RECOMMENDATION TO IMPROVE FREIGHT FORWARDING PROCEDURE FOR IMPORTED GOODS IN TNN LOGISTICS JOINT STOCK COMPANY

- MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION MINISTRY OF EDUCATION & TRAINING VIETNAM MARITIME UNIVERSITY STUDENT NAME: NGÔ QUỐC VIỆT DISSERTATION GLOBAL STUDIES AND MARITIME AFFAIRS RECOMMENDATION TO IMPROVE FREIGHT FORWARDING PROCEDURE FOR IMPORTED GOODS IN TNN LOGISTICS JOINT STOCK COMPANY HAI PHONG – 2015 MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION MINISTRY OF EDUCATION & TRAINING VIETNAM MARITIME UNIVERSITY STUDENT NAME: NGÔ QUỐC VIỆT CLASS: GMA 02 DISSERTATION GLOBAL STUDIES AND MARITIME AFFAIRS RECOMMENDATION TO IMPROVE FREIGHT FORWARDING PROCEDURE FOR IMPORTED GOODS IN TNN LOGISTICS JOINT STOCK COMPANY Supervisor: Ms Pham Thi Yen Division: Logistics Faculty: Economics HAI PHONG – 2015 Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company PREFACE Vietnam has been a member of WTO; this is a great opportunity for domestics businesses to integrate to international environment and attract foreign investment This is also a challenge for companies to prove themselves in global background Beside advantages, they have to face the difficulties because of the severe competition from foreign businesses as well as others inside Vietnam Therefore, in order to survive, companies need to enhance management ability so that they can work out a long term strategy With the goal of understanding logistics environment in Vietnam, I choose the topic: “The recommendations to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joint Stock Company” with hope that I can apply what I have learned into reality and obtain more experience, learn more professional skills In this dissertation, I focus on understanding the process of how to import cargoes in Vietnam; what forwarders have to deliver goods to customers Customs clearance is a big step in the process with complicated steps From that, I can have better view and objective options about logistics in my country 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 Ngô Quốc Việt i Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company ACKNOWLEGEMENT Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Ms Pham Thi Yen for the continuous support of my dissertation  and related research, for their patience, motivation, and immense knowledge Their guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis I could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor for my dissertation Secondly, I would like to say thank you to all staff in TNN Logistics Company those who have given me facilities to deepen my knowledge about logistics industry Thank to forwarders of company, I have gained my practical skills and understanding about sea transport of Vietnam in general and logistics in Haiphong in particular This period of internship is very valuable for me to prepare myself in the future i Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v LIST OF TABLES .vi LIST OF FIGURES vii INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW .2 1.1 Definition 1.1.1 Definition of freight forwarding 1.1.2 Definition of freight forwarder 1.2 Significance 1.3 Roles and Functions .3 1.4 Scope of operation 1.5 The rights and obligations of freight forwarder 1.6 Benefits of freight forwarding to businesses 1.7 The factors affect freight forwarding activities of imported goods 1.7.1 International background 1.7.2 Macro- management mechanism of State 1.7.3 The situation of domestic logistics 1.7.4 Weather volatility 1.7.5 Internal factors of company CHAPTER 2: THE FREIGHT FORWARDING PROCEDURE FOR IMPORTED GOODS 2.1 Introduction about company 2.1.1 Company profile 2.1.2 Business targets and business sector 2.1.3 Company’s organizational structure 11 2.1.4 Business results in 4th quarter 2015 12 2.1.5 Development plan of company 14 2.2 Freight forwarding procedure for imported goods 16 2.3 Assessment of the freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joint Stock Company 23 2.3.1 Signing service contract 23 2.3.2 The process of receiving documents from customer 24 2.3.3 The process of preparing documents 24 2.3.4 The process of customs clearance .24 2.3.5 The process of goods inspection .24 2.3.6 The seasonality of freight forwarding operation .25 2.3.7 Strengths 25 2.3.8 Weaknesses .26 i Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company CHAPTER 3: RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE FREIGHT FORWARDING PROCEDURE FOR IMPORTED GOODS IN TNN LOGISTICS JOINT STOCK COMPANY 27 3.1 Suggestions to improve freight forwarding procedure of company 27 3.1.1 Creating coordination, close links between departments within company 27 3.1.2 Preparing imported documents 28 3.1.3 Improving service’s quality .29 3.1.4 Training human resource to adapt new situation 29 3.2 Recommendations 30 CONCLUSION 35 LIST OF REFERENCE 36 i Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CFS Container Freight Station ICD Inland Clearance Depot D/O Delivery Order OECD The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations FCL Full Container Load LCL Less Container Load CFR Cost and Freight CIF Cost, Insurance and Freight i Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: Business result in 4th quarter, 2015 13 i Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: Company organization’s structure 11 