Charging Information and Noticeable Problems to be Provided to Ports by Shipping Agents

In order to settle port charges in time, the shipping agent company shall provide the following information to the port accounting department in time:

The tonnage of the ship, the object of payment (mainly the loading and unloading of the cargo, the labor cost of the cargo lifter, etc.), the manifest and the loading plan of the cargo, etc.

The information provided above should be as follows:

Accurate. All kinds of data should be accurate, so as to avoid the phenomenon of false receipt and omission. If there are errors, they should be contacted in time and corrected by formal contact form.

Timely. All kinds of fee collection materials shall be provided to the accounting department of the harbour authority in writing at the latest on the day of arrival of the ship, otherwise all the fees shall be settled with the agency company.

Problems Existing in China's International Freight Forwarding Industry

The development of freight forwarding industry worldwide is not balanced. The international freight forwarding industry in developed countries has a relatively high level of development and a relatively perfect system. Most of the international freight forwarding companies are large-scale, network is relatively sound and personnel quality is high, which controls the world international freight forwarding service market. The development of international freight forwarding industry in developing countries is relatively slow, and the system is not perfect. Most of the international freight forwarding companies are small in scale, with fewer service outlets, lack of training for personnel, mainly in their own business, and have poor market competitiveness. There are some problems in China's international freight forwarding industry.

2.1 The strategic orientation is not clear and the development plan is lacking.
At present, the global freight forwarding industry is changing to the modern logistics industry. In order to realize this transformation, we must grasp the market changes according to our own conditions, constantly tap the potential, and develop different levels of logistics value-added services. In this situation, most of the small and medium-sized freight forwarders in China still lag behind in their management concepts, provide simple and small-scale services, provide a single mode of service, do not actively segment the market, do not study market changes, and do not make market positioning and formulate enterprise development strategies based on customer demand psychology, which has been at a low level. Business status, can not provide customers with personalized logistics solutions, let alone the organizational capacity of the supply chain.

2.2 Lack of core competitiveness and unreasonable profitability
From the point of view of source structure, domestic freight forwarding enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, are mainly engaged in export prepaid goods. Their marketing means are mainly to compete with low freight rates and social relations, while the designated FOB (Free on Board) goods, which have exceeded 80% of China's foreign trade, are mainly transnational freight forwarders with global network advantages. Owing to the lack of overseas agent network factors, it is often unable to do so. At present, small and medium-sized freight forwarding enterprises rely too much on carriers in terms of freight rates and cabin space, with earning price difference and booking Commission as their main sources of income. Enterprises neglect the subdivision of market demand, resulting in strong substitutability, poor customer stability, low degree of specialized service and low market competitiveness of small and medium freight forwarding business.

2.3. Poor supporting infrastructure and lack of professionals
Because freight forwarders belong to the service industry, there is basically no industry barrier and the market entry threshold is low. Many freight forwarding companies in our country are small in scale. The so-called informationization of enterprises often only use e-mail, instant messaging software and office software to produce simple forms and documents. However, the ability of collecting, storing, managing and utilizing information by computer is weak, which fails to form their own core advantages.

In addition, an important factor restricting the slow development of freight forwarding companies is the lack of professionals. Although the training of freight forwarder qualification certificate is developing continuously, the practitioners still can not meet the actual needs. According to statistics, there are about 300,000 freight forwarders in China, but few of them have been formally trained, which seriously affects the competitiveness of China's international freight forwarding industry.

2.4. The market order is not standardized and the legitimate freight forwarders are frustrated

Strictly speaking, freight forwarders without the approval certificate of international freight forwarding qualification issued by MOFTEC are illegal freight forwarders, but there are still many illegal freight forwarders in our country. These illegal freight forwarders often compete for the source of goods, and they will not hesitate to lower the freight rate, give rebates and compete unfairly with some small and sporadic customers. They can cater to the needs of some shippers and survive for a long time, which makes the competition of freight forwarding market more intense and the survival space of legitimate freight forwarding enterprises smaller and smaller.

