The lane: Kochi to Apapa
Our group began working timber in Perumbavoor, Kerala, in 1986. Our factories sit about 40 km from Cochin Port; containers are stuffed at the factory under our own supervision and gate in at the Vallarpadam terminal, so the inland leg is short and the sheet count in the box is the sheet count on the packing list.
West Africa is a different routing from the Gulf and East African lanes, and the container traffic we quote for Nigeria discharges at Apapa in Lagos. If your clearance runs through another terminal, say so in the enquiry and we will quote against that routing.
We do not publish sailing schedules. Port-to-port time depends on the carrier and the service, and a number printed on a page is wrong the first time the schedule changes. The sailing is confirmed alongside the quote, and the shipping documents are shared before the vessel sails.
The part of a Nigerian import we can actually control is the paperwork leaving our end, and the time to fix it is at enquiry. Tell us what your import requires before the proforma invoice is issued: a document that has to be named on the commercial invoice, a certificate tied to a particular factory, an inspection held before loading. Every one of those is cheap to arrange in week one and expensive to retrofit once a container is on the water. Nigeria is one of several lanes we serve; the export hub covers the rest.
What Nigerian buyers order
Three lines carry most of the volume: packing-grade plywood for crates and cases, commercial and BWR plywood for furniture and joinery, and film-faced shuttering plywood for formwork. Ready-made boxes and crates go on the same container for buyers who want packaging delivered rather than built.
| Product | Build | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Packing-grade plywood | MR bond, IS 303; 6, 8, 12, 15, 18 mm typical | Crates, case panels, pallet decks |
| Commercial / BWR plywood | MR or BWR bond; Okoume face on request | Joinery, fit-out, furniture |
| Film-faced shuttering plywood | Film-faced, made for repeated concrete pours | Slab and column formwork |
| Marine plywood | IS 710, BWP bond | Boat work, coastal construction, wet areas |
| Plywood boxes, crates, pallets | ISPM-15 where required: solid-wood parts treated and marked by a DPPQS-registered provider; certificate where the quote states it | Machinery packing, logistics |
| Cable drums, container flooring ply | Made to order | Cable plants, container repair |
Okoume is a face veneer on the MR-packing and BWR builds rather than a separate grade; specify it in the enquiry if the panel face matters at the far end. We also make calibrated panels with an Okoume face on a eucalyptus core, made to the E1 emission class (test report on request for the lot quoted) — 16 mm at roughly 32 kg a sheet, bare or HPL-laminated. Full builds and thickness options are on the packing plywood, film-faced shuttering plywood and commercial plywood pages.
Mixed loads are normal. A container split across two or three products is a standard order on this lane, not a special request, and both box sizes are worked: a 20 ft for smaller lots and weight-restricted haulage, a 40 ft where the road rules at your end allow the payload.
USD quotes on FOB Cochin terms
Export quotes are issued in US dollars, FOB Cochin by default. FCA at a named place is often the better term for a sealed container and we quote it on request. Standard products ship against 50% advance with the balance before dispatch; made-to-order and custom-fabricated goods are 100% advance. Payment is by bank transfer (T/T).
We do not publish rate lists. Veneer and timber costs move and a printed number goes stale. Send the spec — thickness, sheet size, grade, face, quantity and discharge port — and a written quote comes back within one business day. What FOB Cochin does and does not include is set out in our note on the term, and the whole order path, from spec confirmation to the document set on sailing, is on how we export.
We ask for money in advance, so we make ourselves easy to check. Our IEC, FIEO RCMC, LEI, CIN and GSTIN are listed at company verification with where to check each one, all against the same legal entity that will invoice you.
ISPM-15, and what certification actually costs you if you ask late
Plywood panels are exempt from ISPM-15. Plywood is a processed wood product, pressed under heat and adhesive, so the panels ship without a heat-treatment stamp and without a fumigation certificate. The standard covers solid-wood packaging — pallets, crates, dunnage. Where we supply plywood boxes, crates or pallets, their solid-wood parts are treated and IPPC-marked by a DPPQS-registered treatment provider where the destination requires it; the treatment method follows the destination's rules, and a treatment certificate is supplied where the quotation states it. If you run your own packing line, our note on heat treatment versus methyl bromide sets out the difference.