FIGURE 2: Process of freight forwarding for imported goods 17 FIGURE 3: Process of customs clearance 19 i Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company INTRODUCTION In order to build a strong and prosperous country in the context of globalization, regionalization, international integration, we cannot overlook foreign trade activities because it ensures the commodity circulation with friends around the world; helps us effectively exploit internal and external potentials based on division of labor and international specialization However, when it comes to import and export activities, we cannot ignore freight forwarding because they are inseparable activities The scale of import and export operation has been increasing in current years; it is the main reason for the huge growth of forwarding actives, especially sea freight forwarding in both width and depth Besides, with 3000 km coastline and many types of ports, Vietnam forwarding industry has been achieving significant progresses Quantity and value of cargoes through ports always account big proportion of total value of international cargoes in Vietnam Forwarding is the last step but very important of commercial contracts If it isn’t taken place in time, or not logically, there will be stagnation, congestion which cause damage for both seller and buyer Realize the importance of forwarding, I applied for an internship at TNN Logistics Joint Stock Company and write a dissertation with topic: The recommendations to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joint Stock Company Because of the limitations in knowledge and experience, as well as the strict of time, shortcomings are inevitable I look forward to receiving the suggestion and comments from lecturers ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company - Red flow: Goods are repeatedly violated customs law or potential to violate the law or have signs of law violation Goods of shippers under this flow have to be checked document in detail and inspected in real condition There are level of red-flow inspection: - A level: inspect the whole shipment - B level: 10% inspection - C level: 5% inspection After that, customs officer will transfer documents to tax division and leader of customs team, finally to the department leader Department leader will consider and make decision about the level and method of inspection If shipment is in green and yellow flow, it will be signed for customs clearance as soon as customs accepts the declaration of selectivity from company If it is in red flow, it will be transfer to leader of team assigned to inspect the goods He will decide how many percent of inspection If department leader decide no good inspection, forwarder receives documents, pay tax if required If there is inspection, contact to customs officer who is in charge  For Full Container Loaded (FCL) Step 3: Compare with cargo manifest (depend on procedure in different customs department) Forwarder shows a D/O to compare with cargo manifest of customs supervisor If it is expired over 30 days, he has to bring report and receipt to pay fine Customs will stamp as compared Step 4: Switch yard to inspect the goods There’s need to have original D/O and copies Forwarder will locate his container and use a D/O to register for switch yard for inspection then pay fee of lowering container, switching yard and cleaning container If forwarder wants to borrow container, he has to pay deposit at shipping line ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page 21 Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company After that, forwarder will receives an Equipment interchange receipt (EIR) for go through the gate and to lower container at yard There are colors of EIR: blue submitted to warehouse, pink shown to shipping line to get back deposit, yellow submitted to gate security guard and the white to keep Step 5: Inspect cargoes Forwarder checks the new position of container at port office After locate it, he will go to moderating office to have stamp of removing seal and notice inspection customs officer and ask to inspect Company staff confirms the right container (container numbers and seal on D/O) and contact to stevedore team to remove seal in front of customs officer When inspection is finished, customs officer signs on declaration Step 6: Receive declaration Forwarder pays fee and tax at State Treasury if it’s required immediately; after that shows the purple fee receipts and tax receipt to customs If paying tax later, the amount of tax is the number in tax notification or the number printed on the back side of declaration which is confirmed by tax division Finally, forwarder sign on declaration and take back declaration Declaration must be stamped with red square “customs procedures completed” on the right corner Step 7: Out of the gate In order to transport shipment through the gate, there need to have EIR and D/O which is stamped after being compared with cargo manifest and declaration Forwarder deals with gate customs supervisor by bringing declaration confirmed “customs procedures completed” with EIR to show to customs Gate customs supervisor will check, certify, stamp, sign and keep blue EIR and D/O Yellow EIR will be transferred to driver in order to present when transporting container through the gate to prove that we are taking right container out  