RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE SERVICE QUALITY FOR EXPORT CARGOES AT CONTAINER FREIGHT STATION OF THE TRANSPORT AND CHARTERING CORPORATION HAIPHONG BRANCH

MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION MINISTRY OF EDUCATION & TRAINING VIETNAM MARITIME UNIVERSITY STUDENT NAME: TRAN THI HA MI DISSERTATION GLOBAL STUDIES AND MARITIME AFFAIRS RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE SERVICE QUALITY FOR EXPORT CARGOES AT CONTAINER FREIGHT STATION OF THE TRANSPORT AND CHARTERING CORPORATION-HAIPHONG BRANCH HAI PHONG – 2015 PREFACE The dissertation is a result of my three-month internship at Vietfracht Transport and Chartering Corporation, Hai Phong branch In this period, I had a chance to observe and learn practical knowledge at Vietfracht CFS warehouse Thus, it helps me to bridge the gap between theory and reality and acquire useful experience for my future career Finally, I decided to research on how to improve CFS services for exported cargoes During the period, the dissertation would not have been completed if I did not received support of Vietfracht Transport and Chartering Corporation, Hai Phong branch Therefore, I would like to express my grateful to them Besides, I would like to sincerely thanks to Msc, Vu Thanh Trung for his guidance and support when I wrote this dissertation My dissertation includes three main chapters: Chapter 1: Literature Review Chapter 2: Evaluation of current service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation, Hai Phong branch and assessments Chapter 3: Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation, Hai Phong branch I declare that this report is my own unaided work It has not been submitted before If violated, I am solely responsible for and bear the punishments of the Institution and University Student name and signature Trần Thị Hà Mi TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Container freight station .3 1.1.1 Definition .3 1.1.2 The importance of container freight station 1.1.3 CFS main activities 1.1.4 Types of store cargoes 1.1.5 Conditions to CFS establishment 1.1.6 CFS functions 1.1.7 Customs supervision 1.2 Service 1.2.1 Definition .6 1.2.2 Service quality .6 1.2.3 Models to measure service for export cargoes in CFS 1.3 Research method 10 1.3.1 Research objectives 10 1.3.2 Methods of data collection 10 1.3.3 Sampling 11 1.3.4 Methods of data analysis 11 CHAPTER 2: THE EVALUATION OF SERVICE QUALITY FOR EXPORT CARGOES AT CFS OF VIETFRACHT HAI PHONG 12 2.1 Introduction of the Transport and Chartering Corporation (Vietfracht) 12 2.1.1 General information 12 2.1.2 The history of foundation and development 12 2.1.3 Main services 13 2.1.4 Organization structure of Transport and Chartering Corporation 14 2.2 Introduction of Vietfracht Hai Phong 15 2.2.1 General information 15 2.2.2 Organization Structure of Vietfracht Hai Phong 15 2.2.3 CFS of Hai Phong branch 16 2.2.4 CFS facilities 16 2.2.5 CFS output 19 2.3 The current services for export cargoes at CFS of The Transportation and Chartering Corporation –Hai Phong Branch 20 2.4 The evaluation of current service quality for export cargoes of CFS at The Transportation and Chartering Corporation-Hai Phong Branch 26 2.5 Challenges 32 2.5.1 External factors 32 2.5.2 Internal factors 33 CHAPTER 3: RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE SERVICE QUALITY FOR EXPORT CARGOES AT CFS OF VIETFRACHT HAI PHONG 34 3.1 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS 34 3.1.1 Updating facility and equipment 34 3.1.2 Calculating productivity and allocating work 34 3.1.3 Focusing on recruiting and training activities 35 3.1.4 Regularly receiving feedbacks and updating services 36 3.1.5 Urging vendors/ factories to delivery cargoes on time 36 3.1.6 Establishing the List of Documents in use 37 3.1.7 Establishing and practicing emergency plan 37 3.1.8 Preparing to deal with customs declaration 37 CONCLUSION 38 REFERENCES 39 APPENDICES 40 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CFS Container Freight Station VF Vietfracht (The Transportation and Chartering Corporation) LCL Less Than Container Load PO Purchasing Order EIR Equipment Interchange Receipt CY Container Yard ETD Estimated Time of Departure SERVQUAL Service and quality SERVPER Service and performance SD Standard Deviation LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Organization structure of Transport and Chartering Corporation 14 Figure 2.2: Organization Structure of Vietfracht Hai Phong 15 Figure 2.3: Forklift truck 17 Figure 2.4: Reach Stacker 17 Figure 2.5: Hand pallet truck 18 Figure 2.6: Container truck 18 Figure 2.7: Vietfracht CFS output from 2012 to 2015 19 Figure 2.8: The flow of export cargoes 20 Figure 2.10: Shipping Declaration on ECCUS 5-VNACCS system 24 LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: The model of measuring service quality at CFS Table 2.1: Basic standard for stuffing each type of container 25 Table 2.2: The ratings of customers to recent performance for export cargoes at VF CFS 27 Table 2.3: The ratings of customers toward importance of each factors in the measuring model 31 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch