Freight services
Shipping Solar Panels, Inverters and Batteries to South Sudan
Solar panels are charged per piece, so you can work out the freight before you place the order. Inverters and batteries are quoted on weight. All three break in different ways, and most of this page is about making sure they do not.
What we move
- Solar panels and modules, framed and frameless
- String and hybrid inverters, charge controllers, MPPT units
- Lithium and lead acid storage batteries
- Mounting rails, brackets, ground screws and roof hooks
- Combiner boxes, isolators, breakers and surge protection
- Solar cable, connectors and earthing
- Pumps, lights and appliances for off grid systems
What it costs
Panels, priced per piece
Panels are the one thing on this page we price by the module rather than by weight, because a pallet of panels is predictable: similar size, similar weight, same handling. You count the modules, you know the freight. No surprise at the weighbridge, and nothing to argue about when the invoice arrives.
From Nairobi:
| Route | Item | Rate | Unit | Currency | Minimum quantity | Transit time | Handling | Included | Excluded | Rate validity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nairobi to Juba | Solar panel, standard module | 9,500 | per piece | KES | None | Confirm with us | Carried upright on edge, strapped in frames, never stacked flat. Original pallet packaging retained where supplied. Panels moving under consolidation must be crated; we can build the crate. | Collection in Nairobi, handling, road movement and delivery | Full container loads, which are priced as containers rather than per piece. Crating for consolidated movements, quoted with the shipment. Duty and taxes in South Sudan, offloading at destination, any permit or certification the goods require. |
From Mombasa:
| Route | Item | Rate | Unit | Currency | Minimum quantity | Transit time | Handling | Included | Excluded | Rate validity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mombasa to Juba | Solar panel, standard module | 14,000 | per piece | KES | None | Confirm with us | Carried upright on edge, strapped in frames, never stacked flat. Original pallet packaging retained where supplied. Panels moving under consolidation must be crated; we can build the crate. | Collection at Mombasa, the leg up to Nairobi, consolidation, road movement and delivery | Full container loads, which are priced as containers rather than per piece. Crating for consolidated movements, quoted with the shipment. Duty and taxes in South Sudan, offloading at destination, any permit or certification the goods require. |
The Mombasa figure is the Nairobi rate plus KES 4,500 per panel to cover the leg up to Nairobi, where the load is consolidated. We publish the all in number rather than a base rate and a surcharge, so what you see is what you pay. If your panels are landing at Mombasa, use the Mombasa table and nothing is added later.
Full container loads are priced differently
The per piece rate is for consolidated movements, where your panels share a vehicle and are handled alongside other people's cargo.
A full container of panels is priced as a container, not by the module. At that volume the per piece figure stops making sense: you are buying the box, you control what goes in it, nobody else's cargo touches your pallets, and the handling risk that the per piece rate accounts for largely disappears.
- 20ft container transport to Juba
- 40ft container transport to Juba
- Mombasa to Juba container transport
Send us the module count and dimensions and we will price it both ways, because the crossover comes earlier than most buyers expect. We would rather tell you a container is cheaper than quietly bill you per panel for a load that should have been containerised.
Inverters and batteries, quoted on weight
Inverters and batteries vary far too much to price by the unit. A 3kW string inverter and a 100kW central unit are not the same job, and a 5kWh lithium pack and a bank of lead acid cells are not either. Both are quoted on weight.
| Route | General cargo per kg | Sensitive cargo per kg | Rate per CBM | Minimum shipment charge | Transit time | Pickup & delivery terms | Customs | Rate validity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nairobi to Juba | Contact us for current rates | Contact us for current rates | Contact us for current rates | Contact us for current rates | Confirm with us | Confirm with us | Confirm with us |
Batteries need a conversation before a price. They are regulated for transport whatever the invoice calls them, the rules differ between lithium and lead acid, and what is possible depends on the mode. Tell us the chemistry, the capacity and how many, and we will confirm how they can travel before quoting the movement. What we will not do is take the booking and find out at screening.
How batteries and regulated goods are handled
Get a quotation
Tell us what you are shipping
Send us the cargo description, weight or volume, and the pickup and delivery addresses. We reply with a written rate, the transit time and the documents you will need.
What we need from you before it can clear
Whoever is receiving the consignment has to give us two documents, and the shipment cannot be cleared without them:
- The commercial invoice, showing what was actually paid, in the currency it was paid in
- The packing list, produced from the actual packing, with the module count, the carton or pallet count and the weights
These are not a formality. The invoice is what customs values the consignment on, the packing list is what an officer holds while looking at your pallets, and the module count on it is what we check against at delivery. If the two documents disagree with each other, or with what is in the crate, the consignment stops while somebody works out which one is right.
Send them as soon as your supplier issues them rather than when the cargo arrives. It costs you nothing to send them early and it is the single most common reason a straightforward consignment turns into a slow one.
What else South Sudan customs will ask for
Why panels need the care they do
A solar panel is a sheet of glass with a grid of brittle silicon cells laminated behind it, carrying a twenty year output warranty. It is far more fragile than it looks, and the way it fails is what makes it dangerous cargo to handle casually.
