Any educational work to order

diploma

Preparation of cargo for transportation. Bringing the cargo into a transportable state includes practical work for packaging of goods, their packaging, labeling, as well as for packing goods into containers, consolidation (consolidation) and disaggregation of container lots and the formation of transport packages. The requirements for these operations are determined by the terms of contracts for transportation, transshipment ...

Development of criteria and assessment of the quality of services of the freight forwarding company "Fortek" (abstract, term paper, diploma, control)

Introduction

2.1 The concept of freight forwarding services.

2.2 Legal regulation of the activities of freight forwarding companies in Russia.

3. Development of criteria and assessment of the quality of services of the freight forwarding company Fortek

3.1 General scheme of business processes of Fortek LLC

3.2 Substantiation of the criteria for assessing the quality of work of the company Fortek LLC

3.4 Issues of the company's business processes. Suggestions for improvement

Conclusion

List of sources used

Introduction

International freight forwarding service is an integral part of the process of transportation of foreign trade goods. Freight forwarding companies as a transportation operator organize the transportation of goods in international traffic from producer to consumer, which is extremely complex process, it is not for nothing that forwarders are sometimes called "transport architects". Describing the specifics of the Russian freight forwarding business at the present stage, it can be noted that, in the current conditions, this is the business of many small companies with rather limited resources. The field of transport forwarding is distinguished by low capital intensity, which, in the absence of state licensing, allows you to create new companies without much cost and effort, specifically for this business high risk of frequent transition corporate clients to competitors and the departure of key employees along with the client base in order to create their own enterprises.

On the basis of the foregoing, it can be summarized that the transport and forwarding business in Russia in modern conditions is still in the development stage, is antitrust, and its conduct takes place in conditions of fierce competition for customers and cargo flows, taking place both within the industry and with actual carriers. various kinds transport. As a consequence of this, there are no entry barriers to this market and the highest level of entrepreneurial risk.

Required for normal functioning and development high quality services for cargo owners, compliance with special international rules, exact execution of the terms of the contract, orders of customers, carriers, banks, insurers, compliance with customs and state laws.

The existing growth in transportation volumes does not at all exclude fierce competition among freight forwarding companies, and it is in the conditions of such fierce competition that improving the quality of transport services for cargo owners becomes one of the main ways to conquer or expand the transport market. To do this, you need to know the needs of consumers well. transport services, its capabilities and those of competitors, correctly determine the marketing strategy of transport services for specific cargo owners and skillfully implement it. This strategy should first and foremost high level the quality of the transport services offered that can satisfy the needs of cargo owners better than that of a competitor. The formation of an effective quality management system in any company is impossible without their identification, updating, systematization and analysis.

The analysis of the concept of "quality" is devoted to the works of many specialists. Despite the predominant coincidence of views, their opinions can be divided into two groups. The representative of the first point of view on quality as "compliance with requirements" is, for example, F. Crosby. A. Feigenbaum, E. Deming, V. Shewhart can be attributed to the second group of specialists who associate quality with meeting the needs and expectations of consumers. Questions of quality assessment, of course, are analyzed in the development of various standards and regulations.

This work is devoted to the issues of assessing the quality of the work of a freight forwarding company. The aim of the work is to analyze the current situation and develop a quality assessment system on the example of the functioning of the transport and forwarding company Fortek LLC.

To achieve this goal, the following tasks will be solved in the work:

– the theoretical foundations of the concept of the quality of freight forwarding services are considered, legal regulation this area of ​​activity.

- describes the currently existing methods and methods for assessing quality.

— a system of the most relevant quality assessment criteria for the company has been developed.

- describes the main business processes of the company.

Using a group of selected criteria, it is planned to implement the main task of this work - to analyze the main problems of the company at each stage of the business process.

The result of this work will be the development of proposals for improving the company's business processes and improving the quality of its services in order to increase competitiveness and strengthen its position in the market.

1. General characteristics of the forwarding company LLC "Fortek" and its place in the market of logistics services

1.1 Description and organizational structure of the company

This work is devoted to the analysis of the quality of the activities of the forwarding company "Fortek", therefore, acquaintance with the company, a description of the organizational structure, and a place in the market of forwarding services in this part of the work is necessary.