INTRODUCTION Necessitation In our date and time, trading between regions by sea continues growing vigorously which leads to the increasingly important role of ports Vietnam is fortunately granted with a long coastline containing more than 200 ports With the development of port in Vietnam, container freight station has become much more important because container freight station is considers as a facility that facilitate port activities Undoubtedly, container freight station helps to the flow of export and import goods through ports Thus, improving services and efficient of CFS is increasingly necessary which helps to lower the cost of all involved parties and contributes to the development of port as well as economy In my dissertation, I have researched the model to measuring the service quality at Vietfracht CFS specifically to export cargoes which uses the knowledge I studied at university and practical experience I learned at Vietfracht CFS Hence, I hope that my research topics “Recommendations to improve service quality of export cargoes at Vietfracht CFS” can contribute for the development of Vietfracht CFS as individual and container freight station as a whole Research Purpose The purpose of my research is taking a closer look at How VF CFS provide services for export cargoes After gaining the insight in this, some recommendations to improve the quality service for export cargoes will be suggested During the research period, I strive to look for appropriate model to measure the service quality that VF CFS has provided for customers Especially I focus on studying to improve service quality for exporting cargoes in order to more feasible recommendations Some hidden weaknesses may be revealed by under sending the survey to CFS customers Through this research, I have a valuable opportunity to not only acquire practical knowledge but also skills about how to conduct a research Research Scope The internship took place in Vietfracht CFS for export cargoes During this internship, I have chance to learn about services that CFS provides for their Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch customers The dissertation focuses on evaluation of services quality with strengths and weaknesses of services for export cargoes The dissertation was carried out from August, 2015 to October, 2015 The work was done in three-month period including with taking an internship, choosing topic of dissertation, collecting information and statistics and writing Research Methodology Method of data collection: the dissertation is using the combination of qualitative and quantitative research The qualitative approach is undertaken by interviewing, discussing ideas with staff to gain more perception about the current services of CFS From that, I can report authentically about the current services that CFS provides for export cargoes Quantitative research is applied in assessment of CFS services through sending questionnaires to customers The questionnaire used the most common measurement technique-rating The customers will be asked to rate quality of current services in 5-point scale starting from as “strongly disagree” to as “strongly agree” Methods of data analysis: because the questionnaires are designed in form of 5-point scale, descriptive statistics can be easily used to analyze the data All steps of data analysis including editing, coding, data entry and data analysis are carried out by using Excel Research Result The dissertation presents the current services for export cargoes that VF CFS provides in Chap In addition, the most appropriate measuring model to assess CFS quality service for export cargoes is set up In order to measure service quality, I ask customers to judge the current service quality base on these on the proposing model by sending surveys to them Data is collected and analyzed by using descriptive statistics, and then some hidden issues were unclosed As a result, I have come up with some recommendations as remedies for each issue Overall, I believe that, my dissertation has provides useful knowledge which contributes to the development of CFS Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Container freight station 1.1.1 Definition According to business dictionary, container freight station can be simply defined as “port facility for loading and unloading containerized cargoes from or to ship” (Dictionary) Another definition is that “Container Freight Station (CFS) means the location designed by the Carrier or his authorized agent for the receiving of goods to be stuffed into containers or for the delivery of goods stripped from containers by the Carrier or his authorized agent” (OOCL) CFS locates in the locations where import/ export cargoes can be easily loaded/unloaded, consolidation and deconsolidation for transportation to destinations In order to establish this warehouse, firm need to granted licenses to operation because CFS warehouse is under the strict control and supervision by custom authorities 1.1.2 The importance of container freight station We have lived in global village where trading between countries and regions grow exponentially A great volume