Car Shipping to Uganda

Why ship a car to Uganda from the UK

The Ship Cars is a specialist UK vehicle export company moving cars, SUVs, classics, motorbikes and light commercials to Uganda every month. Africa is the largest destination region by volume for second-hand UK vehicles, with strong demand for diesel SUVs, pickups, family saloons and commercial vans. Tema, Apapa, Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, Durban and Walvis Bay anchor the trade lanes from Tilbury, Southampton and Felixstowe. Typical clients on this lane include auction-buying African dealers, alongside private owners relocating to Uganda and returning residents importing a personal vehicle. Our UK-to-Uganda corridor is engineered around predictable transit, transparent pricing and full compliance with Uganda customs.

Vehicles depart from Southampton, Bristol (Portbury), Felixstowe and arrive at Via Mombasa (Kenya) via East African feeder routing via Salalah or Jeddah. Typical door-to-port turnaround is 24–32 days to mombasa plus 3–5 days inland transit to kampala, supported by marine all-risks insurance, GPS-tracked UK collection and bonded warehousing where required. For an instant indication of cost, use our car shipping cost calculator or request a tailored quote on our quote page.

How UK to Uganda car shipping works

Every shipment to Uganda follows the same six-step pipeline: free quotation, UK collection or self-drop at Southampton, bonded UK warehousing and pre-shipment photos, HMRC NOVA / C88 export clearance handled by our UK customs clearance team, ocean transit to Via Mombasa (Kenya) (and onward feeder to Via Mombasa (Kenya) where required), and destination customs handover. You choose the shipping mode that best matches the vehicle profile and budget — see the full breakdown on our car shipping costs page or compare live RORO sailing dates to Uganda.

Uganda ports, routing and transit

Vehicles bound for Uganda are typically routed through Via Mombasa (Kenya) as the lead discharge port, with Via Mombasa (Kenya) available as alternatives depending on sailing schedule and onward inland transport. We schedule loads to match weekly RORO sailing schedules to Uganda and consolidated shared container departures from the UK. For sole-use loads we book 20ft and 40ft container slots on the same rotation.

• Port of Via Mombasa (Kenya)
• UK departure: Southampton
• UK departure: Tilbury
• UK departure: Bristol (Portbury)

Uganda import duty, VAT and customs in 2026

Importing a vehicle into Uganda is regulated and document-driven. The headline framework is summarised below; our team verifies every figure against the latest Uganda customs schedule before quoting.

• Vehicle age limits and pre-shipment inspection (PSI/SGS/Intertek)
• Country-specific import duties, VAT and excise on engine size
• RORO and shared container handling at Tema, Apapa, Mombasa and Durban
• Right-hand-drive compatibility in most markets

Document checklist for Uganda

• V5C registration
• Passport
• Commercial invoice
• Bill of Lading
• UNBS certificate

For full country-specific customs rules, see our Uganda import guides and articles, our UK and Uganda customs clearance service, or use the duty-inclusive cost calculator for a landed estimate to Via Mombasa (Kenya).

Other Africa destinations from the UK

We ship to 8+ other Africa countries from the UK on the same trade lanes as Uganda. Many customers shipping to Uganda also enquire about Kenya, Tanzania because routing, customs documentation and transit windows overlap.