African countries

Africa remains one of the most undervalued markets for international procurement. While most companies continue to look for suppliers in China, Turkey, and India, African producers offer competitive prices on raw materials, agricultural products, equipment, and goods for industry.

In recent years, Russia's trade with African countries has grown significantly. Russian companies are actively developing cooperation with Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, South Africa, and other states on the continent, diversifying supply chains and reducing dependence on individual markets.

TransGID organizes door-to-door cargo delivery from Africa: from picking up goods from the supplier to customs clearance and delivery to the recipient's warehouse in Russia. We take care of international transportation, cargo consolidation, financial logistics, and support for foreign trade transactions.

Just a few years ago, Africa was perceived as a complex and niche destination. Today, the situation is changing.

African countries offer access to unique product categories, competitive prices, and new suppliers. For many companies, Africa is not a replacement for China or India, but an additional procurement market that allows them to diversify imports and reduce dependence on one region.

An additional advantage is the developed port infrastructure in North Africa and the presence of direct sea services through the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal.

Africa is not a single market. Each country specializes in its own product categories.

North African countries supply vegetables, fruits, textile raw materials, cotton, food products, and agricultural goods.

Egypt remains one of the largest suppliers of citrus fruits, vegetables, potatoes, and cotton. Morocco exports vegetables, fruits, seafood, and textile raw materials.

South Africa is the most industrially developed country on the continent and actively supplies industrial equipment, special machinery, spare parts, chemical products, raw materials for production, and mining industry goods.

Russian companies also purchase coffee, cocoa beans, nuts, food ingredients, industrial raw materials, chemical components, and goods for further processing in African countries.

Routes from Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa differ significantly from each other. Therefore, for each shipment, we select the optimal scheme for transportation and customs clearance.

The choice of departure port directly affects the cost and delivery time.

For supplies from North Africa, Alexandria, Port Said, Casablanca, and Tangier are most often used.

For cargo from South Africa, Durban and Cape Town are the main export gateways.

When calculating the route, TransGID specialists take into account the supplier's location, the availability of shipping lines, and the best delivery option to a Russian port.

Supplies from Egypt, Morocco, and other countries in the region are carried out through the Mediterranean Sea with subsequent entry into Russian ports.

Delivery from Alexandria or Casablanca to Novorossiysk takes an average of 15 to 25 days, making North Africa one of the fastest routes for sea import.

Supplies from South Africa require a longer sea leg.

Containers are sent from the ports of Durban and Cape Town to Novorossiysk or St. Petersburg. The average delivery time is 35–45 days.

Used for urgent deliveries of equipment, electronic components, spare parts, and product samples.

The average air delivery time from Egypt is 3–5 days, from South Africa — 5–7 days.

Most companies start working with new suppliers with consolidated shipments.

A test purchase of coffee, raw material samples, several pallets of textiles, or a batch of components rarely require renting an entire container.

In such cases, we organize cargo consolidation in the warehouse, check the packaging and documents, and then send the goods along with other clients' cargo.

The client pays only for the actual volume occupied, which significantly reduces logistics costs for small purchases.

Separate containers are used for regular shipments.

This format is suitable for transporting food, industrial raw materials, equipment, chemical products, and large batches of goods.

The container is loaded directly at the supplier's and follows an agreed route to the Russian port, which reduces the number of transshipments and allows better control over delivery times.

For heavy cargo, 20-foot containers are usually used, for bulk shipments — 40-foot containers and High Cube containers.

If necessary, TransGID specialists will organize the transportation of temperature-controlled, dangerous, and oversized cargo. More details about these services can be found on the relevant pages of the website.

TransGID is a licensed customs representative and independently performs the entire range of customs procedures.

Our specialists check the supplier's documents, select HS codes, calculate customs duties, assess the risks of customs value adjustment, and submit declarations to the Electronic Declaration Centers.

For food products, phytosanitary documents and certificates of origin are additionally checked. For equipment and industrial products, a set of technical documentation and certification requirements is analyzed.

Organizing international payments remains one of the important tasks when working with suppliers from Africa.

We help conduct calculations with counterparties, organize the purchase of goods under the agency scheme, and accompany the foreign trade transaction from the moment of payment until the cargo is received at the warehouse in Russia.

The client receives a full set of documents for accounting and tax reporting.