Practical Pain Points and Solutions for Offshore Trade and Transit Trade 2026

Analysis of Practical Pain Points for Offshore Trade and Transit Trade

When carrying out offshore and transit businesses in 2026,Shanghai foreign trade enterprises often encounter four core difficulties,which directly affect business efficiency and compliance.

Pain Point 1: Disconnection between document flow and cargo flow leads to obstructed customs declaration and inspection

Pain point performance: Last week,for a Southeast Asian transit trade order handled by Mr.Jiang,the goods were shipped from Vietnam to Singapore,but the place of shipment and destination on the customs declaration form were inconsistent with the information on the bill of lading.Singapore Customs directly detained the goods,delaying the delivery time required by the customer by 3 days.Not only did he pay liquidated damages,but he also almost lost the long-term cooperative customer.In another offshore trade case,the contract provided by the customer of Director Ji had a 0.5-ton weight difference from the packing list.Shanghai Customs required supplementary materials,which led to 10 days of back-and-forth coordination and increased capital occupation cost by nearly 20,000 yuan.

Root cause of pain point: In offshore trade,goods do not pass through Chinese customs territory.Enterprises usually only focus on the matching of contracts and invoices,ignoring the alignment with logistics documents of third countries.In transit trade,goods need to be transited in third countries,and some enterprises are not familiar with the customs declaration specifications of transit countries,resulting in inconsistent information among the bill of lading,packing list and customs declaration form.In addition,some freight forwarders only take charge of basic transportation and do not check the logic of documents,which is prone to information deviation.

Zhongshen solution: For document matching issues,the team led by Director Pei of Zhongshen will confirm the cargo circulation path with the customer before the business starts: for offshore trade,we will connect with overseas logistics providers in advance to synchronize core information of bills of lading and waybills; for transit trade,we will connect with customs declaration agencies in the transit country to sort out document requirements of the transit country (such as the "transit cargo declaration list" required by Singapore).After the documents are prepared,the team will conduct "three-document matching review": that is,check information including place of shipment,destination,cargo name and weight on the contract,bill of lading and packing list one by one.If deviations are found,feedback and adjustment will be made within 24 hours to ensure one-time pass of customs declaration.Last year,a customer engaged in electronic product transit business,after review by Director Pei’s team,had completely consistent information on the customs declaration form and bill of lading.Singapore Customs released the goods on the same day,making the delivery time 2 days ahead of schedule.

Pain Point 2: Restricted foreign exchange receipt,payment and settlement lead to low capital circulation efficiency

Pain point performance: A customer of Manager Yu engaged in offshore trade had the payment remitted to his offshore account in Hong Kong.The customer needed to settle part of the funds into RMB for domestic procurement,but the application was returned by the bank because the capital path between the offshore account and the domestic account did not comply with the "actual demand principle" of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.The foreign exchange settlement was delayed by one week,resulting in failure to pay the domestic supplier on time,and the supplier proposed to terminate cooperation.In another transit trade case,the time difference between the customer’s foreign exchange receipt and payment reached 15 days,and capital occupation increased the financial cost by 1.2%.

Root cause of pain point: The capital flow of offshore trade involves overseas accounts,and some enterprises are insufficient in preparing supporting materials for "trade authenticity" (such as failing to provide complete logistics tracking records and third-party inspection reports).The capital path of transit trade needs to reflect the feature of "both ends outside",but the foreign exchange receipt and payment vouchers of some enterprises do not match the amount and currency specified in the trade contract,leading to failure of bank review.In addition,in 2026,the State Administration of Foreign Exchange has stricter capital monitoring for offshore transit business,and some banks have extended the approval process for such businesses.

Zhongshen solution: For foreign exchange receipt and payment issues,Zhongshen’s foreign exchange team will sort out the capital path in advance: for offshore trade,we will assist customers to prepare "trade authenticity supporting material package",including contracts,invoices,bills of lading,logistics tracking records,third-party inspection reports (if any),and connect with the bank’s foreign exchange specialist to pre-review the materials in advance; for transit trade,we provide "foreign exchange lock service" according to the time difference between foreign exchange receipt and payment to lock the exchange rate and avoid fluctuation losses,while optimizing the rhythm of capital receipt and payment (for orders with payment received before disbursement,we will confirm the loan release conditions with the bank in advance).Last year,a customer engaged in chemical product offshore trade,with the assistance of Zhongshen’s foreign exchange team,had his foreign exchange settlement application approved on the same day,saving 6 days compared with before and improving capital circulation efficiency by 40%.

