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How to Ship from China to Cape Verde

Cape Verde is an archipelago in the Atlantic, several hundred kilometres off the West African coast. Almost everything is imported, nothing arrives on a direct service from China, and the last leg is often not a road but a ferry to another island.

The country is an ECOWAS member but it does not apply the UEMOA common external tariff used by its mainland neighbours. It runs its own tariff book and its own currency, the Cape Verdean escudo, which is pegged to the euro. Those two differences are what catch out importers who have shipped elsewhere in West Africa first.

Nine inhabited islands and two working gateway ports

Cape Verde has nine inhabited islands, and for freight purposes almost everything arrives through two of them. Porto Grande in Mindelo on São Vicente is the historic deep-water hub and the one most container services call at. Porto da Praia on Santiago serves the capital and the largest population centre.

Everything beyond those two islands — Sal, Boa Vista, Santo Antão, Fogo and the rest — is reached by coastal ferry or by a small aircraft from the gateway island. That inter-island move is a separate step with its own schedule, and it is the reason the delivery date for a Sal address is not the same as the discharge date at Mindelo.

Decide which island the consignee is on before you book. It determines which port the carrier contracts to, and therefore whether your container needs one more leg or not.

Porto Grande or Praia: choosing the island you clear on

Mindelo has the deeper, better-equipped harbour and a longer history as the country's maritime gateway, so most sea freight is discharged there. Praia is closer to the largest market and to government, and some services and most air cargo go there instead.

The choice is usually made for you by the carrier's rotation rather than by preference. What you should do is confirm which port is on the booking, tell your consignee which one it is, and make sure the despachante licensed there is the one holding your file.

If your consignee is on a third island, add the ferry leg explicitly to the plan and ask who is responsible for it — the sea freight quote normally ends at the gateway port unless door delivery has been agreed.

Why most boxes come via Las Palmas, Algeciras or Tangier Med

There is no direct container service from China to Cape Verde. Cargo from Chinese ports is transshipped, and the Atlantic hub most often used is Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, roughly 1,500 km to the north, with Algeciras and Tanger Med used as alternatives depending on the line.

The practical effect is on transit time and on the number of handovers. A container routed this way is commonly quoted at several weeks to the gateway port, with the feeder connection and any missed sailing being the main source of variation. Book with that slack in mind, and avoid planning around a tight arrival date.

Transshipment also means the container is handled twice. Pack accordingly, and make sure the seal number recorded at the Chinese port is the one checked at discharge.

Cape Verde keeps its own tariff book, not the UEMOA one

This is the point that surprises importers who have shipped into Senegal or Côte d'Ivoire. Cape Verde does not apply the UEMOA common external tariff. It applies its own national tariff, with rates quoted across a wide range — roughly 0 to 50 per cent depending on the product — and it uses the escudo rather than the CFA franc.

Duty is assessed on the CIF value by HS code. Categories such as alcohol, tobacco, perfume and cosmetics, and vehicles attract heavier treatment, and there is a special consumption tax on goods considered superfluous, luxurious or socially undesirable that can run from 10 to 150 per cent.

IVA at 15%, plus a consumption tax on top

IVA — Imposto sobre o Valor Acrescentado — is the Cape Verdean value added tax, at a standard rate of 15 per cent on imports, charged on the CIF value plus duty. Used personal effects that qualify for duty-free treatment are generally also relieved of IVA; new goods are not.

On top of IVA, the special consumption tax applies to defined categories. On vehicles this is the Imposto sobre Consumos Especiais, which is scaled by engine displacement and emissions, and it is the single largest lever on the landed cost of a car or a light commercial vehicle in this market.

Put the two together and the effective tax on a finished consumer good is well above the headline duty rate. Ask your broker for a line-by-line assessment before you quote your customer, particularly if the goods sit anywhere near a luxury classification.

Engines, excise, and why vehicle tax depends on displacement

For vehicle imports the excise is calculated by engine size and emissions rather than by value alone. A small-engined compact can carry a dramatically lighter tax load than a large-engined SUV with a similar purchase price, which is why the fleet and taxi market here skews towards smaller engines.

