Shipping Company from Riyadh to Benin 0552803439 | Car Shipping, Goods and Spare Parts by Sea and Air to Cotonou

Home Safe is a shipping company from Riyadh to Benin that moves cars, goods, spare parts and baggage by two routes: by sea from Jeddah Islamic Port to the port of Cotonou once the shipment has been carried from the capital, and by air from King Khalid International Airport. The two cities are about 5,100 km apart in a straight line; a sea shipment covers that in 38 to 52 days door to door, and an air parcel in 4 to 7 days. A saloon by RoRo starts from SAR 2,800, an air kilogram from SAR 28, and an express parcel from SAR 110. To book: 0552803439.

In this guide44ShowHide

1. Who ships from Riyadh to Benin, and what do they ship?
2. What sets shipping from Riyadh to Benin apart?
3. From Riyadh to the port, then Cotonou: route and time
4. Shipping prices from Riyadh to Benin
5. Inland transport from Riyadh to Jeddah port
6. Full container or part load?
7. Shipping commercial goods and spare parts from Riyadh to Benin
8. Car shipping from Riyadh to Benin step by step
9. Why do Cotonou’s yards ask for Riyadh cars?
10. Shipping baggage, parcels and furniture to Benin
11. Packing and securing vehicles for the West Africa voyage
12. The BESC cargo tracking note: the document people forget
13. Customs in Benin and the documents required
14. What cannot be shipped to Benin or needs permission
15. Receiving shipments from Riyadh in Cotonou
16. Transit from Cotonou to Niger and Nigeria
17. Air freight from Riyadh to Benin
18. Collection from Riyadh’s districts and nearby towns
19. Steps for shipping from Riyadh to Benin
20. Tracking and insurance
21. Shipping from Benin to Riyadh
22. A case from this route: a trader who buys and does not ship
23. Tips for Riyadh exporters to Benin
24. How do you choose a shipping company from Riyadh to Benin?
25. Common mistakes when shipping from Riyadh to Benin
26. Why Home Safe for shipping from Riyadh to Benin?
27. Related articles and pages
28. Tags
29. Frequently asked questions about shipping from Riyadh to Benin
30. How much does shipping from Riyadh to Benin cost?
31. How long does a shipment need from Riyadh to reach Cotonou?
32. I bought a car at an auction in Riyadh; what do I need to do to ship it to Benin?
33. Should I drive the car myself from Riyadh to Jeddah port?
34. Does Benin impose an age limit on used cars?
35. What is the cargo tracking note Benin asks for?
36. Do you ship more than one car in a single batch?
37. Can I put spare parts inside the car being shipped?
38. Do you ship spare parts and goods from Riyadh’s markets?
39. Will my shipment reach Beninese cities outside Cotonou?
40. Is transit from Cotonou to Niger still possible?
41. Which items may not enter Benin?
42. Do you ship the baggage of Beninese students and workers in Riyadh?
43. Is the shipment insured for the whole journey?
44. Do you ship from Benin to Riyadh?

Sea route: Riyadh → Jeddah Islamic Port → Suez Canal → Mediterranean → Strait of Gibraltar → Atlantic → Cotonou · Time: 38–52 days by sea door to door, and 4–7 days by air.

Who ships from Riyadh to Benin, and what do they ship?

Most of those who call us about this route are traders, not travellers. Riyadh has the largest used-car market in the Kingdom, and Cotonou is among the West African ports that receive the most imported cars, so a steady line of buying and selling has grown up between the two cities. Alongside the traders there is a Beninese and African community working and studying in the capital, sending baggage and gifts to their families or going home to them with a car and household belongings.

Shipper	What they ship	Most suitable method
The exporting car trader	Japanese and Korean saloons, pickups, 4x4s	RoRo for batches, and a container for two cars
The equipment buyer	Trucks, buses and construction equipment	RoRo, or a flat rack for what cannot be driven
The spare-parts trader	Car parts, tyres, oils and batteries	Part load, and air for the urgent part
The wholesaler	Household goods, fabrics, dates, plastics and building materials	Full container
The resident returning home	His car, furniture and appliances	A container that takes the car and the belongings together
The student and the worker	Suitcases, cartons and gifts	Air by the kilogram, or a cubic metre by sea
The company and the embassy	Documents, samples and project shipments	Express or air freight

What sets shipping from Riyadh to Benin apart?

Riyadh is an excellent place to buy and a difficult place to ship from. It has weekly auctions where hundreds of vehicles are offered, used-car showrooms side by side, a vast open market, and companies selling off their fleets after years of documented service. But it is a city without a sea, and everything bought there for Benin needs a road journey before it boards the ship. A broker who does not run that journey leaves it to the buyer, and the problems start on the first day.