Problems and Countermeasures of Developing International Logistics in China


Since the reform and opening up, China's foreign trade has made rapid development. The total import and export volume has increased from 20.64 billion US dollars in 1978 to 1422.22 billion US dollars in 2005. Its ranking in world trade has risen from 32nd in 1978 to 3rd in 2005. It has become the third largest import market in the world and the largest import market in Asia. In 2005, the cargo throughput of Shanghai Port reached 443 million tons, becoming the world's largest cargo port, with container throughput of 18.1 million TEU; the cargo throughput of Shenzhen Port reached 153 million tons and container throughput reached 15.66 million TEU. The rapid growth of foreign trade has become an important driving force for China's economic development.


As the basic link of the international value chain of goods, international logistics is not only the guarantee for the realization of international business activities, but also brings new value added to international trade, and becomes the "third source of profit" under the background of globalization. According to estimates, the logistics cost in China currently accounts for about 20% of GDP, while that in developed countries only accounts for about 10% of GDP. The latest figures from the US business community show that logistics costs account for 36% of the value of goods, while the proportion of Chinese goods is expected to be higher. Thus, the potential and gap of China's logistics industry (including international logistics industry, of course) can be seen.


The Development Countermeasure of Promoting Our Country's International Logistics Competitiveness


(1) Improving the management system conducive to the development of international logistics enterprises
Firstly, we should clarify the functions of government management. The main functions of the government are to formulate plans and relevant policies, regulate various market players and ensure the healthy development of the industry. Secondly, the establishment of modern logistics industry comprehensive coordination management institutions. Its main functions are to formulate development plans and relevant government regulations, and to determine and coordinate major issues in the development of logistics industry. Thirdly, we should accelerate the construction and improvement of the International Logistics Association. Its main functions are to provide guidance and services for enterprises, coordinate internal relations, strengthen industry self-discipline and promote fair competition. Finally, establish and improve the international logistics industry policy and regulatory system. Clean up and improve the existing logistics policies and regulations, and formulate new policies and regulations in accordance with the needs of the development of international logistics industry.


(2) Accelerating the Training of International Logistics Talents
In the final analysis, the competition of enterprises is the competition of talents. At present, the lack of talents has increasingly become a bottleneck restricting the development of China's international logistics industry. The international logistics industry needs compound talents. The better way to solve the shortage of international logistics talents is to combine introduction with training. One is to introduce international logistics concepts, management modes and competition mechanisms to absorb excellent logistics management talents. Second, we should adopt a variety of training methods to establish a strong international logistics talent support system. Emphasis is placed on the training of senior management personnel, professional and technical personnel and professional managers. We should not only organize short-term training and on-the-job training, but also do a good job in the overall training and basic education of the system. Train professionals who are engaged in logistics theory research and practice, understand e-commerce theory and practice, know IT technology and e-commerce, and know customs declaration, inspection, transportation, insurance and international trade settlement.


(3) Promoting the process of standardization and informatization
Informationization is the soul of modernization. Without informationization, there will be no logistics modernization. Logistics informationization relies on logistics standardization to strengthen the organization and coordination of standardization. On the basis of in-depth study of various national and industrial standards related to logistics activities, the current standards are sorted out in an all-round way. We will speed up the formulation of technical standards for logistics infrastructure, technical equipment, management processes and information networks, and promote the formation of a coordinated and unified standardization system for modern logistics technology as soon as possible, in line with international standards. We will encourage the construction of public network information platforms and support industrial and commercial enterprises to adopt technologies such as the Internet to share resources, share data and exchange information. Promote the application of intelligent transportation system, accelerate the construction of national and regional logistics information platform, and optimize supply chain management.

(4) Accelerating the International Logistics Industry
Infrastructure investment and construction infrastructure investment and construction is an important part of China's international logistics industry planning, mainly the construction and guarantee of international logistics freight transport channels. At present, maritime transport is the main mode and channel of China's foreign trade transportation, more than 80%, so we should focus on the construction of ports and fleets. We should not only pay attention to containerization, but also consider the transportation of large quantities of goods such as oil, coal, ore, grain and so on. Some of the international logistics infrastructure construction investments are huge, such as the purchase and construction of ships, cargo aircraft, yards, freight stations, railways, highways, pipelines, etc. We should learn from the practices of foreign developed countries such as "government establishment, enterprise management". The state actively increases support and investment in the construction of logistics infrastructure, which is conducive to stimulating domestic production demand, and also provides hardware guarantee for expanding international trade and international logistics market.