of goods transported to ports have caused bad congestion in ports Another justification is a long waiting time for customs clearance This delay time will add up the cost of sea transportation Container freight station is established as convenient location to consolidation and deconsolidation, temporary storage, customs inspections…hence CFS helps to accelerate the flow of containers and cargoes, facilitate the port operation, increase productivity and reduce port congestion 1.1.3 CFS main activities Main activities in CFS are receiving, put away, storage, picking, packing and shipping Receiving is the first step in CFS processing Cargoes are unloaded from vendor‟s trucks; counting and identifying the received cargoes were undertaken simultaneously CFS employees also record any overage, shortage or damaged of Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch note to forwarders and accounting department Accounting department will issue VAT invoice to forwarders 2.4 The evaluation of current service quality for export cargoes of CFS at The Transportation and Chartering Corporation-Hai Phong Branch Service quality is usually measured by asking customer opinions Thus, I have made the survey contain 12 questions based on appropriate measuring models in order to assess the service for export cargoes at VF CFS warehouse VF CFS has totally 20 forwarders which including CP World, APL, Hankyu, Binh Vien, Everich, ATA, M&P, FM Logistics, ASAP, MPL, Shipco, KMG, Dong Tai, Schenker, OWL, Maxpeed, Dolphin, TMC, Kingfreight, Sotrans Luckily, I received 20 surveys of all forwarders and 10 surveys of cargo owners In these surveys, forwarders can easily express their assessment by choosing one number from as strongly disagree to as strong agree with as breakeven point Collected data is analyzing by using helpful tool – Excel Results have been shown in table 2.2 As can be seen in the table, results have shown some strong points and weak point of services at CFS for export cargoes Regarding to tangibility, facilities are the factor that has the highest rate among three factors including facilities, equipments and technology with 3.37 CFS facilities include warehouse, office and depot… VF warehouse is quite large with total area being over 5000 m2 and well-equipped with ventilation, security and firefighting systems Depot can contain more than 1000 containers Besides, offices are spacious and clean There is an exclusive area for maintenance and repair containers However, due to long establishment, facilities of VF are not as new and modern as other CFSs which are newly built Equipment and technology which is using at VF CFS are assessed at low points with only 2.9 and 2.43 respectively Equipment mainly refers to handling equipment like pallets, hand pallet trucks; forklift trucks…The majority of them are outdated, in bad conditions and need to be replaced Furthermore, some equipment that CFS should consider to buy in order to facilitate the handling process of export cargoes like dock levelers This equipment can easily adjust the height of dock to fit with the different height of each type of trucks, hence facilitate the receiving and dispatching goods while VF CFS is using the wooden docks which causes Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page 26 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch inconveniency and need to much manual work to move them in or out In addition, VF CFS only stores goods in wooden pallets and put directly at the ground, VF CFS does not use any racks system Therefore, storage area is not better utilized By installing racks, there will be more space to store cargoes especially in peak season Table 2.2: The ratings of customers to recent performance for export cargoes at VF CFS STT Questions Code Mean SD CFS‟s facilities are adequate to provide good services for export cargoes (including warehouse, depot, office ,) TAN 3.37 0.17 Equipment of CFS is adequate and up-to-date (handling equipment, container trucks…) TAN 2.9 0.98 CFS uses the up-to-date technology in management TAN 2.43 0.94 Cargoes are stored in appropriate condition and not have any damage REL 3.03 0.56 Documents are correct and error-free REL 3.93 0.82 Tasks like receiving, picking, packing and shipping are performed accurately, safely ( which is right in product, quantity, time, place) REL 3.17 0.91 Procedures for export cargoes are finished on time (before „cut-off‟ time) REL 3.33 1.24 CFS finishes stuffing and shipping containers on time ( before „cut-off‟ time) REL 3.83 0.79 Employees are willing to help and answer questions of customers RES 3.7 0.89 10 Employees have good knowledge and are skillful to perform tasks ASS 3.27 2.04 11 Employees have ability to solve occurred problems and emergencies ASS 3.7 0.85 12 Company regularly receives feedbacks and updates services according to customer‟s demand EMP 2.57 0.93 Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page 27 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch The operation of VF CFS is mainly ran by manual work and not use modern technology in warehouse management like warehouse management system (WMS) Therefore, VF is rated