Major international business economics EXPORT PROCEDURE FOR SEAWAY SHIPMENT AT BLUE SEA TRANSPORTATION – TRADING CO , LTD

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY CAMPUS ------ MID-COURSE INTERNSHIP REPORT Major: International Business Economics EXPORT PROCEDURE FOR SEAWAY SHIPMENT AT BLUE SEA TRANSP

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

HO CHI MINH CITY CAMPUS

- -

MID-COURSE INTERNSHIP REPORT

Major: International Business Economics

EXPORT PROCEDURE FOR SEAWAY SHIPMENT AT BLUE SEA TRANSPORTATION – TRADING CO., LTD

Student: Dao Nguyen Hanh Nguyen Student ID: 1701015548

Class: K56CLC4 Supervisor: Vuong Thi Bich Nga

Ho Chi Minh City, August 2020

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

HO CHI MINH CITY CAMPUS

- -

MID-COURSE INTERNSHIP REPORT

Major: International Business Economics

EXPORT PROCEDURE FOR SEAWAY SHIPMENT AT BLUE SEA TRANSPORTATION – TRADING CO., LTD

Student: Dao Nguyen Hanh Nguyen Student ID: 1701015548

Class: K56CLC4 Supervisor: Vuong Thi Bich Nga

Ho Chi Minh City, August 2020

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

HO CHI MINH CITY CAMPUS

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM Independence - Freedom - Happiness

MIDTERM PROFESSIONAL REPORT REMARKS

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Note: This evaluation remark is enclosed with the report, right after the cover page The

student must give this form to the supervisor for comments and scoring of his/her morale, attitude, and diligence and submit the report in accordance with the relevant notice

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my sincere gratefulness to Mr Nguyen Thanh Tuan - Director

of Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Co., Ltd, Mr Nguyen Tuan Anh - Sales Manager, and all staff members in Blue Sea for their enthusiastic support during my internship Especially, I would like to show my deep gratitude to Mrs.Vuong Thi Bich Nga Without her conscientious guidance, this report could have not been completed Finally, I would like to present a thankful attitude to her school – Foreign Trade University and all the teachers who have conveyed invaluable knowledge as a foundation for her to complete this report

Ho Chi Minh City, August 2020

Dao Nguyen Hanh Nguyen

Table of contents

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

PREFACE 1

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION OF BLUE SEA TRANSPORTATION – TRADING CO., LTD AND INTERNSHIP SUMMARY 2

1.1 General information, brief history, and development of Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Co., Ltd 2

1.2 Functions, missions, organizational structure and personnel structure 3

1.2.1 Functions 3

1.2.2 Vision, missions and values 4

1.2.3 Organizational structure 4

1.2.4 Personnel structure 6

1.3 Current business performance of Blue Sea Transportation from 2017 to 2020… 8

1.4 Internship period summary 10

1.5 Conclusion of chapter 1 11

CHAPTER 2 EXPORT PROCEDURE FOR SEAWAY SHIPMENT AT BLUE SEA TRANSPORTATION – TRADING CO., LTD 12

2.1 Process of exporting goods by sea at Blue Sea Transportation - Trading 12

2.1.1 General process of exporting goods by sea 12

2.1.2 Detailed process of exporting seaway LCL wooden handicraft baskets at Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Co, Ltd 17

2.1.3 Strengths and weaknesses of Blue Sea’s export procedure 20

2.1.4 Strengths 20

2.1.5 Weaknesses 21

2.2 Conclusion of chapter 2 22

CHAPTER 3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING THE PROCESS

OF EXPORTING GOODS BY SEA AT BLUE SEA TRANSPORTATION –

TRADING CO., LTD 23

3.1 Recommendations and implement schedule 23

3.1.1 Develop strategy of attracting new customers and improving customer services… 23

3.1.2 Provide consolidation service 24

3.1.3 Expand network of agents 25

3.1.4 Implementation schedule 25

3.2 Personal lessons and experience 26

3.3 Conclusion of chapter 3 27

Conclusion 28 BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANNEXES

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ERP Enterprise Resource Planning

