Some Solutions To Enhance The Role And Operational Efficiency Of Vietnamese Freight Forwarders

Information in Logistics activities such as applying EDI, ERP, MRP, GPS programs for network data management activities.

- In particular, China always aims to develop logistics services in depth, always paying attention to and focusing on improving service quality. The goal of Chinese planners is to develop the transportation industry into an important link in logistics services business activities. At the same time, China also sets the goal of meeting all requirements related to express delivery by air.

Also in the World Bank's Logistics Performance Index (LPI), China ranked 30th. This is a great success for a country where Logistics activities have only been formed and developed in the past few decades like China.

3. Thailand's development policy

Thailand is ambitious to become the logistics hub of the ASEAN, Indochina and South Asia regions. To achieve that goal, Thailand is taking a number of measures that Vietnam can learn from as follows:

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- Thailand is focusing on the goal of further reducing logistics costs to GDP. According to statistics, Thailand's logistics costs currently account for about 19% of GDP and are expected to decrease to 16% in the coming years.

- The Royal Thai Government considers the Logistics Development Strategy as one of the key national development programs. Many policies are set to ensure the improvement of national infrastructure capacity to international standards. A typical example is the Kra Canal construction project, a giant project. Thailand's Kra Canal, will be 120km long, wide enough for two ships to pass each other , the canal is expected to be completed within 10 years, using about 30,000 workers and costing from 20 to 30 billion USD. When the canal is completed, Thailand will be independent in moving ships to the provinces.

on two different coasts, without having to pass through the waters of other countries. With this canal, Thailand is expected to replace Malaysia and Singapore as an international transit port in Southeast Asia.

- Thailand has established many associations and training institutes on logistics and supply chain in a very systematic way. Along with that, the country also promotes solutions to create a favorable environment for logistics activities to take place more easily.

III. Some solutions to enhance the role and operational efficiency of Vietnamese freight forwarders

1. Macro solution group

1.1. Complete the legal basis, have policies to support forwarders, improve the operational efficiency of VIFFAS

In recent years, although the State has continuously amended and supplemented laws, decrees, and guidelines to create a legal corridor for the operations of freight forwarders, currently in our country there is still no specialized legal document regulating the legal relationships arising in the business of freight forwarding services. Due to the characteristics of the freight forwarding industry as a type of comprehensive service, during the operation, freight forwarders encounter many difficulties related to the management of many ministries and branches such as transportation, trade, customs, measurement, inspection, etc. Therefore, when there is no unified legal document, it is easy to cause difficulties and the resolution involves many parties, causing many troubles and wasting time. The State needs to soon issue sub-law documents addressing specific issues. These documents, together with the law, serve as a legal basis for entities to conduct business activities and resolve arising problems.

In addition to issuing specialized legal documents, it is also necessary to amend existing legal documents to suit the practical situation and international law. State management agencies need to conduct research on practical activities.

business activities at current freight forwarding enterprises to know the difficulties and obstacles that companies are facing in order to have measures to overcome and support businesses so that business activities run smoothly. Thus, in order to build a legal system suitable for reality, the authorities need to have a practical understanding, carefully study international law to apply to reality in Vietnam to promote the integration and development process, along with that, there must be exchanges with businesses and representative associations to ensure feasibility after the law is promulgated. The work of law making must be changed in the direction of improving the quality of the legal system to create synchronous, stable and feasible legal documents.

Along with perfecting the legal basis, the State also needs to have policies to support and assist the operations of Vietnamese freight forwarding enterprises. Currently, our country's freight forwarding industry is facing fierce competition from foreign freight forwarding enterprises. The mechanism of opening the economy has attracted many large freight forwarding companies in the world to do business in Vietnam. Compared to these famous companies, our country's freight forwarding companies are still very small and inexperienced. Currently, there is a phenomenon of our country's freight forwarding companies being disadvantaged right on their "home turf", so it is necessary to have support policies from the State. Our State needs to have policies to support import and export activities to create a premise for the development of freight forwarders, and should change the tax calculation price according to the strategy of orienting customers to use products and services provided by domestic freight forwarding companies. Especially in the integration process, it is necessary to negotiate with countries to gain special incentives such as MFN, NT, operating licenses, market opening, etc. to increase import and export turnover. There are preferential policies on corporate income tax when freight forwarding companies invest according to the state's development plan. Through banks, the State should have policies

Support loans for businesses providing delivery services, reduce interest rates, increase loan amounts, remove procedures and barriers...

Enhancing the role of VIFFAS: In order to enhance its role, worthy of representing businesses operating in the field of freight forwarding in Vietnam, VIFFAS needs to:

- Better perform the function of bridging between member enterprises and state management agencies, promptly reflect the legitimate requests and aspirations of members to relevant management agencies, better perform the role of representative and protect the legitimate rights and interests of members.

- Act as a focal point to promote cooperation, enhance information exchange among members, between members and the Association, and prevent unfair competition among members.

- Research to contribute opinions to policy development and drafting of laws related to the profession when requested. For the Association to perform this task well, members need to play an active role in informing the Association because members are the ones who are subject to the regulation of these policies and legal documents.

- Strengthen cooperation with FIATA, AFFA, IATA to carry out the task of organizing human resource training for members. Strengthen cooperation with regional and international peer organizations to develop Vietnam's freight forwarding - warehousing and logistics services to meet the requirements of economic development in general and trade development in particular of the country.

1.2. Increase investment and development of technical infrastructure system

Through the analysis of the current status of the technical infrastructure system serving the operations of freight forwarders, we can see that our government should focus on investing and developing more infrastructure to meet current demands.