That is why we treat the route as three stages under one contract: collection from the yard, the shop or the home in Riyadh, then the road to Jeddah port, then the sea and clearance in Cotonou. A trader who buys every week does not repeat these arrangements; he sends a photo of the purchase contract and gets on with his work in the market. In air freight, on the other hand, Riyadh is in a strong position, because King Khalid Airport is inside the city and has daily flights to the connecting airports for West Africa.

From Riyadh to the port, then Cotonou: route and time

The nearest port to the capital is King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam, but a vessel leaving it for West Africa first sails round the Arabian Peninsula. Benin shipments therefore leave from Jeddah Islamic Port on the Red Sea, even though it is further by road. From Jeddah the ship heads north to the Suez Canal, crosses the Mediterranean to the Strait of Gibraltar, then runs down the Atlantic coast to the Gulf of Guinea. The sea distance is more than 5,500 nautical miles, and on most voyages the container or the car is moved from one vessel to another at a transhipment port on the Mediterranean or near the strait.

In some periods the shipping line may change its routing and sail round the Cape of Good Hope instead of Suez, depending on navigation conditions in the Red Sea. The time then changes by some days, and we state the actual routing of your vessel in the booking confirmation. These are the stages of the journey as they usually run:

Stage	What happens in it	Approximate time
Collection in Riyadh	Survey, photographs and packing, and loading the container or lifting the car onto the carrier	One to two days
The road to Jeddah	About 950 km on the Riyadh – Taif – Jeddah road	One to two days
The port yard	A numbered seal for the container, export clearance, and waiting for the vessel date	2–5 days
Sailing	Suez, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, with a transhipment port	25–35 days
Port of Cotonou	Discharge, matching of documents and payment of charges	4–8 days
Delivery	To the warehouse, the shop or the car yard	A day within Cotonou, and longer for the northern cities

The total time differs with the shipping method you choose:

Method	Door to door	Suits
RoRo	38–52 days	A car or truck that runs under its own power
Full container	38–52 days	Two cars, or goods that fill the container
Part load in a shared container	43–55 days	Pallets and cartons under 15 cubic metres
Air from King Khalid Airport	4–7 days	Urgent spare parts, parcels and documents

What lengthens the time?

• The export paper: a car whose papers have not been completed at the traffic department stays in Riyadh even if the vessel is ready.
• The connection date: if the container misses the second vessel at the transhipment port, it waits for the next one.
• The tracking note: a missing detail in it delays release in Cotonou and brings a fine.
• Numbers that differ: a chassis number on the invoice that does not match the one written on the bill of lading.
• Seasons: before Ramadan and at the end of the year, vessels bound for the Gulf of Guinea are crowded.
• The consignee: an importer who has not appointed his clearing agent before the vessel berths.

There is no land freight from Riyadh to Benin. The road crosses many countries, a desert and borders where truck traffic is not regular, so we do not offer it and do not recommend anyone who does. All the methods are compared on the shipping methods comparison page.

Shipping prices from Riyadh to Benin

The invoice on this route has four lines: collection and preparation in Riyadh, the road haulage to Jeddah port, the sea or air freight, and then the tracking note and whatever clearance and delivery you ask for in Benin. We write each one on its own line, because a trader needs to know the landed cost of the car before he raises his hand at the auction. These are the figures our services start from:

Service	Method	Price starts from
Saloon car	RoRo from Jeddah port to Cotonou	SAR 2,800
Goods or spare parts	Air by the kilogram	SAR 28 per kilogram
Parcel up to 5 kg	Express	SAR 110
Documents up to one kilogram	Express	SAR 83
4×4, pickup or truck	RoRo by size	Set on request
20ft or 40ft container	Full container	Set on request
Pallets and cartons	Part load by the cubic metre	Set on request
Moving the car or container from Riyadh to Jeddah port	Car carrier or truck	Set on request
Clearance and delivery inside Benin	By city	Set on request

Market prices for this route are not published as fixed figures. Shipping offices in Riyadh give the Benin price on request, because West Africa vessel rates shift with every season and with the routing of the line. What traders pass around in the yards are spoken figures for RoRo that differ from one car to another by length and height, and many of them do not include the road to Jeddah, the tracking note or the Cotonou charges. So do not compare one figure with another; compare line with line.