Product certification is a different question, and it is settled before the panels are pressed rather than after. If your import into Nigeria needs a particular certificate, test report or pre-shipment inspection, say so at enquiry: it decides which of our factories makes your order and it cannot be added once the goods exist. BIS licences are held factory by factory, so there is no single number covering everything we make; any certificate that applies to your order is named on the quotation by holder, number and product scope. Pre-shipment inspection by you or by any third-party agency you appoint is welcome, and we hold the goods for it.
What you see before the container sails
You should not have to wait for the doors to open in Lagos to learn what is inside. Three things close that gap, and all three are standard rather than chargeable extras: pre-shipment inspection by you or any third-party agency you appoint, with the goods held for it; photographs and video of your container as it loads, sent the same day; and a packing list carrying net and gross weight per bundle and sheet counts per pallet — the same numbers declared to the shipping line. Behind them sits our warranty that the goods conform to the grade and standard on the proforma invoice at the time risk passes.
Import essentials for Nigeria
What your clearing agent needs to land a plywood shipment in Nigeria. We quote FCA or FOB Cochin in USD; customs duty and any import taxes are added at import, on the valuation basis your destination's customs law uses.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| HS code | 4412 (plywood; the national item within 4412.31 / 4412.33 / 4412.34 / 4412.39 turns on panel construction and individual ply thickness as well as face species, and finished cases, pallets and drums are generally considered under 4415 — your broker confirms the line) |
| Customs duty and import taxes | Nigeria applies a 20% import duty on CIF value across every HS 4412 plywood subheading — confirmed directly on the Nigeria Customs Service’s own tariff portal for each line, from bamboo plywood (4412.10) through blockboard and laminboard (4412.51–.59) — placing plywood in Band 3 of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff rather than the top 35% protective band. VAT is 7.5% on imports, charged on CIF value plus duty. India holds no FTA or ECOWAS-origin preference into Nigeria, so the full CET rate applies with no discount. Nigerian customs also layers further charges on top of duty and VAT — an ECOWAS trade levy, a supervision or inspection charge, and a surcharge on the duty amount are all commonly cited — but the rates and bases quoted for these vary between sources, so we do not publish a combined landed-cost figure here; your clearing agent confirms the full charge stack in force at clearance. |
| Landed-cost note | Indicative only — your broker must confirm the destination tariff line and the rates in force. Import VAT is not charged on CIF alone: the base is the customs value plus customs duty, and local law may add excise, fees and other incidental charges. |
| Conformity, standards and inspection | Nigeria requires SONCAP (Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme) for plywood and other wood panels — they fall outside SON’s narrow exemption list (food, medicines, raw-material chemicals for manufacturers, military equipment, contraband, and most used goods), so the general rule applies. In practice, a Product Certificate is obtained first from SON or an appointed Independent Accredited Firm such as Cotecna or Intertek, based on an accredited test report and valid up to three years, followed by a SONCAP Certificate issued per shipment against the invoice and packing list — this is what your Nigerian importer presents to clear customs, alongside their own Form M and Cargo Tracking Note. Tell us at enquiry so the Product Certificate step can start well before the panels are pressed; inspection by you or an agency you appoint remains welcome and the goods are held for it. |
| Clears at | Apapa, Lagos |
| Port-to-port transit | Freight-marketplace listings for this lane disagree meaningfully — some show roughly 22 days, others 28 to 30 — and neither is a carrier-published schedule, so no single figure is reliable enough to state as fact. Cochin is a secondary Indian gateway and typically reaches West Africa via transshipment through a hub such as Colombo, Salalah, Jebel Ali or Nhava Sheva, so the routing actually used changes the figure materially. Plan on roughly three to four and a half weeks port to port, with the exact schedule confirmed at the time of quote. |
| Documents we provide | Commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin, bill of lading, with a phytosanitary or treatment certificate where the destination, product or contract requires one |
| ISPM-15 | Panels exempt; solid wood in assembled crates and pallets treated and IPPC-marked by a DPPQS-registered treatment provider where the destination requires it, with a treatment certificate where the quotation states it |
The duty and conformity figures above are sourced, not estimated. Where the published sources genuinely disagreed — the sailing time on this lane above all — the row says so rather than naming a number. A gap costs a buyer one email; a confidently wrong tariff, or a certification we do not hold, costs them a container sitting on a quay.