as low in applying modern technology in comparison with other CFS The using of machinery and management system is increasingly popular in CFS warehouse and proves its undeniable advantages such as effectively manage information, reduce manual work, and hence avoid mistakes Eventually, it helps to reduce time and cost Reliability of CFS can understand as the ability to perform tasks in an accurate and safe way In term of storage, VF CFS got only 3.03 for keeping damage-free cargoes It means that the loss or damage of cargoes still exist due to some reasons Firstly, cargoes can be damaged owing to the carelessness and the lack of skills of workers during receiving operation Secondly, unclear boundary between warehouse for export and import cargoes makes it more difficult to control and manage cargoes which leads to the loss of cargoes However, these situations rarely happen According to customers, the documents for export cargoes are recorded correctly with medium of rating being 3.93 Therefore, it can be conclude that the employees dealing documents have worked effectively Performance of important tasks like receiving, picking, packing and shipping is only at acceptable level but not efficient (3.17) which proves that there are some underlined problems At the peak season, congestion usually happens CFS employees have to work very hardly but cannot meet the demand of all forwarders due to a large amount of cargoes that has to handle Therefore, sometime forwarders or truck drivers have to wait to unload the cargoes Currently, the receiving and shipping of cargoes is implemented in the same dock which can exacerbate the congestion situation In case of APL, the process for export cargoes is quite strict which includes more than one steps-bar code scanning If the workers not familiar with using the scan system, they can easily get common mistakes like missing or double scanning…therefore, it may takes a longer time to scan again and compare data The strict process only allows finishing scanning and checking after moving to subsequent steps In the peak season when CFS has to handle a large quantity of cartons, scanning mistakes can enormously affect the whole process In addition, with forwarders have small number of cargoes, CFS only receives cargoes but not usually takes not of their locations which results in the difficulty to find Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page 28 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch cargoes and decrease the warehouse productivity All aforementioned reasons have impeded efficiency of CFS in performing tasks It should be mentioned that VF CFS usually ensure to stuff and dispatch containers before cut-off time with the rate being 3.83 Hence, it can be considered as strength of VF CFS The late in dispatching containers would result in huge loss of customers and ruin company reputation Furthermore, CFS has to take responsibity to compensate the cost of late delivery as the rule Therefore, time is considered as one of the most important criteria When CFS not abide with time, it loses there comparativeness and cannot compete with other CFS In term of submitting documents on time, VF CFS did not so well with only 3.33 due to some reasons Firstly, forwarders sometimes are late in delivery all documents related to export cargoes to CFS Secondly, in case of invalid documents (documents which have wrong information on them) it may take more time to customers to correct them after submits them back to CFS Thirdly, customs clearance sometimes takes more time to complete However, according to customer‟s opinion the underlined reason for the late documents is due to the inflexibility of receiving process for export cargoes and strict process at VF warehouse CFS will not receive any cargoes if one of them is miss or incorrect and not except any exception which leads to the late of processing for export cargoes Overall, reliability to ensure time requirements at CFS is at acceptable level Even though ensuring on time delivery for all containers and documents is not easy especially in peak season when CFS has to handle a huge quantity of cargoes, VF CFS should strive to improve the responsiveness to time constraint Regarding to responsiveness, forwarders appreciate the enthusiasm and willingness of employees in giving guidance and support to them (3.7) In spite of heavy workload, CFS employees still remain their courtesy and willingness to help customers Recently, apart from attitude of employees, CFS will give suggestion about loading plan which is best fit and help forwarders reduce cost and time Besides, CFS is willing to collaborate closely and facilitate forwarders in order to fulfill shipments Company understands that serving attitude can partly reflect the service quality of company and create company image Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page 29 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch In term of assurances, customers are asked about the knowledge and the ability to covey trust of employees Employee‟s knowledge and skill are only judged at 3.27 However, the standard deviation is high (2.04) which mean that there