What sets the price	Its effect on the invoice
The sea method	RoRo is lower for a single unit; a container gives more protection and its share falls when it is split between two cars
Haulage from Riyadh	A shared carrier on a scheduled run costs less than a dedicated carrier on a day you choose
Vehicle class	A saloon is lower than a 4×4, and a truck is charged by the space it takes up in the vessel
Number of units	A regular batch gets a better rate than a single car
Volume of goods	By the cubic metre for part loads. Estimate it with the CBM calculator
Cotonou charges	Customs, taxes and port fees calculated on class and value, which we estimate for you in advance

How do you cut the cost?

• Gather what you buy over two weeks and send it out on a single carrier run to Jeddah.
• Put two cars in a 40ft container if they are not fit for RoRo or need protection.
• Fill the empty space in the container with spare parts and tyres that have a buyer in Cotonou.
• Send your documents to the clearing agent on the sailing day; the free days at the port are few and daily charges follow.
• Send by plane only the part on which work depends.

These factors are explained on the pricing factors page.

Inland transport from Riyadh to Jeddah port

This is the stage that separates a shipment arriving as it was bought from one arriving with scratches nobody can place. The distance is about 950 km, a full day’s driving on a motorway. A car driven by a hired driver reaches the port with a higher odometer reading than the auction recorded, and perhaps with stone chips on its nose. We therefore lift cars onto carriers and strap them by the wheels, not by the suspension arms. They wait in a fenced yard near the port until their vessel is due.

Means of transport to Jeddah	Suits	Note
Open car carrier	Traders’ batches and ordinary cars	The lowest charge, leaving on set days of the week
Enclosed carrier	A luxury or new car	Protects it from dust and stones
Single flatbed	A car that does not run, or an urgent collection from the auction yard	Winches it on with no need to start the engine
Closed truck	Pallets, cartons and furniture	Unloaded at the consolidation warehouse near the port
Tractor unit pulling the container	A container loaded at your site	Sealed in Riyadh with the seal number recorded

A full container is loaded at your premises and closed with a numbered seal in front of you, and its door is not opened again except by customs. The seal number is written on the bill of lading, and the consignee in Cotonou checks it before breaking it. Some commercial containers have another road, through the Riyadh dry port and the train to Dammam, which we use when the shipping line has a suitable sailing from there.

Full container or part load?

The question here is first about volume and then about the kind of goods. A full container is yours alone, sealed in Riyadh and opened in Cotonou, and its charge is fixed whether you fill it or not. A part load is a share of a container divided among several senders, in which you pay only for your cubic metres, but it waits for the container to fill in Jeddah and is then sorted in a Beninese warehouse.

Point of comparison	Full container	Shared container
Suitable volume	From about 15 cubic metres upwards	From one cubic metre
Loading	At your site in Riyadh	At the consolidation warehouse after your goods are moved
Cars	One car in a 20ft, two cars in a 40ft	Not suitable
Time	38–52 days	43–55 days
Handling	Not opened on the way	Loaded and sorted twice
Tracking note	One for the container	One for each sender

Container dimensions and what each one holds are on the container sizes page.

Shipping commercial goods and spare parts from Riyadh to Benin

The cars that reach Cotonou later need parts, tyres and oils, which is why parts traders follow in the tracks of car traders. Riyadh serves them well: genuine and aftermarket parts shops stand side by side in its industrial areas, and the wholesale markets in the city centre sell household goods, fabrics, perfumes and dates at the carton price. We collect from all of these places and gather the buyer’s invoices into one file.

In our warehouse the cartons are stacked on wooden pallets, wrapped in clear film, and each pallet is given a number matched by a line on the packing list. This numbering is not a matter of tidiness. Cotonou customs check the list against the goods, and a pallet with no number is opened and counted piece by piece.

Goods	Where they are collected in Riyadh	How they are prepared
Car spare parts	Industrial-area shops and dealers’ warehouses	Numbered cartons on pallets, heavy items at the bottom
Tyres	Wholesale shops	Nested to save volume, or in the spare space of a car container
Oils and batteries	Distributors	By sea only, with the item declared in the documents
Household goods and plastics	Wholesale markets in central Riyadh	Factory cartons on wrapped pallets
Dates and dry foodstuffs	Date markets and factories	With a health certificate and a clear expiry date
Building materials and tiles	Factories and industrial cities	Pallets bound with straps, and a full container

Commercial goods need a registered importer in Benin with a tax identification number, and an invoice stating the item, the quantity and the value. Some items are subject to conformity checks or inspection on arrival under current practice, and we go over that with the clearing agent before you buy. Details of the service are on the commercial shipping page.

Car shipping from Riyadh to Benin step by step

A car has two ways of crossing the sea. With RoRo the car boards the vessel on its wheels, is lashed on an enclosed deck with hundreds of others, and comes off in Cotonou the same way. It is the cheaper option for a single car, on condition that the car runs and moves and that it is empty. In a container the car is secured inside a closed steel box, which suits a car that does not run, a luxury car, and anyone who wants to send goods with it.