VLA Vietnam Logistics Association CPTPP Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement

for Trans-Pacific Partnership

EVFTA European-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement

LIST OF FIGURES

2 Figure 1.2 Blue Sea’s operational organization

structure

5

3 Figure 1.3 Blue Sea's business outcomes 2019 -

6M2020 and estimated 2020 (billion VND)

9

4 Figure 2.1: Process of exporting goods by sea at

Blue Sea

11

LIST OF TABLES

1 Table 1.1: Brief information of Blue Sea

Transportation – Trading Co., Ltd

2

2 Table 1.2: Blue Sea’s personnel structure 6

3 Table 1.3: Blue Sea’s business outcomes from

2017 to 2019

8

4 Table 3.1: Implementation plan for solution to

improve the conduct of export procedure at Blue Sea

24

PREFACE

Vietnam is expected to witness very robust growth in international commercial activities in the coming years, which will support the continued development and expansion of the logistics industry At the present, the logistics service is among the fastest-growing industry, accounts for 15-20% of GDP in Vietnam

Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Co., Ltd is a forwarding company with 15 years

of working in the Logistics industry During the period of development, Blue Sea has gradually improved the business process and organizational structure in order to meet all strict requirements from customers

With the orientation of self-improvement in the field of logistic, the author had a great opportunity to practice at Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Co., Ltd Based on the author’s inherent knowledge along with her observation, experience, and learning at the company, the author decided to choose the topic: “Export procedure for seaway shipment at Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Co., Ltd” for her mid-course report This report consists of three main parts:

Chapter 1: Introduction of Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Co., Ltd and internship summary

Chapter 2: Export procedure for seaway shipment at Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Co., Ltd

Chapter 3: Recommendations for improving the process of exporting goods by sea at Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Co., Ltd

Despite many efforts, due to limited time and knowledge, the report could not avoid the drawbacks and deficiencies Thus, the author would highly appreciate any constructive comments that can help improve it

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION OF BLUE SEA TRANSPORTATION – TRADING CO.,LTD AND INTERNSHIP SUMMARY

1.1 General information, brief history, and development of Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Co., Ltd

Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Co., Ltd is a trading forwarder providing international delivery and transportation services It was formed on October 10th,

2005, under the business code of 0309381590 The Company came into operation on October 27th, 2005, with the initial capital of 5,000,000,000 VND

Table 1.1: Brief information of Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Co., Ltd Name of organization Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Limited Liability

Head Office 11 Phu Giao , Ward 14, District 5, HCMC, Vietnam

Transaction Branch 49 Le Trung Nghia, Ward 12, Tan Binh District,

Legal representative Thanh Tuan Nguyen

at 03 Le Thanh Tong, Ngo Quyen District, Hai Phong City, nearby Hai Phong Port After 15 years of formation and development, Blue Sea has gradually improved the business process and organizational structure Such improvement allows the Company to utilize its best comparative advantage – well-trained, experienced, and qualified staffs Moreover, the Company has also developed an information system with all of its global agents, which helps to follow the shipment schedule and solve any problems that might arise Therefore, the Company is committed to provide the best services and meet strict requirements from customers

1.2 Functions, missions, organizational structure and personnel structure

 Entrusted import and export service

 Customs declaration and other export, import documental services

 Bonded warehouse rental and related logistics services

 Domestic transportation

Trading services:

 Import: raw material, industrial machine, wine, etc

 Export: furniture, article of iron, steel, ceramic, etc

 Sourcing agent for foreign companies

1.2.2 Vision, missions and values

Vision: Become one of the leading Vietnamese forwarders

Mission: “Provide best logistic solutions and meet all strict requirement from our

Figure 1.2 Blue Sea’s operational organization structure

(Source: author’s synthesis)

Director: managing all departments in the Company; acting as the representative and

taking responsibility under the law; controlling the conduct of strategy and business plan and the performance of the Company; signing contracts

Sales Department: is responsible for searching for customers, conducting market

research; consulting, negotiating with customers and drafting contracts for the best of both sides; developing long-term relationships with customers, shipping lines and other partners