Pain Point 3: Difficult export tax refund declaration and slow tax refund arrival

Pain point performance: A customer of Director Xiong engaged in transit trade exported goods from China to the UAE and then transited to Iran.The customer mistakenly thought that all transit trade is eligible for tax refund.The declaration was rejected by the tax authority because he could not provide the "certificate of cargo departure" (not issued by the UAE Customs),and the tax refund was delayed by 2 months,increasing the cash flow pressure of the enterprise.In another offshore trade case,the customer’s goods did not pass through Chinese customs territory,but he applied for tax refund incorrectly,and was required by the tax authority to repay the tax and pay a fine.

Root cause of pain point: Some enterprises have wrong understanding of the tax refund policy for offshore and transit trade: in offshore trade,goods do not pass through Chinese customs territory,which does not meet the "departure" requirement for export tax refund; in transit trade,only the part of "goods exported from China to a third country and then transited to other countries" that can provide the "certificate of departure" meets the tax refund conditions.In addition,some enterprises have incomplete tax refund documents (such as lack of customs declaration form of the transit country and logistics tracking records),leading to declaration failure.

Zhongshen solution: For tax refund issues,Zhongshen’s tax refund team will first judge whether the business meets the tax refund conditions before the business starts: for offshore trade,we will directly inform the customer that tax refund is not available; for transit trade,if the conditions are met,we will assist the customer to prepare "tax refund document list" (including export customs declaration form,bill of lading,contract,invoice,customs declaration form of the transit country,logistics tracking record),and connect with the specialist of the tax authority to pre-review the materials in advance.After the declaration,the team will track the progress of tax refund.If there is a problem (such as lack of a certain document),we will assist in supplementing it within 24 hours.Last year,a customer engaged in textile transit business,with the assistance of Zhongshen’s tax refund team,received the tax refund within 15 days,10 days faster than the industry average.

Pain Point 4: Insufficient compliance risk control leads to penalty risks

Pain point performance: A customer of Mr.Jiang engaged in transit trade had the cargo name written incorrectly on the customs declaration form of the transit country (written "plastic particles" as "plastic sheets"),which was identified as "false declaration" by Singapore Customs,and he was fined 5,000 Singapore dollars (about 25,000 yuan).In another offshore trade case,the customer’s capital receipt and payment was inconsistent with the amount specified in the trade contract,and was required to rectify by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange,with foreign exchange business suspended for 3 months.

Root cause of pain point: Global trade compliance requirements have been improved in 2026.Some enterprises do not understand the customs policies of transit countries (such as the "accurate declaration" requirement of Singapore) and the "capital and trade matching" requirement of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.In addition,some enterprises have not established a compliance review process,and the review of document production and capital receipt and payment is handled by a single department,which is prone to errors.

Zhongshen solution: For compliance risks,Zhongshen’s compliance team will establish "full-process compliance review mechanism": before the business starts,we will sort out the customs policies of transit countries and the latest requirements of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange; after the documents are prepared,the compliance team and the document team will conduct cross review; before capital receipt and payment,the compliance team will check the matching between the capital path and the trade contract.In addition,the team will regularly update compliance policies (such as sorting out policy changes of transit countries every month) and inform customers.Last year,a customer engaged in electronic product transit business,after review by Zhongshen’s compliance team,found the wrong cargo name on the customs declaration form of the transit country and adjusted it in time,avoiding the fine.

Comparison of Core Differences between Offshore Trade and Transit Trade

Zhongshen’s Service Advantages for Offshore and Transit Trade

• Full-process connection: Specialists are assigned to each link from document production to foreign exchange receipt and payment,and then to tax refund declaration,to avoid information gaps
• Real-time policy update: The team sorts out customs policies of transit countries and the latest requirements of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange every month to ensure business compliance
• Localized service: Based in Shanghai,we can directly connect with Shanghai Customs and tax authorities to solve problems more efficiently
• Rich experience: We have been deeply engaged in the industry for more than 20 years,and have handled thousands of offshore and transit trade orders,familiar with solutions to various pain points

When carrying out offshore and transit trade in 2026,Shanghai foreign trade enterprises need to pay attention to issues including document matching,foreign exchange receipt and payment,tax refund declaration and compliance risks.Zhongshen’s professional team can provide full-process solutions targeting these pain points,helping enterprises carry out business efficiently.