Point of comparison	RoRo	Container
How it is loaded	A port driver drives it into the vessel	It is put into the container and strapped by all four wheels
Condition of the car	Runs, brakes and steers	Any condition, even broken down
Price	Starts from SAR 2,800 for a saloon from Jeddah port	Set on request, and split between two cars in a 40ft
Belongings with the car	Not allowed	Possible against a written list
Covering	Not covered, as the driver needs to see and drive it	Inside a closed box

From Riyadh the process runs in this order: you send the car’s details and we give you the price of both methods. The export paper is then completed at the traffic department after fines are paid and the plates handed in, under the procedure in force at the time of shipping, and we go through it with you or complete it under authorisation. After that we collect the car from your home or from the auction yard, photographing the body, the cabin and the odometer, move it to Jeddah, obtain the tracking note with the chassis number, and it sails. In Cotonou the clearing agent hands it to the consignee or his representative after the photographs are matched.

Why do Cotonou’s yards ask for Riyadh cars?

For three reasons the traders of that market know. The dry climate of the centre of the Kingdom preserves the body from the rust that eats the cars of coastal cities and cold countries. The steering wheel is on the left as in Benin, so there is no conversion and no conversion cost. And the auctions offer a varied range in a single week: economical saloons, pickups, 4x4s, and company cars with a service record. The buyer can thus build a balanced batch that suits Beninese demand and the customers from neighbouring countries who buy from Cotonou’s yards.

In current practice Benin sets no maximum age for an imported car, unlike its neighbours. Duties are calculated on a value that customs assess by model and year, not on the purchase invoice alone. We confirm the rules in force before you buy. Trucks, buses and construction equipment travel by RoRo if they can be driven, or on a flat rack if they are larger than the door, as explained on the heavy equipment shipping page. The two car-shipping methods are set out on the RoRo shipping and container car shipping pages.

Shipping baggage, parcels and furniture to Benin

Riyadh has Beninese students at its universities, workers in companies and homes, and diplomats and staff of organisations. Their shipments are mostly small: two suitcases and a carton of books at the end of a course, gifts for the family before Eid, or the furniture of a flat on a final return. The small ones go by air by the kilogram or by express, and the large ones go into a shared container by the cubic metre.

In current practice at Benin customs, used household belongings owned for six months are relieved of customs duty for anyone moving residence, with a change-of-residence certificate and a valued list in French signed by the owner. Small charges on the declared value remain, and invoices are requested for new appliances. We review the current conditions with the clearing agent before loading. Mind the electricity too: the supply in Benin is 220 volts at 50 hertz and its sockets are European with two round pins, so take a plug adaptor and check the label of every appliance with a motor. The parcel service is explained on the parcel shipping page.

Packing and securing vehicles for the West Africa voyage

A shipment to Cotonou is lifted and set down more often than any shipment to a nearby port: in Riyadh, then in Jeddah, then at the transhipment port, then in Cotonou. Between those stops it passes through the heat of the Red Sea and then the humidity of the Gulf of Guinea. What is enough for a week’s journey is not enough here.

• The car inside the container: timber chocks in front of and behind the wheels, crossed straps on all four wheels, the battery terminal disconnected, and no more than a quarter of a tank of fuel.
• Between the car and the goods: a timber partition that stops cartons sliding towards the body when the vessel rolls.
• Spare parts: a metal part is coated with a rust inhibitor or wrapped in waxed paper, and braced inside its carton so that it does not move.
• Glass and lamps: each piece in bubble wrap, stowed upright and not lying flat.
• Humidity: desiccant bags hung from the container roof and between the pallets.
• Timber: pallets and crates of heat-treated wood bearing the ISPM 15 stamp.

Before the door is closed we photograph the loaded container and photograph the seal and its number. These pictures are what everyone goes back to if the condition differs on opening. Securing methods are on the packing and lashing page.

The BESC cargo tracking note: the document people forget

Anyone shipping to the Gulf or Europe does not know this document, and anyone shipping to Benin cannot do without it. It is an electronic declaration overseen by the Beninese shippers’ council, required for every sea shipment discharged at Cotonou, even if its final destination is another country.

• What we need to issue it: the draft bill of lading, the commercial invoice, the freight invoice, the packing list and the export declaration.
• For vehicles: the chassis number, model, year of manufacture and engine capacity as on the registration card.
• Timing: we issue it at sailing and do not wait for the vessel to arrive, because shipping lines ask for the documents days before arrival.
• If it is missing or incomplete: the shipment is not released until it is put right, and a fine and storage charges are added.