The company "Fortek" is an independent company in the form of a company with limited liability as part of the Forum Group holding. In this regard, in order to describe the scope of activity and determine the place of the company in the holding, it is necessary first to tell directly about the Forum Group holding. Forum-Group Holding was organized in 2002 as a small company "Forum" - an intermediary that provides its customers with the service of customs clearance of goods at the Baltic Customs of St. Petersburg. Over time, the traffic handled by the company increased, the number of customers increased, and it became necessary to create its own forwarding department within the company. On the basis of this department, a separate forwarding company Fortek was later formed.

Due to the growth in the volume of processed goods, over time, it was decided to abandon the services of third-party brokers and organize our own customs broker company, with a staff of declarants and license its activities. At the moment, the forum group holding includes several companies (see Figure 1.1)

Forum-Broker Company is a leading customs broker in the North-West of Russia, licensed by the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation, and operates mainly in the area of ​​subordination of the Baltic and St. Petersburg customs. The company successfully operates in the market of customs services, constantly increasing its potential and improving its experience.

Figure 1.1 Organizational structure holding "Forum-Group"

The list of company services includes services for consulting clients in foreign economic activity; services for the classification of products according to TN VED; calculation of the amount of customs payments, provision background information at customs rates; preparation of documentation required for execution of customs declarations; submission of declarations to customs, provision of documentation to the customs authority of the Russian Federation and additional information required for customs procedures; payments related to customs procedures. Extensive experience with customs authorities, professionalism of employees and an individual approach to each client give the company the opportunity to carry out customs clearance and customs clearance of goods in the shortest possible time.

Fortek is a freight forwarding company that provides services for intra-port forwarding in different areas of the port of St. Petersburg, forwarding of road transport from Europe to the Russian Federation. The list of company services includes tracking (monitoring) the movement of goods from the sender to the point of destination, freight forwarding directly at the port, export of goods from the port and delivery to recipients, coordination of door-to-door cargo transportation by sea and road transport, cargo handling at customs terminals of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg, organization of transportation of oversized and dangerous goods.

To perform the functions of the company, we work with agents of shipping lines, with the structures of the port of St. Petersburg, with carriers and forwarders in Russia and abroad, insurance companies, customs terminals and commercial warehouses.

Many years of experience and officially concluded contracts with agents of shipping lines, stevedoring companies, large transport companies gives Fortek the opportunity to provide its services at a high level, but the growing competition every year in the market of freight forwarding companies, and especially in St. Petersburg, where there are countless of them, makes the company management look for ways and directions to improve the quality of services and, accordingly, attract all more clients.

It should be emphasized that it is extremely difficult to consider the work of the company as carrying out separately transport-forwarding and brokerage activities. Nowadays external conditions and growing competition among similar companies, force companies to offer their customers a combined service. In the case of which the client receives a full package of services with door-to-door delivery, the solution of all issues with customs clearance and, as a rule, the total integral rate for all services, which can change only in case of force majeure, which gives the client a more secure . reliable service, service in a complex. And the company, on the other hand, allows the most successful coordination of processes within the company, while avoiding problems with the separation of information flows and document flow among different forwarding and brokerage companies. and provide a better and more efficient service.

It is impossible to consider the organizational structure and functional areas of the Fortek company without a preliminary comment on what place the company occupies within the structure of the Forum group holding. The organizational structure of the Forum Group holding is quite simple (see Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.2 Organizational structure of holding Forum-group

The company is headed by several founders, the functions of management and general coordination are carried out by the financial director and CEOs two companies. Since the main activity of the holding and directly the company Forum-Broker LLC, which is part of the holding along with Fortek LLC, is the customs clearance of goods, in the structure, traditionally for a company in this direction, there are departments customs declaration, the client department and the analytical department, which perform the main functions of the company. financial services-accounting and financial department with the financial director at the head they deal with all economic issues. Legal Department, personnel department, security service and IT department although they are auxiliary, without them the work of the company would be difficult. The organizational structure of the Fortek company (see Fig. 1.3) should be identified and explained as a separate diagram, since it is this company that is engaged in the freight forwarding business within our holding.