is a big difference in the customer‟s assessment In reality, qualification of CFS employees is not low CFS has to hire the outside many workers according to season The majority of tallyman and workers are seasonal employees which generate the gap in knowledge and experience of employees In term of response to emergency cases CFS is managing so well with the rate being 3.7 In case of problems exist; CFS will promptly discuss the appropriate plan to solve problems The experience and quick response of operators contributes greatly to solve problems and minimize the loss of all involving parties Empathy dimension can be understood as knowing customer needs In empathy dimension, VF CFS is rated so low with 2.57 because company not usually receive feedbacks and try to update its services as well as process for export cargoes When company does not strive to know forwarders demand ad customize their services, they will lose their comparativeness Hence, increase the empathy dimension is necessary for company to develop However, due to its characteristic, taking care of individual forwarders is not possible because it may require a large amount of money and decrease its efficiency but improving the services is totally possible Customers not only rate the performance of current services for export cargoes according 13 items as above but also rate the importance of all items This type of survey is based on Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) which helps company gain more insights into how to effectively improve their services and set the priority according to its importance to customers Customers also express their ideas in point scale but from as “totally unimportant” to as “totally important” Results have shown in table 2.3 Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page 30 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch Table 2.3: The ratings of customers toward importance of each factors in the measuring model STT Questions Code Mean SD CFS finishes stuffing and shipping containers on time ( before „cut-off‟ time) REL 4.4 0.59 Tasks like receiving, picking, packing and shipping are performed accurately, safely (which is right in product, quantity, time, place) REL 4.27 0.66 Cargoes are stored in appropriate condition and not have any damage REL 4.23 0.61 Procedures for export cargoes are finished on time (before „cut-off‟ time) REL 4.13 0.85 Employees have good knowledge and are skillful to perform tasks ASS 4.1 0.64 Employees have ability to solve occurred problems and emergencies ASS 4.03 0.71 Documents are correct and error-free REL 0.72 Company regularly receives feedbacks and updates services according to customer‟s demand EMP 3.97 0.79 Employees are willing to help and answer questions of customers RES 3.83 0.58 10 Equipment of CFS is adequate and up-to-date (handling equipment, container trucks ) TAN 3.8 0.78 11 CFS uses the up-to-date technology in management TAN 3.7 1.03 12 CFS‟s facilities are adequate to provide good services for export cargoes (including warehouse, depot, office ,) TAN 3.37 0.91 According to table, REL (finishes stuffing and shipping on time) is the most important to customers with 4.4, followed by REL (tasks should be performed accurately and safely) REL and REL are closely behind with being 4.23 and 4.13 respectively Knowledge of employees (ASS 1) and ability to solve problems (ASS 2) are rated surprisingly high with 4.1 and 4.03 Error-free Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page 31 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch documents (REL 2) and updated services (EMP) come next with and 3.97 Willingness to help (RES 1) and equipment of CFS (TAN 2) account for 3.83 and 3.8 correspondingly Technology (TAN 3) is rated at 3.7 At the bottom end is facility of CFS with 3.37 Therefore, VF CFS should focus on enhance the on time dispatching of containers and related documents The second priority will be the accuracy of tasks performing in order to satisfy the demand of customers Focusing on training and recruitment should be the third thing to consider because it may directly reflects on the knowledge and skill of employees Furthermore, firm should listen to customer‟s opinion Updating facility, equipment and technology is still proved very essential to improve CFS services 2.5 Challenges 2.5.1 External factors a Late delivery of vendors The late delivery of vendors or factors still happens especially for APL vendors Trucks of the vendors or factories deliver the good late in accordance to cut-off time of CFS is two day before ship departure Although, the delivery is not too late to affects the shipping time of containers but it require the rearrangement of container loading plan With the large amount of goods, it is not denial that vendors also under constraint to fulfill delivery along with customs declaration for export goods However, the late delivery of vendors has posed the challenge for CFS operation to finish stuffing and shipping on time b Mistakes in receiving goods In some cases, vendors or factories deliver wrong products to CFS (wrong PO, types…) In addition, some receiving goods not have shipping