Its fee is calculated by the type of shipment, and we write it as a line in the price so that it does not appear after booking.

Customs in Benin and the documents required

Benin is a member of the Economic Community of West African States and applies its common external tariff. Customs duty there has five bands according to the item, with value added tax and other small charges on top. The customs declaration is lodged by a licensed clearing agent through the customs electronic system, so the consignee does not clear the goods himself.

Item	Current practice
Customs duty	Bands of 0%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 35% according to the item
Value added tax	18% on most imports
Other charges	A statistical fee, regional levies, and port and processing fees
Value of a car	Assessed by customs according to model and year of manufacture
Language of documents	French, or a translation attached to the original
Free days at the port	Few, differing from one shipping line to another, with daily charges afterwards

These rates are amended by finance laws, and some categories are granted temporary exemptions that are later withdrawn. We therefore give you an approximate calculation from the clearing agent before shipping, not a figure from an old table. The documents by type of shipment:

Type of shipment	Documents
Car	The registration card, the export paper from the traffic department, the purchase contract or invoice, the bill of lading, the tracking note and the consignee’s identity document
Commercial goods	The importer’s tax number, an invoice for the sale, a packing list numbered to match the pallets, a certificate of origin, and the bill of lading with its tracking note
Foodstuffs and dates	The above, with a health certificate or a phytosanitary certificate according to the item
Baggage and furniture	A copy of the passport, a valued and signed list in French, a change-of-residence certificate for a returnee, and invoices for new appliances
Transit shipment	The goods documents, with the final country and city stated on the bill of lading and the tracking note

Our shipping documents page describes every paper in this table, and the customs clearance page follows a shipment through release.

What cannot be shipped to Benin or needs permission

The restrictions on this route are of three kinds: what Benin forbids, what the Kingdom forbids to leave, and what the sea or air carrier forbids for the safety of the journey. One offending item is enough to stop a whole container.

Item	Ruling
Narcotics and psychotropic substances	Prohibited
Weapons and ammunition	With the permission of the Beninese security authority; we do not ship them
Frozen poultry	Import banned
Medicines	With Ministry of Health permission; for personal use in a limited quantity with a prescription
Radio communication sets	With prior approval
Counterfeits, ivory and products of protected animals	Confiscated
Scrap metal	With a radiation inspection certificate before loading
Belongings inside a RoRo car	Not allowed apart from the original tool kit
Fuel, cylinders and aerosols in quantity	Not shipped with ordinary goods
Cash, gold and original documents	Stay with their owner and are not put in the container

The general list for all destinations is on the prohibited items page.

Receiving shipments from Riyadh in Cotonou

The port of Cotonou lies inside the city itself on the Gulf of Guinea, and it is Benin’s sea gateway for containers and vehicles. By the time the vessel berths, your shipment’s file has reached the clearing agent ahead of it: the bill of lading, the tracking note, the invoice and the packing list. He lodges the declaration, the charges are paid, the shipment is inspected if inspection is called for, and it then leaves through the gate.

Cars are handed over in the port yard or moved to the sales yards near it. A container is carried by truck to the consignee’s warehouse or shop and opened in front of him after the seal number is checked. Groupage goods are sorted at our agent’s warehouse and then delivered by pallet number. For anyone whose goods are bound outside the economic capital we arrange a local truck:

City	Approximate distance from Cotonou	Note
Cotonou	Within the city	Delivery to the warehouse, the shop or the car yard
Abomey-Calavi	About 20 km	A university suburb adjoining the city
Porto-Novo	About 35 km	The administrative capital, near the Nigerian border
Ouidah	About 40 km	Westwards on the coastal road
Bohicon and Abomey	About 130 km	The junction of the roads to the north
Parakou	About 415 km	The largest city of the north and its trading market

Destination information is on the shipping to Benin page.

Transit from Cotonou to Niger and Nigeria

Cotonou is not Benin’s port alone. A large part of what is discharged there is bound for a neighbouring country: Niger, which has no sea, and Nigeria, whose traders buy cars from Cotonou’s yards. A transit shipment is not cleared in Benin; it crosses the country under a transit document and a guarantee, an electronic tracking device is fitted to the transiting vehicle, and it is given a set period to reach the border.

But this road does not stay the same. Overland transit to Niger has stopped in earlier periods with the closure of the border between the two countries, and Nigeria changes the conditions for cars and goods entering by its land borders from time to time. We therefore make no general promise of transit. We ask about the state of the crossing on the booking day, write the final destination in the documents from the start, and tell you if another port would serve your goods better. The two destination pages: shipping to Niger and shipping to Nigeria.