Figure 1.3 Organizational structure of Fortek

Such an organizational structure primarily reflects several areas of the company's activities, such as ordering sea container transportation, their coordination, ordering transportation by road and their coordination, intra-port freight forwarding, cargo removal from the port, cargo delivery to the client, mediation in solving clients financial matters in lines.

In more detail, the functions of each of the departments and their relationship will be discussed in the third chapter when describing business processes within the company.

1.2 Place of the company in the market of logistics services

The general crisis state of the world and national economy could not but have a negative impact on the work of the transport and forwarding industry of the Russian Federation. According to the Association of Freight Forwarders, the total cargo turnover of Russian transport in 2009 was approximately 87% compared to 2008. However, in 2010, and especially for maritime transport, the situation improved significantly due to the growth of cargo traffic. The volume of cargo transportation by sea for 6 months of 2010 amounted to 17.8 million tons, which exceeds the same indicator in 2009 by 1.5%.

Given this situation in the industry, we can say that the activities of the Forum Group holding in general and Fortek LLC in particular are very promising. However, the factor of strong competition in the market and the presence of a mass of negative external factors forced to look for ways to increase the competitiveness of the company and strengthen its place in the market. It is necessary to give a general brief assessment of the company's activities, identifying strengths and weak sides. The internal advantages of the company in a competitive environment include:

Possibility to offer clients a combined customs clearance service together with forwarding, which is an important factor when choosing a company from a client's point of view. Promotes greater clarity and efficiency of work.

- the presence of an official license for brokerage activities. This factor increases the reliability of the company in the eyes of customers and contractors, and allows you to speed up the process of working with customs.

A wide range of services provided by the company. Due to the presence in the staff of the company of specialists in various logistics areas, the company can meet the wide needs of its customers and offer them a variety of services.

The result of many years of experience in the forwarding services market and the positive reputation of the company is the presence of a sufficient number of large regular customers, this allowed the company to survive crisis year and continue to develop further.

You can also highlight some of the weak points of the holding organization, which should be paid serious attention to in the analysis.

Inadequately effective personnel policy of the company. Lack of specialists in certain departments. Private change of personnel and their excess in others.

Conservative policy of the company's owners. This mainly concerns long-term plans development to conquer new markets, open new offices, expand the package of services.

The lack of a PR department in the company and, as a result, the company's lack of awareness in the market of potential customers.

Speaking about external positive and negative factors, we can distinguish as advantages a stable demand for services provided by the company, good reputation companies in customs and client circles. And as external threats to the company: the instability of the customs policy of the Russian Federation, strong competition in the forwarding services market, the specifics of working with monopoly shipping lines.

As a result of this chapter, it is important to emphasize that it is necessary to carry out a subsequent analysis and assessment of the quality of the company's services, taking into account all the factors listed below. Only in this case the assessment will be sufficiently objective and applicable in practice.

2. Assessment of the quality of transport and forwarding services

2.1 The concept of freight forwarding services

Forwarding support in foreign trade is commonly understood as the commercial activity of intermediary firms carried out during the transportation of foreign trade goods and supplementing the main activities of carriers, cargo owners and other persons interested in the cargo. From a legal point of view, forwarding activities can be carried out in the national legal or international legal regime, if there is an international element in it.

Forwarding services in foreign economic activity is the practical implementation of forwarding support, the object of which is foreign trade turnover (freight turnover). The purpose of the feasibility study is to facilitate the transportation of goods foreign trade and development of export of transport services. Forwarding services begin from the moment a decision is made on the need or possibility of transportation and ends at the moment when the cargo is delivered to its final consumer.

Forwarding services include several groups of basic operations.

Consulting services. The operations of this group precede not only the contractual relations for the carriage of goods, but also the contractual relations between the participants in the foreign trade contract of sale.

Organization and registration of transportation. The operations of this group are carried out after the selection, search and finding of transport companies that meet the conditions of the client, as well as establishing business contacts with them. If this is done, then the main functions of the freight forwarding company are:

Conclusion of contracts with participants in the transportation process;

Operational planning of transportation (submission of applications for transportation, coordination of dates for the delivery of a car Vehicle, booking places on sea and aircraft, coordination of the timing of the receipt of goods at the port, etc.);

Preparation of transport, shipping and other documents necessary for the transportation process;

Conclusion of a cargo transport insurance agreement with an insurance company and obtaining the necessary insurance documents from it;

Conducting settlements with all participants in the transportation process and the insurance company;

Conclusion of contracts for the leasing of containers and the practical receipt of the latter.