(5) Implementing Intensive Management and Innovating Logistics Services

Establish a national chess game idea, integrate logistics enterprises, encourage strong and strong alliances, especially in the economic center cities to create a number of large logistics enterprises with market competitiveness, reasonable scale of operation, high level of technical equipment and management. Basically, an efficient regional logistics network based on cities and adapted to the level of regional economic development has been formed. Several international intermodal transport systems centered on important coastal cities have been further improved to meet the needs of China's opening up to the outside world and the development of import and export trade.


As the third industry of logistics, service innovation is particularly important. Therefore, it is necessary for logistics enterprises to use modern science and technology to provide customers with a long-term, professional, integrated and efficient logistics services, that is, logistics services should have the characteristics of integration and integration. In addition, logistics services should be personalized to meet the needs of personalized consumption and personalized services.


Problems that Freight Forwarders Should Pay Attention to

(1) Railway freight can be divided into vehicle, part-load and container. If the weight, volume or shape of a batch of goods requires more than one train, they shall be transported by the whole vehicle; if the conditions for the whole vehicle are not enough, they shall be transported by the partial load; if the conditions for the container transportation are met, they may be transported by the container. The minimum volume of a piece of goods consigned according to the partial load shall not be less than 0.02 cubic meters (except for a piece weighing more than 10 kilograms), and no more than 300 pieces per batch.

(2) Railway freight must be transported in a consignment of goods by consignor, consignee and departure station, with the same arrival and loading and unloading place (except for the whole vehicle unloading cargo). The whole cargo is in batches. The goods of straddling, climbing and using cruise cars are in batches. Each cargo waybill shall be used as a batch for the goods transported separately or in containers. For goods transported in containers, each batch must be of the same box type, at least one box, and at most not exceed the number of boxes that can be transported by a railway freight car.
(3) When the shipper or the consignee's representative or the authorized agent handles the consignment of goods, collects, alters or fulfils other rights and obligations, he shall submit a letter of attorney or a letter of introduction certifying the entrustment to the station.
(4) For the consignment of goods transported by any railway, a contract for goods shall be signed with the carrier.
(5) The station accepts the goods according to the approved requisition plan and purchase plan. For emergency and disaster relief materials, materials directly used for agricultural production, fresh goods, artistic performances, moving goods and other materials that need urgent transportation should be given priority. Accompanied receipt business also includes part-load.
(6) When the shipper delivers the goods to the carrier, it shall submit to the station a copy of the freight waybill in batches. The shipper shall submit a list of goods in triplicate if there are too many names of the consigned goods to be filled in or shipped one by one in the bill of lading or if there are more than two kinds of goods in the same package. The shipper shall be fully responsible for the authenticity of the items entered in the cargo waybill and the list of goods, and shall pay liquidated damages in accordance with the provisions in case of anonymity, misrepresentation of the name of the goods and weight.
(7) When consigning perishable goods and "short-life" radioactive goods, the allowable period of transportation of the goods shall be specified. The allowable period of transportation is only less than three days after the arrival of the goods.
(8) When consigning goods, the shipper shall use transport packages that meet the requirements of transportation and are convenient for handling and ensuring the safety of the goods in accordance with the nature, weight, type of transport, distance of transport, climate and loading of the goods on trucks. If there is no uniform stipulation on packing standards, the station shall, together with the shipper, study and formulate provisional standards for packing goods for transport and jointly implement them.
(9) The shipper shall mark each piece of cargo clearly and clearly (the cargo label). Checked baggage and removal goods shall be marked (label) inside the package in addition to labels or writing marks made of tough materials such as cloth, wood and metal.
(10) Railway freight is carried by number of pieces and weight.
(11) Railway freight charges shall be calculated in accordance with the provisions of the Rules for the Freight of Railway Goods. The shipper shall pay the cost on the date of shipment at the dispatch station. The shipper or consignee shall pay the carrier the stipulated freight and miscellaneous charges for late delivery of transport costs.