Air freight from Riyadh to Benin

A workshop in Cotonou waiting for a gearbox, a trader who wants samples before ordering a container, or a student sending his attested certificates: these are shipments that cannot bear six weeks. They leave from King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and reach Cotonou’s international airport in the Cadjehoun district in 4 to 7 days to the consignee’s hand. There is no direct cargo flight between the two airports, so the goods pass through a connecting airport in Africa, Europe or Turkey and then continue on a second flight.

• Price: starts from SAR 28 per kilogram and falls as the weight rises.
• Express: documents from SAR 83, and a parcel up to 5 kg from SAR 110.
• Chargeable weight: the airline bills the larger of the scale weight and the weight derived from the carton’s dimensions, which our volumetric weight calculator gives you in a moment.
• What it suits: small spare parts, electronics, samples, documents and a little baggage.
• What it does not suit: oils, batteries, aerosols and engines containing fluids; these are dangerous goods with their own conditions, or they are switched to sea.
• Delivery: in Cotonou to the address after clearance at the airport, and other cities by prior arrangement.

Many traders combine the two routes: the container for the main stock, and the plane for what ran short or what a customer in a hurry has asked for. Details of the service are on the air freight page.

Collection from Riyadh’s districts and nearby towns

We collect from anywhere in the capital where your shipment happens to be: a home, a shop, a supplier’s warehouse, an auction yard or a car showroom. At auction yards we need your authorisation and a copy of the purchase contract, because the yard management releases a vehicle only with both.

Area	Examples	What we mostly collect there
South Riyadh	Al-Shifa, Al-Aziziyah, Badr, Al-Mansourah, Ad-Dar Al-Baida	Showroom and open-market cars, and spare parts
East Riyadh	An-Naseem, As-Sulay, Ar-Rawdah, Al-Yarmouk, Ishbiliyah	Vehicles from the yards, and warehouse goods
Central Riyadh	Al-Batha, Ad-Dirah, Al-Malaz, Manfuhah	Wholesale-market goods, and workers’ baggage
North Riyadh	Al-Malqa, Al-Yasmin, As-Sahafah, An-Narjis, Hittin	Private owners’ cars, and returnees’ furniture
West Riyadh	Dhahrat Laban, Tuwaiq, Irqah, As-Suwaidi	Close to the Jeddah road exit, so loaded at the end of the round
Industrial cities	Factories and suppliers’ warehouses	Pallets and containers loaded at the supplier’s site
Al-Kharj, Al-Muzahimiyah and Diriyah	Up to about 80 km from the city	By prior arrangement before the day of the run

If you buy before your batch is ready, the cars and goods stay in our yard and warehouse until it is complete. The conditions are on the storage page, and the rest of our services in the capital are in the article international shipping company in Riyadh.

Steps for shipping from Riyadh to Benin

1. You send to 0552803439 what you want to ship: the car’s details or the list of goods, and the consignee’s city in Benin.
2. We review the restrictions on the item and the expected charges in Cotonou with the clearing agent.
3. The price reaches you itemised: the road to Jeddah, the sea or air freight, the tracking note and what follows the port.
4. We collect from your site or from the auction yard, and photograph, pack and load.
5. The car’s export paper is completed, and the goods invoices and packing list are prepared.
6. The shipment moves to Jeddah port, the container is sealed, and the bill of lading and the tracking note are issued.
7. The vessel sails, and we send copies of the documents to the clearing agent in Cotonou.
8. The shipment is released and handed to the consignee after the seal and the photographs are matched.

Tracking and insurance

Every unit has a reference number with us, whether a car, a container or a pallet. From it you know where it is: in the Riyadh yard, on the road, in the port yard, on which vessel, at the transhipment port, or in Cotonou. A WhatsApp message reaches you at every move. A trader with ten cars on the way receives one statement showing the position of each car and its expected arrival date, so he sells in Benin on a date, not on a guess. How to follow it is on the track your shipment page.

Insurance is optional, but on this long route it is close to a necessity for a valuable car or a machine. The sea carrier bears only a limited amount stated in its bill of lading, while insurance covers the value you declare from the moment of loading in Riyadh to delivery in Cotonou. What it covers and what it does not are on the cargo insurance page.

Shipping from Benin to Riyadh

Traffic in the opposite direction is far lighter, but it exists: the belongings of a resident returning to his job in the Kingdom, agricultural and craft products in commercial quantities, and samples and documents. Our agent collects them in Cotonou, they sail from its port to Jeddah, and they are then cleared and carried by truck to Riyadh. Urgent items come by air to King Khalid Airport. Before you buy any item, we go over what the Saudi authorities require for it in food or agricultural licences or standards, because a refusal at the port of arrival costs more than a question before shipping.