For Less Container Loading (LCL) Step 3: Inspection ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page 22 Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company Forwarder checks D/O to locate in which warehouse shipment is; notify warehouse keeper to find cargoes After that, contact to customs and ask for inspection Customs officer will inspect with forwarder the sign on declaration Step 4: Receive declaration (same as container) Step 5: Take the cargoes Forwarder present D/O to port office, pay overdue storage fees if any, and receive 03 shipment issue document Present declaration and D/O to warehouse customs Write truck license plates, number of packages on shipment issue document, submit to warehouse keeper and load cargoes on truck Step 6: Out of the gate Forwarder present 02 shipment issue documents and declaration to gate customs officer; he will sign and stamp on shipment issue documents and return 01 document to forwarder, then give it to driver to transport cargoes through the gate 2.3 Assessment of the freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joint Stock Company 2.3.1 Signing service contract Sale department find customers via different sources and send quotation to customers, at the same time conduct negotiating provisions For LCL cargoes, risk happens from the process of signing contract; customer can cancel contract and hire another company at more competitive price But company has registered a container at port to consolidate cargoes If a shipper cancels contract, company still has to transport other LCL shipments and the capacity of a container is not fully used There are cases in which customer make late payment and company has to make advance payment in order to carry out service In general, import-export companies in Vietnam prefer cheap price but not concern the quality of services 2.3.2 The process of receiving documents from customer Company’s staff will contact customer in receive shipment-related documents However, sometimes documents are inconsistent with delivery conditions For example, on Invoice and Packing list, shipment is imported under CFR but in ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page 23 Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company contract and declaration it is CIF Forwarder has to adjust the conditions in contract and declaration 2.3.3 The process of preparing documents Company’s staffs sometimes apply wrong tax code so causing the wrong tax calculation There are also very basic mistakes such as import wrong data, excel error and so on When customs officers check declaration and realize wrong information, declaration will be returned Therefore it is time-consuming, affecting badly to company’s reputation and services quality provided to customers Besides, staffs sometimes not pay attention to expired date of Delivery Order to arrange schedule; incurring warehousing costs 2.3.4 The process of customs clearance Vietnamese customs often make it difficult for businesses and forwarders in the stages of checking documents’ validity and inspecting shipment There are certain negatives and this is common situation in State bodies Despite valid documents, they still say there’s something missing or mistake if forwarder doesn’t know how to behave The accuracy and fairness of Vietnamese customs are not really high 2.3.5 The process of goods inspection Shipper has to submit additional paper if required then customs will certify and transfer to tariff then shipment will be cleared customs but in fact time for inspection is quite long Again, company’s staff is challenged by customs officers, company has to behave in order to have quick inspection, avoid the economic losses due to fees for storage and other costs because of delay Shipper also can make written request to release the shipment, carry it to warehouse and supplement document The person who receives shipment will present document to customs, if being accepted, customs will issue a copy of declaration with test result and validation of documents; just used to release shipment and have to be returned after finishing customs procedure When there is inspection result, copy will be returned and get back original declaration 2.3.6 The seasonality of freight forwarding operation This is not only a feature but also a disadvantage which needs to be improved It is presented in martin season; the volume of cargoes is so high that there are tons ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page 24 Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company of works have to at the same time Sometimes, due to lack of equipment and containers, company has to refuse to receive shipments However, in the season of cargoes going down, the number of shipments decreases so workload also reduces The period of time when there is high number of cargoes is from June to August and months near Christmas and Tet holiday In other months, business encounters a lot of difficulties This seasonal feature makes company’s business unstable, monthly business results are uneven This directly affects employees’ job and salaries; causing cognitive distortions about job This problem is objective, beyond the plan of company so the remedy is not easy It needs the movement of business itself and the trust and support from customers 2.3.7 Strengths - Company has young, enthusiastic, creative