Preparation of cargo for transportation. Bringing the cargo into a transportable state includes practical work on the packaging of goods, their packing, labeling, as well as on laying the goods into containers, consolidation (consolidation) and disaggregation of container lots and the formation of transport packages. The requirements for these operations are determined by the terms of contracts for transportation, transshipment and sale and purchase.

Customs clearance. For the passage of foreign trade goods through the customs authorities, the freight forwarding company draws up the necessary customs documents.

In a number of countries around the world, freight forwarding firms carry out operations for customs clearance of goods for export and import and make payments customs duties, taxes and fees. The customs activity of intermediary firms is subject to licensing by the customs authorities of the state.

Receiving and issuing cargo. A freight forwarding company interacts with carriers and transport infrastructure enterprises, accepting goods from some and transferring them to others.

Loading and unloading, stevedoring and warehouse operations. The freight forwarding company itself can carry out loading and reloading operations or involve any other professionally trained companies for their execution. Warehousing is directly related to the transportation of goods (in anticipation of loading, reloading, as well as for customs purposes), so warehouse operations are one of the functions of a freight forwarding company.

Claim work. It is carried out in case of non-delivery of the cargo to the destination, its delivery in a commercially defective condition or in case of violation of the delivery time.

The above list of functions of freight forwarding companies is not exhaustive and can be supplemented, but at the request of the parties, with other works and services.

Forwarding support of foreign trade turnover as an integral part of international trade should be based on common approaches to the organization of this activity. For the purpose of unification, on May 31, 1926, the International Federation of Forwarding Organizations - FIATA (abbreviations of the name for French). FIATA is a non-governmental non-profit international organization. The main goal of FIATA is to ensure the interests of forwarders at the international level.

About 40 thousand forwarding companies from more than 150 countries of the world are members of FIATA, and the number of these companies is constantly growing. Russia is represented in FIATA by the Association of Freight Forwarders Russian Federation(AER), with about 170 members.

results practical activities FIATA were the development and implementation of forwarding documents that have received official recognition around the world: forwarding receipt, forwarder's transport certificate, warehouse receipt, shipper's declaration for the transport of dangerous goods, multimodal transport bill of lading, etc.

2.2 Legal regulation of the activities of freight forwarding companies in Russia

International legal regulation of the contract of transport expedition has not yet been created. International private law does not contain agreements and conventions that define the main terms of the forwarding contract. Separate attempts to unify the conditions of forwarding activities are made by FIATA. So, in the proforma of the FCR (Forwarder's Certificate of Receipt) forwarding receipt, the basic rules for the performance of forwarding services are indicated. However, all freight forwarding contracts are governed by the norms of national civil law, which, in the absence of the necessary provisions, are supplemented by forwarders with legal regimes borrowed from the norms of French, German and Anglo-American law.

The procedure for the legal regulation of transport and forwarding activities in Russia is enshrined in Civil Code Russian Federation (GK RF). Transport expedition is devoted to Ch. 41 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Articles 801 - 806). According to the law, under a freight forwarding contract, one of the parties (forwarder) undertakes, for remuneration and at the expense of the other party (client - consignor or consignee), to perform or organize the performance of services specified in the freight forwarding contract related to the carriage of cargo. Freight forwarding agreements are concluded in the form of an agency agreement (Chapter 49 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) or a commission agreement (Chapter 51 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

The law contains a norm that allows combining the duties of a forwarder and a carrier in one person. Mandatory are the written form of the freight forwarding agreement and the issuance of a power of attorney by the client to the forwarder. The freight forwarder shall not be liable to the client for non-performance or improper performance of the contract of carriage, unless the freight forwarder and the carrier are the same person. The limit of the forwarder's liability for improper performance of the contract by him is not defined. The client is obliged to provide the freight forwarder with complete information and Required documents for the fulfillment by the latter of the duties of organizing transportation and data on the nature of the goods presented. The client is responsible for the completeness and accuracy of the submitted documents and information. The freight forwarder has the right to engage any other person to fulfill his obligations under the contract, but in this case he is liable to the client in the same amount as if he himself performed the proper work and services.