The damage you cannot see
The real risk is not a smashed panel. A smashed panel is obvious, and somebody replaces it. The risk is microcracking: hairline fractures through the silicon cells, caused by flexing the module, loading it in the centre, or dropping it even a short distance on a corner.
A microcracked panel looks perfect. It passes a visual inspection, it gets installed, and it underperforms from day one. Worse, the cracks spread under thermal cycling, so output keeps falling over the years when the array should be at its best. By the time anybody measures it, the cargo was delivered long ago and nobody can prove where the damage happened.
You cannot see microcracks without electroluminescence imaging. So the only real protection is handling the panels properly in the first place, which is why the rest of this section exists.
How we carry them
Upright, on edge, never flat. Panels travel standing on their long edge in frames or on their original pallet, exactly as the factory shipped them. A stack of panels lying flat puts the whole weight of the stack on the glass of the bottom module, and every bump on the road drives it in further.
The original pallet stays intact. Factory packaging is engineered for this: corner protectors, interleaving, and banding that holds the stack as one unit. We do not break a pallet down to make a load fit more neatly. If it will not fit, we change the vehicle.
Nothing is ever placed on top. Not a toolbox, not a coil of cable, not another pallet. A panel is not a shelf and it does not recover.
Nobody stands on them. Ever, for any reason, at either end.
Carried by two people, by the frame, on the long edges. Never by the junction box, never by the cables, and never carried alone by one corner, which is how the module flexes.
Corners protected. Corner impacts are the single most common cause of cell cracking, and a drop of a few centimetres onto concrete is enough.
Junction box and connectors kept dry and shielded. Cable ends bagged, connectors capped, and the back of the module protected from anything sharp. A puncture through the backsheet destroys the module even though the glass is intact.
Chocked and strapped as a block, with webbing over soft edge protection rather than strapping that bites directly onto a frame.
Counted and photographed at both ends. The module count and the pallet condition are recorded at loading and again on delivery, so if anything did happen, it is on record rather than a matter of opinion.
Panels moving under consolidation must be crated
This is a condition, not a suggestion, and it is worth understanding why.
On a dedicated load your panels are the only thing on the vehicle. They travel on the factory pallet, in frames, and nothing else touches them.
On a consolidated load they share the vehicle with other people's cargo. That cargo gets loaded and offloaded at different points, by people who have never seen a solar panel and have no particular reason to treat a pallet as fragile. A tarpaulin bale lands on the stack at the third stop and nobody mentions it. Everything in the microcracking section above then happens quietly, and nobody can say when.
So on a consolidated movement, panels travel in a closed crate or they do not travel. The crate is not there to protect them from the road. It is there to protect them from the rest of the load.
We can build the crate for you
You do not need to find a carpenter in Nairobi or ask your supplier to crate at origin. We build crates to fit the modules: internal bracing so the stack cannot shift, edge and corner protection, a closed top so nothing can be stacked directly on the glass, and markings on the outside so the next person to handle it knows which way is up.
Where the crate is solid wood and the consignment is crossing a border, the timber is debarked, heat treated and marked to the international standard for wood packaging. An untreated crate gets a consignment held or rejected at destination, which is a worse outcome than no crate at all.
Crating is quoted with the consignment rather than built into the per piece rate, because the cost depends on the module size and how many you are sending. Tell us the panel dimensions and the quantity and we will price the crate alongside the freight.
If you are shipping a full load, you may not need a crate at all. We will tell you which applies before you pay for something you do not need.
Inverters
Inverters are heavy for their size and full of capacitors, boards and connectors that do not enjoy being dropped.
- The right way up. Inverters travel in the orientation marked on the carton, not whichever way packs better.
- In their own packaging. The moulded inserts are doing shock absorption work that a blanket and a strap will not replicate.
- Not stacked beyond what the carton says. The rating on the box is a real limit.
- Kept dry. Moisture and condensation inside an inverter are a warranty argument you will lose. Moisture barriers go in for sea freight and for a long road run in the wet season.
- Handled as the weight they are. A unit the size of a briefcase can be a two person lift, and dropping it because somebody misjudged it is an avoidable way to lose it.
- Shock indicators fitted on request where the units are valuable enough to justify knowing whether they were dropped in transit.
Batteries
Batteries are the part of a solar consignment with rules attached, and the rules apply whether or not anyone mentions them on the invoice.
- Declared, always. Chemistry, capacity, quantity and whether they ship installed inside equipment. An undeclared battery can get an entire consolidated load offloaded.
- Terminals insulated. Capped or taped so nothing can bridge them in transit. A shorted terminal in a moving truck is a fire, not an inconvenience.
- Upright and secured. Never inverted, never loose, never stacked past the rating.
- State of charge matters for lithium. Cells generally travel part charged rather than full, and we will tell you what is expected for your consignment.
- Lead acid is its own problem. Acid, venting and absorbent packing, and it stays upright the entire way.
- Temperature. Batteries do not enjoy a container baking on a quay, which affects how and when we route them.