A case from this route: a trader who buys and does not ship

A Beninese trader living in Riyadh used to attend the auction every week and buy three or four cars. After each auction he lost two days: looking for a driver to take the cars to Jeddah, then for an office to book them, then telephoning to ask where they had got to. We arranged things differently for him. He sends a photo of the contract once the auction is knocked down, and we collect from the yard on the same day or the next. His cars gather in our yard and leave every two weeks in a single RoRo batch, and a statement of their positions reaches him. All his time now goes to buying, and the number he sends each month has risen without his working hours rising.

Tips for Riyadh exporters to Benin

• Cost the car landed, not bought: the auction price, plus the road to Jeddah, plus the sea freight, plus the tracking note, plus the Cotonou charges. Ask us for this total before you bid.
• Do not move the car after buying it: our collection from the yard keeps the odometer and the condition as the auction recorded them.
• Ask about the car before RoRo: a car that does not run or has weak brakes is refused by the port, and its place is a container.
• Match the chassis number three times: on the registration card, the purchase contract and the bill of lading. One different character stops the clearance.
• Write the lists in French: or attach a translation, as it is the language of customs there.
• Appoint your clearing agent early: or ask for ours, and send him the documents on the sailing day.
• Insure the valuable unit: a small premium against six weeks of sea and handling.

The full vehicle-shipping guide is on the car shipping guide page.

How do you choose a shipping company from Riyadh to Benin?

In Riyadh’s car market there are many brokers offering “Africa shipping”. Some are inland hauliers who hand the car to an office in Jeddah, and some are offices in Jeddah that do not know what happens in Cotonou. The difference between one accountable party and a chain of brokers shows in these questions:

What you ask about	A party that runs the whole route	Scattered brokers
Who is responsible?	One contract from the yard to Cotonou	A haulier here and an agent there, each referring you to the other
The price	Written lines that include the road and the tracking note	Sea freight only, with the rest appearing later
Transport to Jeddah	On a carrier, with a photo of the odometer before and after	A driver who drives it and adds distance and scratches
The tracking note	Asks for the chassis number and issues it at sailing	Does not mention it, or leaves it to the consignee
The time	Names the transhipment port and gives a time range	“Three weeks and it will be there”
Proof	Commercial registration, collection receipt, photographs and bill of lading	A spoken promise and a transfer to a personal account

Common mistakes when shipping from Riyadh to Benin

• Bidding on a car before knowing its charges in Cotonou.
• Handing the car to a driver who takes it to Jeddah with no photograph of the odometer.
• Leaving cartons in the cabin of a car that will be shipped by RoRo.
• Delaying the tracking note until the vessel is nearing the port.
• Writing “assorted spare parts” instead of a list of items and quantities.
• Booking a shipment bound for Niger without asking about the state of the crossing.
• Sending oils or batteries in an air parcel as if they were ordinary parts.

Why Home Safe for shipping from Riyadh to Benin?

You have three ways to ask for the service: a direct call, a WhatsApp message with the shipment’s photographs and details, or the request form on the website. In all three, the itemised price reaches you the same day. Anyone shipping cars only will find the details in the article car shipping company in Riyadh.

To book: 0552803439 by call or WhatsApp, from 7 am to 11 pm. Or from the request a quote page.

Related articles and pages

• Shipping company from Saudi Arabia to Benin
• Shipping company from Jeddah to Benin
• Shipping company from Riyadh to Ivory Coast
• Shipping from Saudi Arabia to Togo
• Car shipping from Saudi Arabia
• Sea freight

Tags

shipping company from Riyadh to Benin, shipping from Riyadh to Benin, car shipping from Riyadh to Benin, shipping from Riyadh to Cotonou, shipping price from Riyadh to Benin, spare parts shipping to Benin, cargo shipping from Riyadh to Benin, sea freight to the port of Cotonou, air freight from Riyadh to Benin, shipping auction cars from Riyadh, RoRo shipping to Cotonou, container shipping to Benin, Benin BESC cargo tracking note, shipping from Saudi Arabia to West Africa, shipping from Benin to Riyadh, Home Safe International Shipping

Frequently asked questions about shipping from Riyadh to Benin

How much does shipping from Riyadh to Benin cost?

A saloon by RoRo starts from SAR 2,800, calculated from Jeddah Islamic Port. An air kilogram from King Khalid Airport starts from SAR 28, an express parcel of no more than 5 kg from SAR 110, and documents from SAR 83. The container, the cubic metre and the road haulage from Riyadh to the port are set on request, and the figures reach you on 0552803439 on the day you send the details.