Because import and export activities by sea play an extremely important role in the operations of businesses in the field of freight forwarding, investment in technical facilities for the seaport system, fleet, and warehouses is very necessary. The government should plan to upgrade existing seaports and invest in building new seaports in suitable locations. In addition, it is also necessary to build transshipment ports and deep-water ports to attract transit goods, focusing on sea transport along the northern, central, and southern coasts to connect inland seaports with international seaports. Currently, large-tonnage ships have difficulty entering our country's ports because there are no deep-water ports large enough to transship goods to long-distance routes such as Europe and America. In the coming time, the development and construction of a container port system is very necessary because container transport is becoming increasingly popular. The warehouse system and modern equipment for loading and unloading at seaports also need to be upgraded and completed. Due to the weak financial capacity of Vietnamese enterprises, the State also needs to have policies to support enterprises in investing in developing the fleet towards modernization and rejuvenation, with special attention paid to container and dry cargo ships.

Air transport infrastructure also needs to be focused on because in the coming time, along with the general development trend in the world, the amount of goods transported by air will also increase. In order for air transport and delivery activities to be truly effective, in addition to upgrading, expanding, and building new airports, there must also be policies to upgrade the quality of the fleet, and investment in building international airports is also very necessary.

Regarding roads, highways and railways, due attention is also needed. The government needs to invest in building new highways to ensure the load capacity of specialized vehicles, especially container trucks. Developing the system

Railway system, upgrading trains, arranging railway tracks to facilitate the transport of goods by rail.

1.3. Human resource training

To be able to do anything, it must originate from the human factor. The freight forwarder is the one who organizes the transportation process, ensuring that the transportation and delivery of goods takes place smoothly, safely, and at the most cost-effective. This not only requires the freight forwarder to have good professional qualifications, in-depth knowledge of his field, but also geographical knowledge, understanding of domestic and international laws, mastering foreign trade and knowing how to use information and electronic means proficiently. Along with that, they also need to have an understanding of related fields such as maritime, banking, insurance, etc. It can be said that the issue of human resources for the freight forwarding industry is one of the important issues that need the State to pay more attention and support. Currently, in our country, there is no school that trains in the major, the textbooks serving the teaching work in the field of freight forwarding are both lacking and outdated, backward, theoretical and not suitable for real life. Therefore, the State needs to have policies to train high-quality staff for the freight forwarding industry. First of all, it is necessary to expand the scope of training for universities and colleges related to the freight forwarding field. It is necessary to increase enrollment targets at these schools to increase the number of students studying, researching, and receiving professional training. In addition, there should be changes in teaching content to suit the practical work, in line with the changes and development of the freight forwarding industry in the world. It is necessary to create conditions for employees and students to go abroad to study, research and learn about freight forwarding activities in advanced countries to improve their knowledge, which can then be applied to the reality of our country. The State should coordinate with associations to open short-term courses and training classes.

Professional training for current freight forwarding company staff to improve the quality of existing staff at freight forwarding companies.

1.4. Promote administrative reform, review the operations of delivery businesses

* Promote administrative reform:

Currently, our country is in the process of integration into the regional and world economy. However, due to the influence of the previous subsidy regime, administrative activities still have many shortcomings that affect the operation of the freight forwarding industry, an industry closely related to administrative activities. The urgent requirement now is to simplify administrative procedures, improve customs procedures, and manage import and export goods in accordance with international practices and conventions, thereby contributing to promoting international and cultural exchanges between our country and other countries, reducing the risk of falling behind. The operation of freight forwarders is greatly influenced by customs procedures, so it is necessary to innovate customs regulations on licenses, clearly define the responsibilities of customs agents, import and export documents must be in accordance with international practices, and move towards widespread dissemination of electronic customs...

In addition to improving and streamlining the management mechanism, it is also necessary to focus on efficiency and close coordination between sectors and levels to ensure the strictness of the law and fairness in business. The State needs to promote anti-smuggling and anti-corruption activities, creating an equal and clean business environment to help delivery businesses do business and compete healthily.

* Review the operations of freight forwarding businesses:

Currently, there are many delivery businesses nationwide, however, the number of small, fragmented private businesses is very large. The activities of these businesses are opportunistic, using all means to attract customers, showing signs of unfair competition. Besides

That is the ineffective, dependent, and passive operation of some state-owned enterprises, which not only does not bring benefits to the state but also negatively affects the overall development of the delivery industry. From that, it can be seen that the current requirement for state management agencies is to review the operations of delivery enterprises, to set standards and conditions on capital and operations when companies register for business in order to eliminate unqualified companies, ensuring a stable and equal business environment for the development of the entire industry. For ineffective state-owned enterprises, it is necessary to merge, equitize, and replace the leadership apparatus...

2. Micro solution group

2.1. Strengthen market expansion, establish overseas agent system

To be able to operate effectively in a certain market, first of all, businesses need to understand the characteristics of the market, what governs and affects that market. Freight forwarding business is no exception. In the current conditions, the market share of international freight forwarding of domestic freight forwarding businesses still accounts for only a small proportion because the transportation of goods is mostly assigned by foreign freight forwarding companies. To expand their scope of operations, businesses should focus on investing in researching the characteristics of the domestic market, thereby coming up with appropriate business models. In addition to focusing on expanding the scope of business operations in the domestic market, businesses should also move towards expanding their scope to reach the international market. Currently, the business activities of Vietnamese enterprises have begun to expand to foreign markets, but there are still many potential markets that Vietnamese freight forwarding enterprises have not exploited, such as countries in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, etc.

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