Document Department: is responsible for preparing all required documents for

customers; consulting customers for any issue related with import, export procedure;

storing customer records; keeping informed with the domestic and international

trading environment, news, constitutional regulations, decrees, circulars, legal documents, etc related to the field of import and export

Logistics Department: following the consignment during the delivery; receiving

and delivering goods from customers' warehouse to the port or vice versa as in the contract; customs clearance; managing packaging and wrapping and crating of goods

if required; handing over the consignment to carrier and get the necessary documents; keeping informed with the domestic and international trading environment, news, constitutional regulations, decrees, circulars, legal documents, etc related to the field

of import and export

Logistic Department

Customer Department

Sales Depatment Inland Overseas

Overseas Department

Accounting Department: is in charge of financial control of the Company:

preparing periodical reports, quarterly and yearly financial statements; recording and managing the use of the Company’s capitals and assets; tracking and managing costs, debts and financial liabilities; managing the deduction of amounts payable to the State, storing and preserving confidential document; keeping informed with the domestic and international trading environment, news, constitutional regulations, decrees, circulars, legal documents, etc related to the field of import and export

Customer Department: is in charge of developing and maintaining long-term

relationships with customers; improving the customer searching process of the Company

Overseas Department: working with foreign agents to execute contracts or required

procedures; keeping informed with the domestic and international trading environment, news, constitutional regulations, decrees, circulars, legal documents, etc related to the field of import and export

1.2.4 Personnel structure

Table 1.2: Blue Sea’s personnel structure

Department Number

of employees

Education Sex Average age

Male Female Male Female

and college

Document 3 University

and college

Accounting 2 University 1 1 27 24

Logistics 2 University

and college

Customer 2 University

and college

In terms of gender, the number of men outweighs that of women Those departments with the majority of employees are female are Document Department and Customer Department In comparison, Sales Department and Logistics Department are predominantly male

In terms of age, the Company has a young workforce Except for Director, all employees are aged under 30 The average age of male employees is 29, and that of female employees is 26

In terms of education, the Company has a high-quality workforce All employees have graduated from College or University and are well-trained in Logistics As the nature of work requires communicating with foreign customers and partners, all employees have at least basic English skills

Blue Sea provides periodic Training and Developing program that is specialized for each position so as all employees have the best condition for developing themselves and contribute to the success of the Company

1.3 Current business performance of Blue Sea Transportation from 2017 to

In terms of cost: 2007’s cost of 2,142 billion VND increased by 13.7% into 2,437 billion VND in 2008 2009 observed a remarkable increase for 18.75% into 2,894 billion VND

In terms of profit after tax: following the same upward trend, the profit after tax grew

by 10.08%, from 377 billion VND in 2017 to 415 billion VND in 2019 It reached

450 billion VND at the end of 2019

Overall, the Company was having a steady growth as revenue and profit continued to rise during the given period Such development can be explained by a variety of reasons Firstly, Logistics service in Vietnam experiences remarkable growth in recent years With the successful signing of Free Trade Agreements and the gradual improvement of infrastructure, forwarding companies have more growth opportunities in the Vietnamese market Second is the great effort of Blue Sea to improve its service quality and working process In 2019, the Company invested in establishing its own fleet of vehicles to facilitate its inland transportation services

(Source: Blue Sea’s financial statements, 2019 – 2020) Figure 1.3 compares the performance of Blue Sea in the first six months between

2019 and 2020, and thereby, provides estimated data for 2020

3,624 1,375

1,586

4,180

2,402 920

1,108

2,894

430 172 180 450

Blue Sea’s business outcomes are seasonal The Company usually receives the most valuable orders in the last quarter of a fiscal year because the time before Lunar New Year is when the market is most bustling In detail, the first six months of 2019 attained 1,586 billion VND in revenue, accounted for only 38% of 2019’s revenue