How long does a shipment need from Riyadh to reach Cotonou?

The whole sea journey, from the sender’s door in Riyadh to the consignee’s door in Cotonou, takes between 38 and 52 days for a car or a full container, and between 43 and 55 days for goods travelling in a shared container. Two to five of those days are inside the Kingdom, and 25 to 35 are on the water. An air parcel is delivered in 4 to 7 days.

I bought a car at an auction in Riyadh; what do I need to do to ship it to Benin?

Photograph the purchase contract and the registration card and send them to us with the name of the consignee in Cotonou. We send a carrier to the auction yard with your authorisation, and photograph the car and the odometer before it is lifted. We then go through the export paper from the traffic department with you, book it a place on a RoRo vessel or inside a container, and obtain the Beninese tracking note before it is loaded.

Should I drive the car myself from Riyadh to Jeddah port?

There is no need. The road between the two cities is about 950 km, and driving a car that has just been bought adds a distance to its odometer that the buyer in Cotonou will see. Our carriers take it on their decks on scheduled runs, and the charge for this leg appears in the price as a separate line set on request.

Does Benin impose an age limit on used cars?

In current practice Benin sets no ceiling on the age of an imported car, which is one reason its market is so busy. Its neighbours, however, set different ceilings, so if your car is going to be sold to a buyer from a neighbouring country, it is that country’s rule that counts. We confirm what is in force before you pay for the car.

What is the cargo tracking note Benin asks for?

An electronic document known by the abbreviation BESC, issued for every sea shipment discharged at the port of Cotonou, whether a car, a container or pallets. It is built on the bill of lading, the invoice, the freight charge and the packing list, and it states the chassis number when the shipment is a vehicle. We obtain it ourselves as part of preparing the file, and we do not wait for the ship to arrive.

Do you ship more than one car in a single batch?

Yes, and that is what most traders on this route do. We gather what you buy over two weeks or a month in our yard, and the units then leave together on one vessel with a bill of lading for each car. Anyone shipping two cars that suit a container puts them in a 40ft box and splits its charge between them.

Can I put spare parts inside the car being shipped?

Not on a RoRo vessel. The car goes aboard empty apart from its spare wheel and original tool kit, and any carton in the cabin may be removed at the port or hold up clearance. If you want spare parts with the car, the answer is a container in which the car is secured and the parts are stowed in the remaining space against a list written in French.

Do you ship spare parts and goods from Riyadh’s markets?

Yes. We collect from spare-parts and tyre shops, from the wholesale markets and from suppliers’ warehouses, and we combine your purchases from several shops into one shipment. A small quantity travels by the cubic metre in a shared container, a large one in a full container, and the part that is keeping a workshop in Cotonou idle travels by plane.

Will my shipment reach Beninese cities outside Cotonou?

Yes, by prior arrangement. After release at the port a local truck carries it to Porto-Novo, Abomey-Calavi, Ouidah, Bohicon or Parakou. The charge for this leg is set on request according to the city and the volume, and we need a clear address and a Beninese telephone number for the consignee.

Is transit from Cotonou to Niger still possible?

Truck traffic between Benin and Niger has been interrupted in earlier periods by the closure of the border between the two countries, and its state changes. For that reason we do not accept a shipment whose final destination is Niger before checking the position of the crossing on the booking day. If it is closed, we suggest an alternative port to you rather than have your goods stuck in Cotonou.

Which items may not enter Benin?

Narcotics, weapons and their ammunition, counterfeits, ivory and products of protected animals. The import of frozen poultry has been banned. Medicines enter in commercial quantities only with the permission of the Beninese Ministry of Health, and radio communication sets with the approval of the body concerned. Send us your list of goods before you buy so that we can go through it item by item.

Do you ship the baggage of Beninese students and workers in Riyadh?

Yes. Suitcases and a few cartons travel by air by the kilogram from SAR 28, and anything beyond that goes into a shared container by the cubic metre. We write the list of contents in French with an approximate value against each line, because Cotonou customs ask for it signed by the owner of the belongings.

Is the shipment insured for the whole journey?

The shipping line’s liability for the cargo is limited by the wording of the bill of lading, and it does not equal the value of a car or a machine. We therefore offer optional marine insurance at a percentage of the value you declare, covering the road leg to Jeddah, the voyage and the transhipment port. We attach to it the condition photographs taken in Riyadh.

Do you ship from Benin to Riyadh?

Yes, by the reverse route. Our agent collects in Cotonou, the container sails to Jeddah Islamic Port, and it then continues by truck to Riyadh once it has been cleared. Urgent items come by air to King Khalid Airport. Before booking we go over what the Saudi authorities require for the item being imported.