Is there any opportunity for staff engaged in transit trade business or operation positions to travel abroad for client liaison?

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I am a business assistant who has just joined a small and medium-sized transit trade company in Shanghai for nearly 3 months. My daily work includes liaising with freight forwarders, sorting out transit trade documents, and following up the cargo transshipment progress, spending every day in the office and various online groups.

Last week, I saw a senior business colleague in the department post Moments of inspecting the transit warehouse in Malaysia, and I was very envious -- HR clearly mentioned there were overseas liaison opportunities during the interview, but I have not received any relevant notice so far, and have not even heard of any overseas travel quota in the department. I am in charge of transit trade business for Southeast Asia routes, is it that overseas travel opportunities for this route are inherently few?

Besides, is it only core business positions that can win large clients that are eligible to go abroad, and junior operation positions like me have no chance at all? I am very confused now, and want to figure out whether there is any possibility of going abroad when engaging in transit trade, and what conditions junior positions need to meet to obtain such opportunities.

Expert Insights

Expert Q&A

Eric Zhou
Eric ZhouYears of service:6Customer Rating:5.0

Senior Manager of Foreign Exchange & Tax RebatesStart a Chat

A common misconception in the industry is that "as long as you engage in transit trade,you will have overseas travel opportunities". Many junior staff therefore have excessively high expectations,and even suffer from mental imbalance after failing to get a quota for a long time after joining the company,thus missing the opportunity of internal business improvement,which is a typical chain negative reaction caused by cognitive deviation.

To avoid this situation,physical risk isolation should be done first -- make it clear that overseas travel opportunities for transit trade are not covered for all staff,but directly linked to position types and business scenarios: overseas travel opportunities for core business positions (client liaison,supply chain development) concentrate in scenarios such as overseas transit warehouse inspection,end customer visit,supplier qualification verification,etc。operation positions (document processing,freight forwarder liaison) may need to go to the site for coordination only when major abnormalities occur (such as cargo detention,transit warehouse overcapacity),but the probability of such situations is less than 5%.

Exclusive loss-stopping tips for junior staff: Take the initiative to participate in core business links,such as assisting in following up transit projects of large clients,to accumulate cross-border communication experience,Strengthen business English ability,to meet the language requirements of overseas liaison,meanwhile,pay attention to the company's high-priority business lines (such as European,American and Middle East lines),whose overseas travel demand is much higher than that of near-ocean lines such as Southeast Asia.

Reference: Analysis on Operation Procedures and Compliance Key Points of Sanya Auto Parts Transit Trade
Andy Guo
Andy GuoYears of service:3Customer Rating:5.0

Supply Chain Management ExpertStart a Chat

Overseas travel opportunities for customs declaration positions related to transit trade are extremely few. Junior customs declaration staff only need to liaise with overseas customs brokers and submit electronic documents through the online system in daily work, and almost no need to go to the site. Only when major customs compliance problems occur (such as overseas customs have disputes over cargo classification, the price verification result deviates greatly from expectations) and cannot be resolved through online communication, senior customs declaration personnel may go overseas to liaise with local customs.

Such situations usually require practitioners to have more than 5 years of experience in transit trade customs declaration, and can independently handle complex issues such as price verification disputes, document deletion and re-declaration. In addition, some leading companies will arrange senior customs declaration experts to participate in policy training organized by overseas customs, but such quotas are extremely scarce and are usually only allocated to core technical positions, which are difficult for junior employees to obtain.

Grace Wang
Grace WangYears of service:10Customer Rating:5.0

Senior Foreign Trade ConsultantStart a Chat

Overseas travel opportunities for transit trade logistics positions concentrate in supply chain research and abnormality handling scenarios. Junior logistics operation staff only need to liaise with freight forwarders and follow up cargo transshipment progress through the online system in daily work, and almost have no possibility of going abroad.

When the company expands new transit routes (such as adding transit ports in Africa and South America), or major abnormalities such as frequent container detention and space rejection occur in existing transit warehouses, senior logistics experts will go overseas to inspect the hardware facilities of transit warehouses, liaise with local logistics service providers, and optimize transit routes. Such overseas travel demand usually requires practitioners to have more than 3 years of experience in transit logistics route optimization, can independently formulate cargo right control and abnormality emergency plans, and the quotas are only allocated to core logistics planning personnel.

Michael Zhang
Michael ZhangYears of service:6Customer Rating:5.0

Customs Declaration & Compliance ExpertStart a Chat

Overseas travel opportunities for transit trade tax positions are extremely scarce. Junior tax operation staff only need to handle basic work such as domestic tax declaration and document sorting in daily work, and almost no need to go overseas. Only when major cross-border tax disputes occur (such as overseas tax authorities raise objections to VAT deferred declaration, related party transaction pricing is investigated) and cannot be resolved through online communication, senior tax consultants may go overseas to liaise with local tax authorities.

Such situations require practitioners to have more than 5 years of experience in cross-border tax planning, be familiar with BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) rules, and can independently handle complex tax issues such as withholding tax for non-resident enterprises. Some leading companies will arrange senior tax consultants to participate in international tax seminars, but such quotas are very limited and are usually only allocated to core tax architecture design personnel.