marks on it For scanned goods of APL, shipping mark is very important Goods cannot be stuffed or shipped without its shipping marks All these problems will take more time to correct which adversely affects the progress of services c Workload issue Currently, CFS has to deal with overloaded situation occurring in the peak season when CFS has to handle a huge quantity of cargoes Because the ship Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page 32 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch departure day is usually in Wednesday, hence Monday and Tuesday are considered as peak day in a week In these days, CFS employees have to work overtime and under time constraint The issue about how to manage heavy workload in peak days is still pose challenges to CFS operators In other day, workload will decease if there is small amount of good or no good Therefore, it is necessary for CFS to plan ahead for peak days d Customs procedure Customs procedure is quite complex and includes many steps In order to be ratified by customs, it takes time and cost Besides, the customs declarations for export goods, CFS have to declare Shipping Declaration If customs suspect the origin of goods the shipping time will be delayed Furthermore, customs will not ratify if there are the shortage and invalid of documents Therefore, customs procedure still poses many difficulties to CFS to fulfill 2.5.2 Internal factors a Equipment and technology As I stated above, the majority of equipment like pallets, hand pallets trucks, forklift trucks are in bad condition and needs to be replaced Moreover, CFS should some necessary equipment like dock levelers to facilitate the handling process of export cargoes Besides, applying modern technology in management like Warehouse Management System (WMS) should be considered to enhance the comparativeness of CFS However, updating equipment and technology is still challenges to company because it will require a large amount of money b Outsourced labor Recently, CFS is using a number of part-time tallymen and outsourced workers Furthermore, some hired workers will be added in peak days and season which causes many problems Firstly, it will adversely affect the quality of services because workers who are outsourced will be not familiar with work in CFS Therefore, they are more likely to make mistakes Secondly, it may cause the difficulty for operators to manage Thirdly, the burglary may happen which affects the security in CFS In order to well manage these workers, CFS needs to have proper solutions Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page 33 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch CHAPTER 3: RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE SERVICE QUALITY FOR EXPORT CARGOES AT CFS OF VIETFRACHT HAI PHONG 3.1 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS 3.1.1 Updating facility and equipment The comparison between current facility and equipments on tangibility dimension and importance of them reveals that CFS should consider replacing and updating the current equipments and facility to ensure service quality Equipment which is the most important among other tangibility items (3.75) should be the first thing to invest in replacing and purchasing some modern equipment may positively affect the productivity of CFS I highly recommend installing dock levelers to avoid the inconvenience in receiving and shipping cargoes Because the height of permanent docks not fit with the height of different types of trucks this causes the difficulty in loading and unloading cargoes especially with small trucks When the loading and unloading cargoes cannot run smoothly, it may increase the time to doing these steps Therefore, installing docks levelers can enhance the time dimension and ameliorate the congestion situation in peak days and seasons Furthermore, adding some racks should increase the storage utilization for CFS when CFS for export cargoes not use any racks Installing racks at permanent position may not greatly affect the freeing up of cargoes It is not denial that CFS is still low in technology and work normally done by manual work while using warehouse management systems (WMS) is increasingly prevalent In spite of heavy investment, CFS should consider to update it for long term plan by calculating cost and time for returning investment In term of facility, CFS should update camera system in the aim for strictly control the inflow and outflow of containers Furth more, cameras should be installed to supervise the outsourced workers and inhibit the burglary in CFS Warehouse area should keep clean and ventilated to avoid damage of cargoes Office can be redecorated to create better working condition and attract customers 3.1.2 Calculating productivity and allocating work Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page 34 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch In order to improve the services as well as efficiency of CFS, operators should keep track of the time to each step, from receiving to putting away, loading By calculation, we would know within one hours, one worker can handle how many cargoes From that, CFS can