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FREIGHT FORWARDING · CUSTOMS BROKERAGE · WEST AFRICA

West African trade,
moved with care.

Merko handles cross-border freight, customs clearance, and last-mile distribution across Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Togo and Benin. Sea, air and road freight. NCS licensed. ETLS expert.

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12,400+ SHIPMENTS · 6 COUNTRIES · NCS LICENSED · ETLS EXPERT

MERKO TRACKING

CONTAINER MRKU/4827193

IN TRANSIT · DAY 11 OF 18

TRACKING ID

MRK-2026-04-2847

ORIGIN

Apapa Port, Lagos

DESTINATION

Tema Port, Accra

Origin pickup

Apapa, Lagos · Day 1

Customs clearance Lagos

NCS · Day 3

Sea departure

Day 5

Sea transit

Day 11 · IN PROGRESS

Tema arrival

Estimated Day 15

Cargo type: Industrial machinery
Weight: 8,420 kg

Live shipment tracking · Sample container · Lagos to Accra

OPERATIONS IN PICTURES

Containers, ports and the people who move them.

Container ship at sea
SEA FREIGHT
Port crane lifting a container
PORT OPERATIONS
Cargo trucks on the road
ROAD FREIGHT
Warehouse interior with stacked goods
WAREHOUSING

TRUSTED BY WEST AFRICAN IMPORTERS, EXPORTERS AND ENTERPRISES

DANGOTE GROUP · BUA GROUP · NIGERIAN BREWERIES · NESTLÉ · FLOUR MILLS · LAFARGE WAPCO
GHACEM · SCANCEM · UAC · UNILEVER · PZ CUSSONS · OLAM
WHY MERKO EXISTS

West African trade is bigger
than its borders suggest.

Cross-border trade in West Africa is enormous. Nigeria alone moves over $90 billion in international trade annually. Add Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal, and West African trade exceeds $200 billion per year. Yet most of this trade is handled by fragmented operators, opaque processes, and customs delays measured in weeks rather than days.

Container clearance at Apapa can take weeks when poorly managed. Customs disputes can sit unresolved for months. ETLS documentation gets fumbled at borders. The cost in working capital, storage fees, demurrage and operational disruption is enormous, and almost entirely avoidable.

Merko exists because West African trade deserves better handling. We move containers the right way. We clear customs efficiently. We handle ETLS documentation correctly. And we give importers and exporters real visibility on what we are doing with their cargo.

WHAT WE DO

Six service areas. End to end
West African trade infrastructure.

SERVICE / 01

SEA FREIGHT

Container shipment management across West African ports including Apapa, Tincan, Onne, Tema, Abidjan, Dakar, Lomé and Cotonou. FCL and LCL arrangements.

SERVICE / 02

AIR FREIGHT

Time-sensitive cargo via Murtala Muhammed Cargo, Kotoka Cargo and Felix Houphouët-Boigny Cargo. Express options for documents and high-value goods.

SERVICE / 03

ROAD FREIGHT

Cross-border road transport across ECOWAS routes. Lagos to Accra to Abidjan corridor. Modern fleet with GPS tracking and verified driver networks.

SERVICE / 04

CUSTOMS BROKERAGE

NCS, Ghana Customs and regional authorities. ETLS expertise. Tariff classification. Duty optimization. Dispute resolution.

SERVICE / 05

WAREHOUSING

Bonded and standard warehousing in major ports. Cross-docking, consolidation and distribution from regional hubs.

SERVICE / 06

LAST-MILE

Final-mile distribution across Nigerian states, Ghanaian regions and cities. Integration with local distribution networks.

HOW WE WORK

Real operations,
documented every step.

01

Quote and engage

We start with your shipment details. We provide a transparent quote within 24 hours, including all duties and costs.

02

Coordinate

Our operations team coordinates the full chain: origin pickup, carrier booking, transit, and destination clearance.

03

Track

Every shipment is trackable with real-time updates. Status, carrier details and milestone confirmations are always available.

Stacked shipping containers at the port
READY TO START

Tell us about your shipment.

Quote in 24 hours. Most engagements move from inquiry to first shipment within 7 business days. Whether you are moving one container or two hundred, we would like to talk.

Get a quote About Merko →
OUR SERVICES

End to end West African
trade infrastructure.

Six service areas covering the full chain of West African trade, from origin pickup through customs clearance to final delivery.

SERVICE 01

Sea Freight

Container shipment, properly handled.

Sea freight is the backbone of West African trade. Most of what moves across our region travels in containers through our ports: Apapa, Tincan, Onne, Tema, Abidjan, Dakar, Lomé and Cotonou.

Merko's sea freight service handles FCL (Full Container Load) and LCL (Less than Container Load) shipments. We negotiate with carriers, manage booking and coordinate inland transport.

Container ship at the port
Cargo plane being loaded
SERVICE 02

Air Freight

Time-sensitive cargo, professionally handled.

For high-value goods and emergency restock, air freight remains the right choice. Merko operates from major West African cargo facilities including Murtala Muhammed Cargo (Lagos).

Our team handles airline negotiation, cargo booking, export customs, flight monitoring and final delivery.

SERVICE 03

Road & Last-Mile

Cross-border ECOWAS road transport.

A modern fleet with GPS tracking moves cargo across the Lagos to Accra to Abidjan corridor. Local driver networks handle final-mile distribution to Nigerian states, Ghanaian regions and cities across the region.