The final provisions of Chapter 41 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation explain the procedure and consequences of a unilateral refusal to fulfill obligations under a transport expedition agreement. It is indicated, in particular, that such a refusal by one of the parties may entail compensation to the other party for losses caused by the termination of the contract.

July 3, 2003 entered into force the federal law dated June 30, 2003 No. 87 FZ “On forwarding activities”,. which, however, did not introduce any fundamentally new norms of TED regulation. Despite the very specific content, the terms “forwarder”, “forwarding”, “forwarding operations” do not always unambiguously define the functions that transport intermediaries assume under contracts concluded with clients.

The subject matter of a freight forwarding contract that a client concludes with a transport intermediary often states that the client instructs, and the forwarder assumes the organization of cargo transportation. Attention should be paid to the fundamental difference in the concepts of "organization of transportation" and "implementation of transportation" (https: // site, 22).

The freight forwarder assumes obligations to organize transportation, informs the client about the progress of the cargo and violations of the delivery time. The fulfillment of the obligations of the forwarder is considered to be the presence of a carrier, the conclusion of a contract of carriage on its own behalf, but at the expense of the client, the provision of a vehicle for loading to the customer in accordance with the terms specified in the application, and informing the client about the arrival of the cargo at the destination.

The client in his application is obliged to provide the forwarder with all the information necessary to conclude a contract of carriage. At the same time, he undertakes to reimburse all expenses incurred by the forwarder and pay him remuneration.

The client undertakes to ensure the loading, unloading of the vehicle and customs clearance of the cargo within the time specified in the contract. The liability of the parties contains force majeure clauses, declares provisions on liability parties for losses caused to the counterparty due to improper performance of this agreement, and establishes specific penalties. For example, for non-delivery of vehicles, for their untimely loading and unloading, etc.

The freight forwarding contract contains an article "claims and claims", but the client must understand that they can be presented only under the freight forwarding contract, and not under the contract of carriage.

The contract also indicates whether its parties can transfer their rights and obligations to third parties

2.3 Features of intra-port forwarding

Since the main activity of Fortek is related to intra-port forwarding, we will touch on this type of forwarding business in more detail. Intermediary activities carried out by professional participants in the market of freight forwarding services at transport infrastructure enterprises have a number of features related to the specifics of freight forwarding on certain main modes of transport. Each of the transport infrastructure facilities (port, airport, station, terminal) has its own organizational, legal, economic and technological features. For the development of international trade, the procedures for organizing cargo handling in seaports are of paramount importance - more than half of the physical volumes of foreign trade goods of most countries are transported with the participation of sea transport.

When considering the basics of forwarding activities in ports, two aspects should be taken into account.

On the one hand, the specifics of the forwarder's activity in the port is that he must organize the interaction of various modes of transport. In the seaport, as in a transport hub, the flows of at least three types of transport converge and distribute - sea, rail and road. Therefore, the freight forwarder must be sufficiently professionally trained in the commercial operation of these modes of transport and their interaction.

On the other hand, the freight forwarder must carry out its activities directly in the port. He must know the laws and customs of the port and strictly observe them. In addition, the port, which belongs to the category of natural monopolists, tends to dictate its terms to all its customers. The forwarder, as a person representing the interests of the cargo owner, has to convince the port administration of the need to give preferences to his clients.

Consider the structure and content of the contract for the transshipment and processing of goods between the forwarder and the port. This agreement has two features. Firstly, it does not reflect the agreements between the cargo owner and the freight forwarder. These arrangements may be different than those agreed between the port and the freight forwarder. Secondly, none of the norms of international and national legislation provides for special rules and procedures contractual relations with ports. Therefore, the proforma of the contract is developed by the port itself and, as a rule, is offered to the forwarder. The port is a monopoly in its region and is not inclined to adapt to each of its clients.

Most often, in accordance with the subject of the forwarder's agreement with the port, the port, on behalf of the forwarder, receives goods from the railway and road carriers, short-term storage and loading of containers with export cargo and empty ones, as well as similar operations with import cargo in containers arrived in port on sea vessels.