estimate and allocate the work especially in peak days With the large quantity of cargoes that should be stuff and shipping, CFS should have plans to allocate the work appropriately to avoid overloaded and exhausting situation Furthermore, CFS can set up targets base on productivity calculation to improve the efficiency of performing tasks For example, currently on workers can handle 30 CBM of goods in an hour, so CFS can set up target that one worker should handle 32 CBM of goods in an hour By achieving the target, so the time to receiving, putting away or loading particular quantity of cargoes will decrease and quality of service will increase This measure can be considered as the most effective way to cope with the time constraint in CFS while time dimension is the most important factors according to customer opinion with the rate being 4.4 3.1.3 Focusing on recruiting and training activities Increasing the knowledge and skill of employees can be a remedy for many problems in CFS It is no denial that human resource is usually the most important resource of company Using outsourced workers may be more flexible and cost efficiency However, it underlines some threats Outsourced workers are usually lack of skill and experience especially when dealing with problems which decreases the responsiveness to time constraint by increasing the time to perform tasks Furthermore, it can directly influence REL (the accuracy and safety of performing tasks like receiving, picking, packing and shipping), ASS 1(knowledge and skill of employees) and ASS (ability to solve problems) which is all importance to customers with the importance rating being over Therefore, focusing on recruiting and training activities is quite essential to improve the service quality of CFS - CFS should research and design the appropriate recruitment plans with the aim to recruit employees However, each position would require different virtues of job seekers For example, workers should be skillful, responsible, and hardworking For documenting staff, they will be well qualified, flexible, cautious and responsible… - In recruitment contracts, it should be defined clearly about interests, obligations, bonus and especially punishments if candidates violate the Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page 35 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch articles in contract For part time position, CFS should recruit people who - have guarantors Giving the appropriate salary and bonus according to dedication of employees - Establishing annual training plan to enhance professional knowledge practical skills and the training for new employees equipment them with necessary skills for jobs - Outsourced workers and part-time tally man must participate in training - course before starting their jobs Encouraging employees to self study and update them with the most recent - knowledge relating to job Providing casual meeting to help employees exchange knowledge and - experience Providing intensive course for employees who want to enhance their knowledge and employees who have potential to hold critical position in company - Content of training course should be updated regularly and based on the demand of job and customers 3.1.4 Regularly receiving feedbacks and updating services VF CFS is not normally asking customers about the quality service and updates services according to customer‟s demand However, this activity is proven quite essential to improve quality service according to customer opinion (EMP 1) Therefore, sending questionnaire should be implemented at least one time per year By receiving feedbacks, CFS operator will find out their strength and weaknesses With the unreasonable problems, operators can quickly solve problems and update the better services to customers 3.1.5 Urging vendors/ factories to delivery cargoes on time Normally, forwarders or customers will take in charge of keeping in touch with their vendors They will notify about time that vendors should deliver goods to CFS However, it may result in late delivery situation In case of late delivery, CFS should require forwarders to provide the list of vendors so CFS will directly inform them Furthermore, CFS should establish the apparent articles to forwarder about deadline to receiving goods at CFS, responsibility and penalty if late delivery Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page 36 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch happens Therefore, CFS can relieve time constraint and ensure to shipping containers on time 3.1.6 Establishing the List of Documents in use Because different forwarders their own standard for documents in use In order to avoid mistakes when doing documentations for each forwarder, CFS should list out the list of documents in use for each forwarder accompany with the samples of them Therefore, staff dealing with documents can easily their jobs Moreover, any alteration would be updated so that it will give clear direction not only for CFS employees but also forwarders This would be the good measure to improve REL (documents finish on time) and REL (free-error documents) 3.1.7 Establishing and practicing