staff eager to learn and acquiring knowledge fast - Company’s managers always monitor working process of employees and forwarding procedure of shipment to answerer all questions from customer - Sufficient facilities facilitates job - Create good relationship to shipping lines, partners, customers, Customs and related agencies and departments in order to offer convenience and smooth for company’s operations 2.3.8 Weaknesses - Most of employees are working not in their field they were trained Current forwarders graduated with economic certificates but none of them learned about logistics They have to work and learn at the same time so mistakes are inevitable Mistakes can come from doing paperwork, procedure or documents… - Foreign language proficiency is not high so sometimes they are confused at work - ASEAN is a familiar market to Vietnam, forwarding service in this market is easy and less risky so the competition is very high - The efficiency of using means of transport is not high Sometimes, there is no vehicle left to use; sometimes they are standby at warehouse For example, sometimes, a truck has to receive cargoes in two or three warehouse; time for ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page 25 Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company loading cargoes is long while paperwork in other warehouse is finished but still has to wait This is a waste of time TNN owns trucks; majority is average and small When the volume of cargoes is high, company has to hire more vehicles to meet the demand of transport It will cost company extra fee CHAPTER 3: RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE FREIGHT FORWARDING PROCEDURE FOR IMPORTED GOODS IN TNN LOGISTICS JOINT STOCK COMPANY 3.1 Suggestions to improve freight forwarding procedure of company 3.1.1 Creating coordination, close links between departments within company One of the most important and essential factors to increase productivity and quality is to build relationships with foreign customers, carriers, domestics affiliates, departments and warehouse Good connections will push the efficiency to the higher level ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page 26 Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company Close partnerships with foreign customers will generate more opportunities to expose to international market, promote brand and image in the scale of globe In order to this, company always has to remain the credibility from customers; be quick in responding the questions from customers; predict the demand from customers to supply the most optimal solutions When company has a long term relationship, it can reduce the risk in price competition and avoid the contract cancel in business For marketing department, besides the ability of promoting company image, they need to improve the ability of analyzing information, predicting market trend It is necessary to coordinate with operation department to visit manufacturing facilities to have more knowledge about variety of products Especially, marketing staffs need to understand clearly the request from customers about models, color or size…in order to deploy plan for operation in the most detailed way For operation department, freight forwarders needs to have knowledge about product they take responsibility Through sales staff, they have to be sure what the request of customer is in aspect of time, method of transport, destination and so on; always checking schedule of truck fleet in order to be active when deploying vehicle to receive and delivery goods Apart from that, forwarders needs to pay attention about the rush hours in warehouse, ports or deports so that they can make an optimal plan to avoid congestion, save time as well as cost of inventory The coordination between forwarders, sale staffs and truck drivers is the core factor to improve freight forwarding procedure For warehouse, it is necessary to be careful in preparing and packaging shipments This is an important link in process of freight forwarding It is presented through the supply of information when goods are moved into warehouse with papers related to warehousing procedure; inspecting operation should be noticed in advance so that inspecting official can make plan and give convenience for delivering cargoes This sector needs to be always in packaging and minimize unreasonable costs Warehouse staffs have to firmly grasp products and monitor good flows in and out warehouse based on information from general coordinator and notice in time if something wrong happens This relationship is based on cooperative and collective spirit with no pressure so that job can be done smoothly It can be said that the relationships between department in TNN logistics joint stock company is organic relationship, be bound and closely related to each other in ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page 27 Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company doing the job of freight forwarding for company The smooth collaboration of departments, warehouse and members will contribute to build a good information system for accurate promotion, exact time of transaction and high efficiency of delivery; together discuss and work out solutions to reduce low quality services or steps which are not done well 3.1.2 Preparing imported documents To well