Beyond the excise there is import duty assessed on CIF, IVA at 15 per cent, customs handling charges, the despachante's fee, and then island registration and plates. Cape Verde drives on the right, so left-hand drive is the specification needed.

Age rules are not published as a single hard figure for 2026 and they do change, so confirm the current position with the customs authority or your despachante before committing to a unit.

The despachante: the licensed broker you cannot clear without

Clearance in Cape Verde runs through a despachante, the licensed customs broker who lodges the declaration, responds to queries and arranges release. Commercial cargo is not released to an importer who is not represented, and the broker's fee is a normal line in the landed cost, not an optional extra.

Appoint the despachante before the container lands and send them the documents in advance: passport or company identification, the original bill of lading or air waybill, commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin where required, and health or phytosanitary certificates where the goods call for them.

Because the administration is small and the islands are spread out, a broker who already handles your gateway port will move faster than one who has to travel or subcontract.

Selling into Praia yourself or through a local firm

Import operations generally require a commercial operator certificate and, depending on the goods, an import licence; both are issued through the chambers of commerce. A registered company is the importer of record for anything being resold.

Private individuals can import personal effects, and used household goods for someone relocating to Cape Verde on a permanent or long-term basis can qualify for duty-free treatment — provided the items are genuinely used. New items are taxed as commercial cargo and should be declared separately with invoices.

Medicines are subject to sanitary control and non-automatic licensing, food and plant products need health or phytosanitary certificates, and firearms, ammunition and controlled drugs require special licences. Endangered species and their products are prohibited or restricted under CITES.

Freight by air, sea or courier when the last leg is a ferry

Sea freight is the default: it carries the volume and the cost per unit is lowest. From Mindelo or Praia, goods for the other islands move by coastal cargo ferry, which adds a leg with its own schedule.

Air freight is available on a weekly cadence for smaller consignments and lands at the international airports serving Praia, Sal and Boa Vista — useful when the consignee is on an island that the ferry serves infrequently, or when the goods are urgent and light.

Express courier is the only service with genuine door-to-door delivery across the archipelago, and coverage on the smaller islands is thinner than on Santiago and São Vicente. For documents, samples and e-commerce parcels it is usually the right answer despite the higher per-kilo cost.

Three shipments headed for Praia, Mindelo and Sal

Hotel fit-out, full container, to Praia. Furniture, lighting and kitchen equipment for a property on Santiago. Discharged at Porto da Praia, cleared by a local despachante, delivered by truck within the island. Duty and IVA assessed on the CIF value; the luxury consumption tax is worth checking on any high-end finishes.

Solar and water equipment, LCL, to Mindelo. A part-container for an installer on São Vicente, consolidated in China, deconsolidated at Mindelo. Cheaper than a full box, slower at both ends because of the consolidation and deconsolidation.

Spare parts, air freight, to Sal. Small, urgent, high value per kilo, and the consignee is on an island where the ferry is infrequent. Air to Sal avoids the inter-island sea leg entirely, and the saving in days is worth the freight premium.

Portuguese paperwork and the documents customs expects

Documentation is in Portuguese. The standard set is the commercial invoice, the packing list, the original bill of lading or air waybill, a certificate of origin where one is required, and the consignee's identification. Certificates of origin are issued through the chambers of commerce; Cape Verde also has trade arrangements with Portugal and the European Union that may be relevant depending on the goods and their origin.

Sector-specific documents sit on top: health and phytosanitary certificates for animal, plant and food products, ARFA authorisation for pharmaceuticals, and permits for firearms, ammunition and controlled substances. CITES documentation applies to endangered species and their products.

Keep the consignee name identical across the invoice, the packing list and the bill of lading. A mismatch is the most common reason a file is held on this route, exactly as it is on mainland West African corridors.

Delays that are normal on an archipelago route

Expect delay at three points: the transshipment hub, if the feeder connection is missed; the gateway port, if the despachante does not have the documents in advance or the container is selected for inspection; and the inter-island leg, if the ferry schedule does not line up with the discharge.

None of these are unusual and none of them are anybody's fault in particular. The way to absorb them is to plan the delivery date with slack, to send documents ahead of the vessel, and to have one named person on the island who is chasing the file rather than waiting for it.

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