AUSTRALIA-VIETNAM SKILLS COLLABORATION WEBINAR Freight Forwarders and Customs Brokers

On 29 October 2020, Aus4Skills in collaboration with Vietnam Logistic Association (VLA), industry and VET organisations from Australia and Vietnam, hosted a webinar on freight forwarding/customs brokerage services.

(left to right) Mr. Vu Ninh, Assoc. Prof. Ho Thi Thu Hoa, Mr. Dang Vu Thanh at the webinar. 

The two-day webinar was divided into two sessions. It aimed to help participants and stakeholders identify trends and challenges in the field of freight forwarding/customs brokerage.

The event brought together leading organisations and key stakeholders operating in freight forwarding/customs brokerage business and human resources development. The objective was to identify trends, issues and challenges in freight forwarding, customs brokerage, and trade facilitation; raise awareness about best practices; introduce and highlight the benefits of the industry-led approach in skilling the workforce; promote industry and workforce skills collaboration.

Attending the webinar were Mr. Dang Vu Thanh, Head of Customs and Trade Facilitations – VLA; Mr. Vu Ninh, Head of LIRC; Assoc. Prof. Ho Thi Thu Hoa, Director, VN Logistics Research and Development Institute (VLI); Mr. Paul Damkjaer, CEO – IFCBAA, … Other online participants were from customs brokerage agents, trade promotion, freight forwarding agents in Australia and Vietnam.

Speech by Mr. Paul Damkjaer, CEO – IFCBAA 

Speaking about the current situation of freight forwarding and customs brokerage in Australia, Mr. Paul Damkjaer, CEO – IFCBAA commented: “In the context of COVID-19 pandemic, digital systems have become more important. However, they have not been handled in a synchronized manner, leading to negative impacts on imports and exports. Australia had never faced such problem before, even during the economic crises.” 

Regarding human resources in freight forwarding and customs brokerage business, Mr. Vu Ninh, Head of LIRC, shared: “A young, inexperienced officer will find it difficult to work as a customs brokerage agent, because this is a highly compliant type of work, which requires good experiences in laws, goods and international practices”.

It is forecast that freight forwarding and customs brokerage will be a “hot” business in the next 10 years. However, learning and working in this service requires future or current employees to cope with many challenges. To succeed, they are required to be passionate, to endure pressure, be able to deal with risks and difficulties. They should never stop self-studying and improving themselves when pursuing this profession.

Source: VLR