freight forwarding procedure for imported goods, step of preparing documents for customs clearance is very important Therefore, the coordination between departments should be closer to have a full set of documents Although each department is responsible for different tasks but it is difficult if there is not a good connection Sale staffs need to check, make sure what costumer requests; check the number of goods in and out of warehouse so that they can supply accurate information to customer It is essential to understand documents related customer’s request and sale employees should pay attention of ship schedule so that can send request of documents to customer in time to give facilities for forwarder of conducting customs clearance The documents can be different between shipment depending on the contract between consignor and consignee Therefore, forwarders need to be careful when gathering documents, especially customs declaration Just a wrong in preparing document can lead to the waste of time, affecting working schedule and company reputation 3.1.3 Improving service’s quality For enterprises selling services, it is difficult to improve service quality because the definition of “service quality” is very vague; there is no standard to determine In forwarding, service quality brings customers the trust and the peace of mind that their shipments are safe and transported to right destination by the best forwarders Company has just taken up a very small market share in forwarding market, partly because the quality is not really high, some customers who entrusted company shipments had too many malfunctions and never come back Therefore, competition in quality is essential; it reduces pressure in price competition because ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page 28 Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company company cannot compete others which have high capital potential For forwarding service by sea, service quality sometimes is reflected through small things such as choosing clean container for special cargoes or carefully arranging cargoes so that they are not crumpled Just pay attention to those small things, the customers’ point of view about company will significantly change Besides, high quality also means to provide customers market situation, foreign trade operations and international law Offering customers information about partner, giving advice about contract provisions, explaining complicated terms so that customers not misunderstand and can cause conflicts These additions are as a catalyst helping maintain and sustain relationships with customers and enhance the position of company 3.1.4 Training human resource to adapt new situation Although TNN has crews of good employees, there is still a problem which is increasingly limited qualifications for market demand We all know that human is center of all activities, an organization which wants to be strong need talented people In order to keep developing, TNN must constantly raise the level of the workforce Professional qualification comes first; although each employee has to improve knowledge him/herself, learn more about his/her major, the role of company in training section is undeniable Company needs to organize training sessions about foreign trade, international payments, customer communication, and international law more often for employees; perform motto of combination between short-term and long-term training In the recruitment, company need to be serious, objective to select young, enthusiastic and talented candidates Annually, company should hold examinations about professions, especially foreign language, so that all employees have to keep learning, not neglect to cultivate knowledge Besides, it is also very important to improve staff’s awareness That is sense of responsibility, creativity in working, sense of saving, protecting company asset In a company selling services, diligence and responsibility in job are crucial because when customers entrust forwarders with their cargoes, they must be ensured that cargoes will be safe Moreover, the raise of awareness helps company use ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page 29 Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company effectively technical means to serve production and business activities To that, company needs: - Propaganda to raise the awareness of officials and staff - Make strict rules, clear policy of payoffs - Company leaders must be examples in thrift practice, consciousness and responsibility to work Each department needs to take responsibility for the management of its employees; motivate, support members in work and reshape deviant ideology which is subjective, irresponsibility can influence to the development of company 3.2 Recommendations In the context of severe competition in the field of international freight forwarding, in order to achieve desired outcomes, company has to quickly strengthen organization, innovate operation methods However, the efforts of the company itself is not enough, there need to be supports, concern from government, Ministries and relevant agencies such as Vietnam Forwarders Association, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry to give best facilities for company operations This concern is not just through adequate policies but must be through practical