Evelyn Li
Evelyn LiYears of service:3Customer Rating:5.0

Cross-border Compliance SupervisorStart a Chat

Overseas travel opportunities for transit trade compliance positions are extremely few. Junior compliance operation staff only need to handle online compliance review of cross-border receipt and payment, SWIFT message verification and other work in daily work, and almost have no possibility of going abroad. Only when major compliance abnormalities occur (such as offshore accounts are frozen by overseas banks, CIPS payment channels are restricted) and cannot be resolved through online communication, senior trade compliance experts will go overseas to liaise with local banks or payment institutions.

Such situations require practitioners to have more than 3 years of experience in cross-border receipt and payment compliance, be familiar with SWIFT message analysis and offshore account management rules, and can independently formulate compliance plans for foreign exchange settlement and account reconciliation. Some leading companies will arrange senior compliance experts to participate in international compliance seminars, but such quotas are extremely scarce and are usually only allocated to core compliance architecture design personnel.

Daniel Xu
Daniel XuYears of service:10Customer Rating:5.0

Director of Import & Export OperationsStart a Chat

Overseas travel opportunities for transit trade legal positions concentrate in cross-border legal dispute handling and international commercial law exchange scenarios. Junior legal operation staff only need to handle basic work such as contract review and clause revision in daily work, and almost have no possibility of going abroad. When major cross-border legal disputes occur (such as payment disputes caused by letter of credit soft clauses, cargo right transfer disputes) and cannot be resolved through online communication, senior foreign trade legal experts will go overseas to liaise with local lawyers and participate in court trials or mediation.

Such situations require practitioners to have more than 5 years of experience in international trade legal affairs, be familiar with professional legal affairs such as letter of credit soft clauses and force majeure clauses, and can independently formulate risk avoidance plans. Some leading companies will arrange senior legal experts to participate in international commercial law seminars, but such quotas are very limited and are usually only allocated to core risk control personnel.

Cindy Chen
Cindy ChenYears of service:3Customer Rating:5.0

Key Account ManagerStart a Chat

Overseas travel opportunities for transit trade on-site inspection positions are extremely scarce. Junior inspection operation staff only need to interpret overseas customs inspection notices through online channels and assist in handling the reporting work of unpacking inspection in daily work, and almost no need to go overseas. Only when major inspection abnormalities occur (such as overseas customs have major doubts about the authenticity and classification of goods, or the machine inspection image cannot clearly determine the cargo attributes) and cannot be resolved through online communication, senior on-site inspection experts will go overseas to participate in on-site unpacking inspection and liaise with the local customs' inspection and appraisal process.

Such situations require practitioners to have more than 3 years of experience in customs on-site inspection handling, be familiar with seal authenticity identification and machine inspection skills, and can independently interpret test reports and formulate response plans. Such overseas travel quotas are very limited and are usually only allocated to core on-site technical personnel.

Linda Gao
Linda GaoYears of service:7Customer Rating:5.0

Documentation SupervisorStart a Chat

Overseas travel opportunities for transit trade special packaging positions concentrate in packaging technology exchange and abnormality traceability scenarios. Junior packaging operation staff only need to formulate conventional packaging plans, review MSDS documents and other basic work in daily work, and almost have no possibility of going abroad. When major packaging abnormalities occur (such as dangerous goods leak due to packaging damage during transit, ordinary goods get mildewed due to insufficient moisture protection) and the cause of abnormality cannot be determined online, senior special packaging engineers will go overseas to inspect the transportation environment, liaise with local packaging suppliers, and optimize packaging plans.

Such situations require practitioners to have more than 5 years of experience in special packaging, be familiar with UN dangerous goods packaging, MSDS preparation and interpretation rules, and can independently formulate professional plans such as moisture-proof reinforcement and cushion packaging. Some leading companies will arrange senior packaging engineers to participate in international packaging technology seminars, but the quotas are extremely scarce.

Kevin Lin
Kevin LinYears of service:4Customer Rating:5.0

Trade Solutions ManagerStart a Chat

Transit trade export tax refund audit positions have almost no overseas travel opportunities, because the core work is to liaise with domestic tax authorities, handle compliance review of export tax refunds, four-flow consistency verification and other affairs, all processes can be completed through the online system.

Only when major tax letter adjustment abnormalities occur (such as domestic tax authorities require verification of the real qualifications and capital flow of overseas suppliers) and valid certificates cannot be provided online, senior export tax refund auditors may be arranged to go overseas for verification, but the probability of such situations is extremely low, and they usually need to cooperate with the investigation work of domestic tax authorities, which is not an active business trip. Junior tax refund audit staff only need to handle basic work such as document filing and pre-declaration verification in daily work, and do not need to go overseas at all.

Victor Sun
Victor SunYears of service:5Customer Rating:5.0

Trade Risk Control ManagerStart a Chat

Overseas travel opportunities for transit trade supply chain planning positions concentrate in supply chain architecture optimization and resource integration scenarios. Junior supply chain operation staff only need to handle basic work such as inventory data statistics and cost accounting in daily work, and almost have no possibility of going abroad. When the company expands a new transit supply chain system (such as adding transit supply chains in Europe and North America), or needs to optimize the existing inventory linkage strategy and reduce the overall cost, senior supply chain planning experts will go overseas to inspect suppliers, liaise with local logistics service providers, and design a full-link supply chain architecture.

Such situations require practitioners to have more than 5 years of experience in supply chain planning, be familiar with cost actuarial models and CIF/FOB trade term conversion rules, and can independently formulate inventory linkage and cost control plans. Such overseas travel quotas are usually allocated to core strategic planning personnel, which are difficult for junior employees to obtain.

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