2020 has been and will be a tough time for Blue Sea due to the Covid19 According

to the performance of Blue Sea from 2017 to 2019, the Company has been having a steady growth, as the revenue growth rate was at 17.25% in 2019 However, not only does it not follow the upward trend, the Company’s performance in the first six months of 2020 witnessed a drop In detail, the revenue and profit after tax in the first six months of 2020 declined by 13% (equivalent to 211 billion VND) and 4% (equivalent to 8 billion VND), respectively, compared to the same period of 2019 It also can be seen from the chart that the Company put a great effort into controlling costs during a difficult time to minimize the loss of profit

With the forecast that the pandemic situation is likely to continue until the end of

2020, and based on the data of 2019, Blue Sea’s business outcomes are estimated at 3,624 billion VND in revenue, 2,402 billion VND in cost and 430 billion VND in profit after tax

1.4 Internship period summary

The author’s internship lasted for ten weeks, started on June 1 and ended on August

7, 2020 Working in Sales Department, the author had opportunities to be exposed to

a variety of tasks, including:

 Generate, arrange and update databases of customers, shipping lines, global agencies, local charges, etc

 Send inquiries to shipping lines and offers to customers

 Contact to potential customers via email, phone

 Rewrite and translate to English some professional documents

 Research for freight rates and schedule for customers

The author received guidance and training from Mr Nguyen Tuan Anh, Sales Manager at Blue Sea At the end of the internship, the author had a great opportunity

to support Logistics Department receiving a shipment from a customer’s warehouse Details of the internship at Blue Sea are attached in “Internship diary” in the annexes below

1.5 Conclusion of chapter 1

To conclude, chapter 1 provides some general information about Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Co., Ltd and summarizes the author’s 10-week internship With 15 years of experience as a professional forwarding company, Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Co., Ltd is gradually improving itself and raising service quality to provide the best value to customers Thus, positive business performance resulted from the great effort of the entire company Working and learning in such a professional environment as in Blue Sea, the author has received a lot of lessons and experience, which are valuable for not only her study at Foreign Trade University, but also her future career

The next chapter will illustrate the process of exporting goods at Blue Sea Transportation – Trading Co, Ltd

CHAPTER 2 EXPORT PROCEDURE FOR SEAWAY SHIPMENT AT

BLUE SEA TRANSPORTATION – TRADING CO., LTD

2.1 Process of exporting goods by sea at Blue Sea Transportation - Trading

2.1.1 General process of exporting goods by sea

Figure 2.1: Process of exporting goods by sea at Blue Sea

(Source: author’s synthesis)

Step 1: Searching for new customers:

Blue Sea's orders come from two main sources: one is long-term loyal customers, and the other is new customers Sales Department is in charge of searching for potential customers and maintain long-term relationships with current customers According

to Mr Tuan Anh – Sales Manager, new customers bring approximately 35% of the Company's orders

Sales Department approaches sources of potential customers using three main channels Firstly, Sales employees search for customer contacts on the Internet and online forums After having customer contact, Sales employees will send emails and call to discuss directly with customers Secondly, a new customer may contact

1 • Searching for new customers

2 • Signing contract, receiving customer records

3 • Preparing, checking, packing deliver cargo to the port

4 • Customs clearance

5 • Handing over cargo to the carier

6 • Issuing House Bill of Lading

7 • Sending documents to agent and liquidating contract

directly to the Company via its website, email, or social media Thirdly, Sales employees join some trade fairs and offline forums about exporting agricultural products and seafood to meet potential customers

Upon the receipt of the customer's inquiry, if the consignment is FCL, Sales department will send an inquiry by email or call directly to a list of carriers providing general information: commodity, ETD, quantity, port of loading, port of discharge

A sales employee needs to negotiate with carriers and customers to offer the customer the best freight and ensure benefit for the Company

In case of LCL consignment, Sales employee contacts a list of consolidators to deal freight rate with similar information

Step 2: Signing contract, receiving customer records:

After a successful negotiation, the Company and customer enter into a contract The entrusted export contract is to be signed by legal representations of both sides at one side's office The content of an entrusted export contract is including:

 Contract number

 Date and place

 Name and address of parties

 Terms and conditions

Sales Department then receives Booking records from the customer and bases on it

to send a Booking Request to the carrier or consolidator Customer's Booking often includes:

 Name of shipper

 Port of loading

 Port of discharge

 Types of container