actions such as often go for actual survey in order to understand the difficulties and aspirations of businesses, from that have right direction to help them solve problems The performance of businesses relies a lot on macroeconomic policy of State If government issues clear and accurate policies, it will give facilities for true enterprises to develop In contrast, if policies are rigid and loose, evildoers will make use of to enrich illegally Nowadays, policy mechanisms about maritime forwarding is more and more being completed but still not synchronous and inconsistent, haven’t covered activities arising in reality yet, making firms face many obstacles Therefore, what State should now are: Complete law system ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page 30 Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company Maritime law system in our country is still inadequate, not synchronized; needs to be completed to create a solid base for business activities Until now, in Vietnam there is only Maritime code which is legal basis to control all maritime activities throughout country This code needs to be studied and adjusted to be suitable for integration demand, but not against other codes such as commercial law, or business law However, there are still too strict requests that they interfere with businesses; they must be removed It can be seen that a container can contain many shipments, if separating into containers to ensure prescribed tonnage, transport prices will be doubled Many imported containers no carrier dares to unilaterally break the seals share the load As the current regulations about payload, freight cost increases, causing difficulty for shippers as well as forwarders Therefore, government should remove oversized and overload regulations for container trucks and special circulation license as well According to international rule, container trucks will transport cargoes first then they will deal with procedures so it takes a short time to release cargoes However, it is opposite in our country; besides, the development of freight forwarding depends on the volume of cargoes If shipments are stagnant at port due to above regulations, forwarders will fall in dilemma Government needs to increase the attraction of FDI into freight forwarding Freight forwarding needs facilities and modern equipment to develop, but our country is still poor Therefore the only way is to attract foreign investment to make use of capital recourses and modern technologies; quickly change the face of this industry, catch up other countries in region Learning experience from China, due to policies attracting FDI, its freight forwarding industry has had huge progress In1980s, China started attracting foreign capital in freight forwarding At that time, just a few big foreign forwarding firms were allowed to establish joint ventures with big domestics forwarding companies and export and import entrepreneurs, the majority was just permitted to open representative office This restricted foreign companies’ operations because representative office could not carry out basic forwarding services such as customs clearance or issue bill of lading Since Chine joined WTO (11/12/2001), it began changing regulations about foreign capital into freight forwarding Although foreign ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page 31 Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company companies are bound more in terms of investment forms, investment type, time of operation, they are permitted to buy stock from big forwarding companies in China and participate any business within the law Therefore, China has developed stronger fleet; ports and warehouse are expanded and more modern Vietnam although cannot imitate completely, the strengthening of investment attraction is essential because our fleets are limited, ports are too narrow that mother ships cannot enter; depots and warehouse are small that congestion is common; the scale of forwarding firms is small, working style is not professional yet Reform administrative procedure, create clear regulatory environment Government should complete law system about foreign investment, issue bylaws towards integration trend, suitable with international law and simplify administrative procedure Besides, reduce more profit tax, land rents for projects investing and improving fleets, building port and expanding and modernizing depots, warehouse, vehicle and equipment The government management during and after investment need to create incentives but also must be rigorous in order to protect domestic entrepreneurs’ benefits; prevent foreign companies from making use of incentives to low down price, unfairly compete, causing damage and loss for national budget To make investors reassuring, Vietnam government has to stabilize macroeconomic, fiscal policy; monetary policy must be considered, adjusted so not to jeopardize legitimate interests source of investors Moreover, it is necessary to maintain political stability, safety and social order to ensure the safety of lives, asset; guarantee basic rights for investors For shipping imports and exports, freight rates are mostly influenced by international factors, so government cannot stipulate price Government just can change management mechanism for the price of maritime services For must-done services in