emergency plan Recently, CFS does not have any clear plan to cope with emergency case Due to of its characteristics as storage place, the plan for emergency case like fire is very crucial to ensure the security of cargoes Furthermore, CFS is more likely to catch fire By practicing with scenario, employees can response quickly when case happens, hence minimize the damage of properties 3.1.8 Preparing to deal with customs declaration Declaring customs is always the most complex steps and taking a long time While reducing customs procedure may help to reduce time and cost for trade Therefore, the recommendation to government in reducing customs procedures is very necessary However, to deal with the current customs procedure, it highly recommends that CFS should urge forwarders to submits related documents and in advance especially for shipment with large quantity of cargoes Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page 37 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch CONCLUSION Trading between countries by sea continuously grows which leads to the strong development of CFS services for export and import cargoes at port area With the increasingly importance of Container Freight Station, it would be necessary to improve the services as well as the efficiency of Container Freight Station The Transportation and Chartering Corporation (Vietfracht) with the long establishment has faced the strong competition in term of CFS warehouse In order to remain its competiveness, VF CFS should enhance their service quality by promoting its strong points and improve its weak points In my dissertation, I have proposed a measuring model to measure services for export cargoes at VF CFS After analyzing collected data, some strengths and weaknesses of services for export cargoes at VF CFS have been pointed out In general, VF CFS still uses manual systems which using labor to performing the majority of tasks Hence, CFS should have appropriate plans in order to well manage and promote its employees For further growth, CFS should consider to apply some modern equipment and technology I am so grateful that The Transportation and Chartering Corporation, Hai Phong branch gave me a chance to gain more practical knowledge During the internship, I can equip myself with many valuable knowledge and skills which is very helpful for my future career I hope that my dissertation can provide company useful suggestions to improve services for export cargoes Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page 38 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch REFERENCES [1]Asso.Prof, D N (2015) Warehouse Management Lectures Hai Phong [2]Chowdhary, N a (2003) Prioritizing service quality dimensions [3]Department, L a (2015) Multimodal transportation and Logistics Maritime University [4]Dictionary, 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Retrieved November 3, 2015, from Businessdictionary.com: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/containerfreight-station-CFS.html [5]Government (2015, 15) Retrieved October 22, 2015, from Hai Quan Viet Nam: http://www.customs.gov.vn/Lists/VanBanPhapLuat [6]Gronross, C (1984) A Service Quality Model and its Marketing Implications European Journal of Marketing , 18 (4), 36-44 [7]J.J Cronin, S A (1992) Measuring service quality: Reexamination and extention Journal of Marketing , 56 (3), 55-68 [8]James, J M (1977) Importance-Performance Analysis Journal of Marketing , 41 (1), 77-79 [9]Kotler, P (2003) In Management Marketing (p 415) New Jersey, United of America [10]OOCL (n.d.) Definition Retrieved November 3, 2015, from oocl.com: http://www.oocl.com/eng/ourservices/eservices/tariffandrates/globalrule/Pages/rule 27.aspx [11]Parasuraman, A Z (1985) A conceeptual model of service quality and its implications for future research Journal of Marketing , 49 (3), 41-50 [12]Walfried M Lasser, C M (2000) Service Quality Perspectives & Satisfaction in Private Banking Journal of service marketing , 14 (3) Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page 39 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch APPENDICES Appendix 1: Surveys for CFS customers Appendix 2: Booking Confirmation Appendix 3: Gate-in note Appendix 4: Truck Sheet Appendix 5: Customs Declaration Appendix 6: Audit Form Appendix 7: Packing List Appendix 8: Booking Note Appendix 9: Tally Sheet Appendix 10: O.S.D Report Appendix 11: Good Receipt Note Appendix 12: Empty Container Check List Appendix 13: Shipping Declaration Appendix 14: Container Loading Plan Appendix 15: Container Laden Lists Appendix 16: Daily Report Appendix 17: Manifest Tran Thi Ha Mi-GMA02 Page 40 ... Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch 2.3 The current services for export cargoes at CFS of The Transportation... 11 Recommendations to improve service quality for export cargoes at CFS of The Transport and Chartering Corporation – Hai phong branch CHAPTER 2: THE EVALUATION OF SERVICE QUALITY FOR EXPORT CARGOES. .. 2.3 The current services for export cargoes at CFS of The Transportation and Chartering Corporation –Hai Phong Branch 20 2.4 The evaluation of current service quality for export cargoes of