Tell us what you are shipping and we will tell you what can travel, by which mode, and at what price. What we do not ship
Air freight when something is holding up a commissioning
Panels almost never justify flying. They are heavy, bulky and bought in planned quantities, and the volumetric weight makes air uneconomic very quickly.
An inverter, a charge controller, a communications card or a failed component is a different matter. An installation that is finished except for one unit is earning nothing, and the crew waiting for it costs more per day than the freight. For time sensitive items we handle air freight, charged on chargeable weight and cleared the same way as anything else we move.
We will tell you honestly which side of that line your consignment falls on. If the panels can travel by road while one inverter flies, that is usually the cheapest answer and we will propose it rather than wait to be asked.
Nairobi to Juba air freight · Air versus road compared
Delivered to the site
Solar installations are rarely in the middle of a city. We deliver to the site: the clinic, the school, the borehole, the tower, the farm, the mini grid. That includes Kapoeta, Torit, Bor, Bentiu, Malakal, Rumbek, Wau, Aweil, Yambio and Yei, and the smaller places between.
Every delivery comes back with a signed delivery note, photographs taken at the site and video of the offload where you want it, plus the module count checked against the packing list at the gate. On a solar job that count matters: it is much easier to settle a shortage at delivery than after the panels are on a roof.
Tell us at quotation stage whether there is offloading equipment at the site. Panels coming off a truck by hand onto uneven ground is exactly how corners get hit.
First time importing solar?
Many of our solar customers are installers and NGOs buying equipment abroad for the first time, and there is no reason they should know the paperwork.
Send us: what you are buying, the quantities, where it is coming from, where it is going, and the supplier's invoice and packing list when you have them.
We handle: classification and the duty position, the export or transit declaration and bond, checking what certification the equipment needs, clearance into South Sudan, delivery to the site, and the document pack afterwards.
Solar equipment can fall within standards certification requirements, which are obtained before shipment rather than on arrival. We will check the position for what you are buying and tell you in time to act on it. Certificate of Conformity
Related
- Telecoms equipment, generators and cable
- Machinery and heavy equipment
- Spare parts
- What we do not ship
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to ship a solar panel?
Panels are charged per piece, and the rate is published in the table on this page so you can work out the freight before you place the order. Count the modules and you have the figure. Inverters and batteries are quoted on weight instead, because the units vary far too much to price by the piece.
Our panels are landing at Mombasa. What do we pay?
Use the Mombasa table, which is the Nairobi rate plus KES 4,500 per panel to cover the leg up to Nairobi where the load is consolidated. We publish the all in figure rather than a base rate and a surcharge, so nothing is added afterwards.
We are shipping a full container of panels. Is it still per piece?
No. A full container is priced as a container rather than by the module, because at that volume you are buying the box, you control what goes in it and nobody else's cargo touches your pallets. Send the module count and dimensions and we will price it both ways. The crossover comes earlier than most buyers expect, and we would rather tell you a container is cheaper than bill you per panel for a load that should have been containerised.
What documents do we have to send you?
The commercial invoice and the packing list, from whoever is receiving the consignment. We cannot clear without them: the invoice is what customs values the goods on, and the packing list is what an officer holds while looking at your pallets and what we check the module count against at delivery. Send them when your supplier issues them rather than when the cargo arrives.
Why are panels priced per piece and not by weight?
Because a pallet of modules is predictable: similar size, similar weight, same handling. Pricing by the piece means no surprise at the weighbridge and nothing to argue about when the invoice arrives.
Can you ship solar batteries?
Usually, but tell us the chemistry, the capacity and the quantity first. Batteries are regulated for transport whatever the invoice calls them, the rules differ between lithium and lead acid, and what is possible depends on the mode. We will confirm how they can travel before quoting rather than discover it at screening.
What is microcracking and why do you keep mentioning it?
Hairline fractures through the silicon cells, caused by flexing a module, loading it in the centre or dropping it on a corner. A microcracked panel looks perfect and passes inspection, then underperforms from day one and gets worse as the cracks spread under thermal cycling. You cannot see it without electroluminescence imaging, so the only real protection is handling the panels properly in the first place.
Do panels have to be crated?
Under consolidation, yes. On a shared load your panels travel with other people's cargo, handled at stops by people with no reason to treat a pallet as fragile, so panels go in a closed crate or they do not go. On a dedicated load they can usually travel on the factory pallet instead. We build the crate for you if you need one, quoted with the consignment because the cost depends on module size and quantity, and we will tell you when you do not need one.
How are panels loaded?
Upright on their long edge, in frames or on the original factory pallet, never stacked flat and never with anything placed on top. The pallet is not broken down to make a load fit. Panels are carried by two people by the frame, never by the junction box or the cables, with corners protected, because a drop of a few centimetres onto concrete is enough to crack cells.
Will you deliver to the installation site?
Yes, including well beyond Juba to places such as Kapoeta, Bentiu and Malakal. You get a signed delivery note, photographs at the site and the module count checked against the packing list at the gate, which is far easier than settling a shortage after the panels are on a roof. Tell us whether there is offloading equipment, because panels coming off by hand onto uneven ground is how corners get hit.