabia to Nouakchott
• Shipping company from Riyadh to Nouakchott
• Cargo shipping from Jeddah to Morocco
• Shipping from Saudi Arabia to Togo
• Car shipping
• Sea freight

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Frequently asked questions about shipping from Jeddah to Nouakchott

How much does shipping from Jeddah to Nouakchott cost?

A saloon by sea starts from SAR 2,800 to the Friendship Port. An air kilogram starts from SAR 28, an express parcel up to 5 kg from SAR 110 and a document envelope from SAR 83. A full container and a cubic metre in a shared container are priced on request, because the freight on this lane moves with the vessel date and the transhipment port.

How long does a shipment take from Jeddah to the front door in Nouakchott?

A full container needs 30 to 45 days, of which 22 to 32 days are at sea including the transfer from one vessel to another. Belongings in a shared container need 38 to 55 days, because they wait in Jeddah for the container to fill and are then sorted in Nouakchott. An air shipment arrives in 4 to 8 days.

Does the vessel sail from Jeddah to Nouakchott directly?

Usually not. The container is loaded at Jeddah Islamic Port onto a vessel that crosses the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean, then it is moved at a transhipment port near the Strait of Gibraltar or in the Canary Islands onto a smaller vessel that takes it down to the Friendship Port. We give you the name of the transhipment port and the date of the second vessel on the booking day.

I live in Makkah or Madinah. Do you collect my shipment for Nouakchott?

Yes. We collect from Makkah, Madinah and Taif, and our vehicle takes the shipment to the consolidation warehouse in Jeddah, or straight to the port when it is a full container. Makkah is about 80 km from the port and Madinah about 420 km, and this inland haulage appears as a separate line in the offer.

Can a car and furniture travel together in one container?

Yes, and it is what most people returning for good choose. The car goes into a 40ft container first and is lashed by its four wheels, then a timber partition is built and the furniture and cartons are stowed in the remaining space, close to 35 cubic metres. One bill of lading is issued for the container and one file is cleared on it in Nouakchott.

How old can a car be to be imported into Mauritania?

The rule applied for years bans the import of used cars more than eight years old. It may be amended or have categories excepted, so send the year of manufacture and the chassis number before buying the car or booking its space, and we confirm what is in force with the clearing agent in Nouakchott before shipping.

Do you ship Zamzam water with pilgrims’ luggage?

No. Zamzam water is not carried in sea or air consignments; what is allowed is the dedicated pack the traveller takes on their own flight. Dates, prayer rugs, copies of the Quran, clothes and non-alcoholic perfumes, on the other hand, are shipped in sealed cartons or drums.

How much does it cost to ship a library of books from Jeddah to Nouakchott?

Books are heavy and not urgent, so their route is the sea, not the aircraft. They are charged by the cubic metre in a shared container, and one cubic metre holds about 30 small cartons of books. The price per cubic metre is set on request according to the consolidation date, and students returning in the same term share one container, which lowers each one’s part.

Which documents are needed to ship a returnee’s furniture to Mauritania?

The passport, a change-of-residence certificate from the embassy or the town hall, an inventory in French dated and signed by the owner of the goods, an undertaking not to sell the belongings, invoices for recently bought electrical appliances, and then the exemption letter issued by the Ministry of Finance. We go through the file with you before loading and confirm the current requirements with the clearing agent.

Is there a direct air freight flight from Jeddah to Nouakchott?

Under the schedules currently in force we do not rely on a direct flight from King Abdulaziz Airport to Nouakchott. The shipment travels through an intermediate airport and then reaches Nouakchott Oumtounsy Airport, which is why it takes between 4 and 8 days to the consignee’s hand. We choose the shortest connection on the booking day.

Do you deliver outside Nouakchott, to Rosso, Kiffa and Nouadhibou?

Yes. After clearance at the Friendship Port the truck leaves for the regions: Rosso is about 200 km to the south, Kiffa about 600 km to the east on the Road of Hope, and Nouadhibou about 470 km to the north. The charge for this leg is set on request according to the distance and the size of the shipment.

Do commercial goods need a certificate before shipping?

Under the rules in force, commercial consignments above a certain value fall under the conformity verification programme, so a certificate of conformity is issued for them by the approved inspection body before they leave Jeddah. Personal belongings, samples and parcels of no commercial value are outside the programme. We check the position of your product before booking the container.

Can the container be tracked after it is moved to another vessel?

Yes. The container number does not change when the vessel changes, so you follow it on the shipping line’s website from Jeddah to the transhipment port and on to Nouakchott. We also send you a notice at each point: gate-in at the port, sailing, arrival at the transhipment port, loading on the second vessel, berthing, and then release.

Is there land freight from Jeddah to Mauritania?

We do not operate it. The overland road crosses several countries and borders and no regular trucks run on it from the Kingdom, so neither its time nor its cost can be guaranteed. The two routes on this lane are the sea for anything with volume and the aircraft for what cannot wait.

Which is the best shipping company from Jeddah to Nouakchott?

The one that names the transhipment port and the whole journey time, asks about the car’s age before pricing it, and writes in the contract where its service ends: at the Friendship Port or at the front door. Home Safe is an establishment with commercial registration 4030601060; it collects from Jeddah, Makkah, Madinah and Taif and follows the shipment through to delivery in Nouakchott and the regions.