Customs brokerage, warehousing and distribution complete the chain.

Cargo trucks on a highway
HOW WE ENGAGE

Three engagement structures.

PER-SHIPMENT

Single-shipment engagements with transparent fixed quotes. Best for project cargo or first-time clients.

ONGOING VOLUME

Volume-based contracts for regular shippers. Predictable rates, defined SLAs and dedicated management.

FULL OPERATIONS

Comprehensive supply chain management for clients outsourcing significant freight and logistics to Merko.

Get a quote
OUR ROUTES

Operating across
West Africa.

Active operations in six West African markets. Local teams, proper licensing and verified carrier networks on every route we run.

Lagos skyline

Nigeria

Merko's home market and largest operation. We handle sea, air and road freight across all major gateways. NCS-licensed customs brokerage at Apapa and Tincan Island.

ACTIVE PORTS: Apapa, Tincan, Onne

Accra coastal port

Ghana

Our second-largest operation. Tema-centered operations across Ghana with a customs team licensed by Ghana Customs. Strong corridor relationships with Lagos and Abidjan.

ACTIVE PORTS: Tema

Port crane lifting cargo

Côte d'Ivoire

Abidjan operations covering Côte d'Ivoire imports and exports. Bilingual French and English brokerage team handles paperwork in both languages.

ACTIVE PORTS: Abidjan

Cargo containers stacked on the dockside

Senegal · Togo · Benin

Dakar, Lomé and Cotonou hubs round out our regional footprint. Cross-border ETLS handling and partner-port operations for the rest of the West African coast.

ACTIVE PORTS: Dakar, Lomé, Cotonou

MAJOR CORRIDORS

Where trade moves.

LAGOS to ACCRA

468 km · Road: 2 to 3 days · Sea: 5 to 7 days

LAGOS to ABIDJAN

1,100 km · Sea: 7 to 10 days

LAGOS to COTONOU

114 km · Road: 1 to 2 days

ACCRA to ABIDJAN

540 km · Road: 2 to 3 days

ABIDJAN to DAKAR

2,100 km · Sea: 5 to 8 days

LAGOS to LOMÉ

280 km · Road: 1 to 2 days

OUR CUSTOMERS

12,400+ shipments.
Real outcomes.

Customer stories from across West African trade. The numbers are real and the methods are verifiable.

Port operations at sunset
TIER-1 NIGERIAN MANUFACTURER

Cut customs clearance time from 22 days to 6 days.

A manufacturer importing raw materials was experiencing average clearance times of 22 days at Apapa, resulting in heavy demurrage fees and production delays.

84%

REDUCTION IN FEES

₦216M

ANNUAL SAVINGS

GHANAIAN CONSUMER GOODS IMPORTER

Stable monthly volume across Tema and Apapa.

A Ghanaian consumer goods importer needed predictable monthly inflow from Asia through Tema, plus a feeder lane through Apapa. Merko set up an ongoing volume contract with fixed rates.

240

CONTAINERS A YEAR

99.1%

ON-TIME DELIVERY

Warehouse stacked with goods
ABOUT MERKO

Building modern infrastructure
for West African trade.

Merko was founded in 2022 by a team of veterans who had seen too many years of mediocrity in regional freight forwarding.

We focus exclusively on West African cross-border trade. Not as one offering in a global network, but as our entire business. Our customs brokers each average 18 or more years of regional practice.

Today we are 64 people across Lagos, Accra, Abidjan, Dakar, Lomé and Cotonou. We have handled 12,400+ shipments since founding.

Container terminal at the port
LEADERSHIP

Our partners.

Adesina K. Olutola

MANAGING PARTNER · OPERATIONS

18 years of practice. Former Operations Director at a leading global forwarding company in West Africa. INSEAD MBA.

Kwame Asante

PARTNER · CUSTOMS BROKERAGE

16 years of regional customs practice. NCS Licensed Broker. Ghana Customs Licensed Broker.

Funmi Akinola

PARTNER · REGIONAL OPERATIONS

15 years across Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal. Fluent in French and English.

GET IN TOUCH

Tell us about your shipment.

NEW SHIPMENTS

support@merko.org

Response within 24 hours

EXISTING CUSTOMERS

support@merko.org

Round-the-clock operations support

PARTNERS

support@merko.org

Carrier alliances and agents

GET A QUOTE

Quote within 24 hours.

Tell us about your shipment: origin, destination, cargo type and requirements. We will reply with a transparent, all-in quote.

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Privacy Policy

Effective April 24, 2026

1. Introduction

Merko Logistics Limited ("Merko," "we," "our," "us") respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and protect personal and business information of clients, prospective clients, partners and website visitors.

2. Information We Collect

Client Information: Business registration details, authorized contacts, shipment details and customs documentation.

Operational Data: Shipment tracking, status data and coordination records.

3. Confidentiality

Client engagement data is treated as strictly confidential. We never share client-specific data without explicit written authorization or as required by law.

Contact: support@merko.org

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Terms of Service

Effective April 24, 2026

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing merko.org or engaging Merko Logistics Limited for services, you agree to these Terms of Service.

2. Nature of Services

Merko provides freight forwarding, customs brokerage, warehousing and trade-related advisory services.

3. Cargo Liability

Cargo liability is governed by applicable carrier bills of lading and international conventions (Hague-Visby, Montreal or CMR).

Contact: support@merko.org