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igeria as an import dependent nation may soon be in for a serious economic crisis if nothing is done to salvage the depleting volume of containerised cargoes coming into the country. The number of containerised goods coming into the country, which comprised of both consumer and luxury goods is said to have gone down by over 60 percent since the beginning of the year. 
The drop in cargo volume has seen some shipyards closed down, and in the past eight months, it has been threatening the existence of manufacturers and shipping lines. The Federal Government, shipping lines, terminal operators, Nigeria Customs Service, importers and freight forwarders, as well as other stakeholders in the maritime industry are equally feeling the weight of the drop. 
Impact is already being felt. Some freight forwarders have begun to resort to consultancy services, as a means of meeting there daily family needs.
Scarcity of containerised cargo coming into the country portends great danger for Nigeria because it exports only seven percent of its agricultural products and imports 98 percent of its consumer goods, raw materials and bulk cargo. It means that importers will not have any business to do; industries will not have raw materials to produce, while several jobs will be jeopardised.  
According to recent international reports, the scarcity of containerised cargo in Nigerian ports, was because of the falling global freight rate from January to June which went down to about 50 percent. Unfortunately, the downward trend in the freight rate had compelled many shipping lines to cut cost as well as reduced their workforce. Major shipping lines like AP Moller-Maersk Group, which controls a large chunk of the world’s containerised cargo and terminals across the global, have had their worse freight record in the history of the organisation in the last six months. Also, statistics shows that the AP Moller-Maersk Group, freight rate for Nigeria dropped to about 17 percent, as importers now concentrate on bulk cargoes such as cement, fertilisers, wheat, tallow, gypsum, rather than containerised goods.  
In 2007, APM Terminals handled a total of 3,980 Twenty Equivalent Unit (TEU) of containers, in 2008, it handled over 3,000 teus and has a target of 450,000 teus this year, but the company’s quarterly report shows that in the last six months, the organisation is far from meeting its revenue and the expected quantity of containers. Similarly, international media reported that freight rates for containers shipped from Asia to Europe have fallen to zero for the first time, underscoring the dramatic collapse in trade since the world economy buckled in October. 
For Charles de Trenck, a broker at Transport Trackers in Hong Kong, trade activity has fallen off a cliff, stressing that Asia-Europe freight trade, is an unmitigated disaster. Also, Orient Overseas International Limited, parent company of Orient Overseas Container Line, said revenues at the container line fell 42 percent in the second quarter of this year, in Hong Kong. Orient Overseas revenues for the quarter ending June 30 reached $870 million, down from $1.5 billion earned in the corresponding period in 2008.
According to Lloyd’s List, a shipping journal, brokers in Singapore are now waiving fees for containers travelling from South China, charging only for the minimal “bunker” costs, while container fees from North Asia have dropped with $200, taking them below operating cost. Consequently, the fall in freight rate has affected the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) duty collected in the first quarter, as well as the Federal Government revenue generation. 
In the same vein, reports from Business Standard shows that freight rates on India-Europe route have come down to $600 from $800 for a twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), while for a forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU) rates have dropped to $1,400 from $1,600 in the last few months. Similarly, freight rates for the United States of America ports have come down to $600 from $900 per TEU, which signifies a drop of 33 percent.
Reacting to the development, the Minister of Finance, Mansur Murktar, said the N89 billion collected by the Nigeria Customs Service in the first quarter of the year, which depicts a shortfall from N166 billion target set for the organisation for the period is unacceptable. The minister as a result of the poor financial record, ordered for immediate implementation of corrective measures that would enhance revenue collection within the next few months. He added that henceforth, customs area controllers would be held accountable for the assigned targets. The minister, stakeholders say may be right in expressing his dissatisfaction, due to several revenue leakages, but the fact remains that the quantity of cargoes coming into the country has gone down, which means that government should look for alternative means of generating revenue internally.  
Moreover, there is tendency that smuggling may increase, as importers will turn towards the neighbouring countries to bring in as little consignments as they can, since they cannot import. Hence, the Federal Government will have less to share to other tiers of government, while capital projects embarked by states, ministries and local governments, will be abandoned for lack of fund.
Also, further analysis has revealed that the crisis being experienced in the port industry may deepen in the coming months as scarcity continues. According to the public relations officer of the Apapa Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Dera Nnadi, 602 containers were positioned daily for examination in January this year at the premier port, but in March it dropped to 434, in April it went down to 262 and in May it has deepen further to 181 teu, which he said signals an alarming situation for the country. Although the command generated the sum of N14 billion in the month of June, which is the highest so far in the history of the command, but he believes that it is still a far cry, from the N20 billion targets expected from the command monthly. With the drop in cargo volumes, Nnadi believes that manufacturers will have nothing to produce, while those selling would not have more goods to replace there stocks, which he observed would bring a lot of negative effects to the economy.
In order to increase its revenue, Nnadi said the Nigeria Customs Service is blocking all loopholes to ensure it meets its target. The Service he maintained is now beaming its searchlight on bulk cargoes, stressing that they have started sensitising there officers to ensure that importers and clearing agents make genuine declaration of their imports. He further advised that the government should encourage local production, maintaining that stakeholders are looking forward to seeing Nigeria earn more from exports.
According to the chairman board of directors of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Boniface Aniebonam, they are no longer doing anything because there is no cargo. He pointed out that because of the economic meltdown, banks are no longer giving importers credit facilities because they want to consolidate their funds, stressing that some do not want to import because of the fluctuating rate of the Dollar against Naira. The NAGAFF boss pointed out that ships were coming but the volume of cargoes these vessels bring has gone down.
On his part, the managing director of Sapid Agencies Limited, Adetona Ayedun, said although government revenue is affected because of the economic meltdown, yet it still has to perform its obligation towards its citizens, stressing that United States of America bailed some manufacturing companies to avoid going into extinction. For the managing director of Micura Services Limited, Michael Ubogu, the quantity of goods coming to Nigeria since the beginning of the year had gone down, saying that it took about eight weeks to bring in a consignment because of the backlog of items to be loaded into the vessels. But now he said, things have changed, explaining that consignments arrives Nigeria within three or four weeks because shipping lines are now begging for cargo. He pointed out that the fluctuating exchange rate was another strong issue affecting importation of goods into the country, stressing that he made a loss of N1.7 million from his recent transaction because the Dollar fell after goods landed at the port.
Moreover, global economic recess has affected even the number of goods coming in through the land borders. According to the out-going area controller of Seme Border Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, earlier this year, they recorded at least 70 trucks fully laden with goods, saying that in the last three months, they hardly examine more than 25 trucks in a day, which he said was not a good development for the country. He pointed out that the command’s target is N10 billion, explaining that with the present economic meltdown, they hardly collect about N300 million in a month, which is a far cry to the Federal Government expectation.