Vietnam (shipping agent, towage, hygiene, tally), just perform under price provisions of bilateral agreements (if any), the remaining needs minimum price regulation to avoid price competition between domestic businesses, causing damage to revenue of each company and loss of budget For optional services (material supply, repair), price will be agreed between the parties because if there was regulation, possibilities could happen: price was too low – foreign side would ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page 32 Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company benefit; or price was too high – foreign customers would not business in Vietnam, and of course Vietnam could not make use of this source Price for stevedoring should be regulated with minimum price Domestic entrepreneurs can compete price which is not lower than that level Transshipment loading and unloading rates should not be intervened by government When market is unstable, especially when being affected by global financial markets (bad situation) towards freight forwarding, government must have specific regulations such as: reduce tax to priority national fleet, reduce freight rate for forwarding companies Also be aware that, State has had the sanctions for businesses and shipping line so must strengthen inspection, monitor in order to ensure those sanctions are taken place under law Simplification and harmonization of related documents and procedures Nowadays, Vietnam is in the process of integration to global economy; our country has been member of APEC, ASEAN, AFTA, and WTO Therefore, we have to take responsibilities of a member participating specialized organizations, conventions and international treaties Accordingly, urgent requirement today is to simplify customs procedures, improve procedures for import and export management in order to be suitable for international practices, contributing to promote economic exchanges, especially in forwarding section Vietnam has been implementing one-door mechanism for a long time in order to simplify administrative procedure This mechanism should continue in import and export field Customs paperwork as well as other documents needs to be strict, clear but have to be fast, remove the cumbersome, and avoid harassment for forwarders Enhance the role of Vietnam Freight Forwarders Association Associations should play a proactive role in helping members expand service, improve operations Maybe it can contact with foreign associations to ask for training the new fields such as Logistics, or it can mobilize businesses working together For each new service that requires ingenious professional skill, ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page 33 Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company sophisticated organization, VIFFAS has to pay a lot of effort to boost our forwarding industry CONCLUSION In the current period, the foreign trade between Vietnam and other countries is more and more developing In the future, it will strongly increase In the situation of high demand, the advent of forwarding and logistics companies has contributed to improve problems entrepreneurs and businesses encounter during operation process In Vietnam, logistics has been appeared for a long time but still at low level of development, not commensurate with the potential of our country's sea The profession of import and export forwarding is quite complicated and has different stages Therefore, it requires forwarders to only master professional knowledge apply exactly in procedures but also have to be flexible, dealing with situations quickly and effectively Besides, they need to coordinate smoothly TNN Logistics Joint Stock Company just had a decade of experience but with constant effort from board of managers and employees, company has been developing quickly and service quality is being increased During the internship, I ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page 34 Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company have learned about some processes of company, had actual contact with job under the monitor of company’s employees Because of this, I’ve acquired a lot of valuable knowledge to prepare before graduation Nowadays, Vietnam is conducting to innovate and build more ports; expand some port operations and construct transport system Businesses are also actively improving and renewing themselves This promises to bring many opportunities and successes for freight forwarding market LIST OF REFERENCE Associate Professor, Ph.D Nguyen Hong Dam (2005), Transport and logistics in foreign trade, Political Theory publisher, Ha Noi Associate Professor, Ph.D Dinh Ngoc Vien (2006), International Freight Forwarding, Traffic and transport publisher, Ha Noi ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page 35 ... Page Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company CHAPTER 3: RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE FREIGHT FORWARDING PROCEDURE FOR IMPORTED. .. Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock Company CHAPTER 2: THE FREIGHT FORWARDING PROCEDURE FOR IMPORTED GOODS 2.1 Introduction about company. .. factors affect freight forwarding activities of imported goods ii Ngô Quốc Việt GMA 02 Page Recommendation to improve freight forwarding procedure for imported goods in TNN Logistics Joints Stock