The port determines the places (berths) where container handling operations will be carried out, the type of navigation, the maximum capacity of ships with which the port will work, and the daily ship loading and unloading of containers.

The main obligations of the freight forwarder under the contract are:

Compliance with the planned system for coordinating the volumes of processing containers in the port and their import (for export) or export (for import).

Conclusion of transportation contracts (domestic and international) with carriers certain types transport and coordination of schedules for the delivery of vehicles to the port;

Declaration and licensing of cargo in containers in accordance with current rules at the regional customs office. The freight forwarder resolves in advance with the customs authorities all issues regarding the unhindered release of goods from the port;

Guaranteeing the loading of goods into containers with a gross weight not exceeding the carrying capacity of the containers, ensuring the loading of goods only into technically sound containers;

Sending their representatives to the port, who participate in the acceptance of containers by the port from carriers of one type of transport and their delivery by the port to carriers of another type of transport. All possible claims for containers and cargo in them are regulated by the forwarder independently;

Preparation of invoices for railway and road transport, issuance of export orders to the port (with a customs permit stamp) with all the details necessary for issuing bills of lading, including the procedure for sending shipping documents;

Ensuring the export of containers from the territory of the port within the time limits stipulated by the contract;

Independent performance of freight forwarding services for those operations that are not provided for by the contract;

Ensuring compliance with safety regulations by its employees in the port.

In accordance with the agreement, the port assumes the following obligations:

Mooring of the ship, stated in the schedule, to the berth without delays in the roadstead, if this is not prevented by weather conditions or the berth is occupied by another vessel;

Unhindered reception of vehicles arriving at the port and wagons transferred to it by the railway;

Carrying out loading and unloading and stevedoring works, ensuring the loading and unloading of containers within the terms specified by the contract;

Acceptance of containers from carriers of various modes of transport with the participation of a representative of the forwarder, external inspection of containers with checking their serviceability and compliance of seal impressions with the information specified in the shipping documents. If necessary, drawing up acts-notifications and general and commercial acts, which reflect the results of inspections;

Registration of acceptance of containers by acceptance certificates (for export) and delivery of containers to the forwarder by expense orders (for import), issuance of export and shipping notices, respectively;

storage of containers in accordance with the procedure, terms and rates specified in the contract.

Delivery of containers to the ship, railway, road carriers with the participation of a representative of the forwarder - on external inspection with the maintenance of numbered records of containers behind customs seals, and also, if necessary, the sender or the forwarder;

Proper execution of bills of lading and ensuring that the captain of the vessel signs bills of lading and other shipping documents;

Provision of other services to the freight forwarder under separate contracts or requests and for a fee.

The agreement between the port and the forwarder always contains articles on the responsibility of the parties, tariffs for the performance of works and services by the port.

Thus, intra-port freight forwarding undoubtedly has its own characteristics, which cannot be ignored in the process of organizing and functioning of a company engaged in this line of business.

2.4 Quality as a factor in increasing the competitiveness of freight forwarding services

Regarding the issue of quality, it is very important to note that freight forwarding services are related to the service sector. Let's look at the definition of this concept.

Service (maintenance) is an activity for the provision of services that accompanies or ensures the implementation of a certain process.

In a generalized sense, a service is an action that benefits the consumer.

In the international standard ISO 8402 - 86 “Quality. Glossary containing general terms and definitions in the field of quality, a service is defined as an activity associated with the exchange of values, aimed at satisfying needs, expressed in the form of demand, which is not limited to the transfer of ownership of some material product.

Transport service (service) is defined as the activity of forwarding enterprises associated with the process of moving goods in space and time with the provision of transportation, handling and storage services.

Forwarding service is an integral part of the movement of goods from the manufacturer to the consumer and includes the implementation additional work and operations, without which the transportation process is impossible.

Transport service, therefore, is a part of the system of circulation and distribution of goods, which includes, in addition to the transportation of goods, the performance of warehouse, handling and commercial operations.

The quality of transport services is determined by the speed, time and reliability of delivery just in time, the degree of safety, the safety of goods and passengers, the tariff cost, the availability a large number related services, etc.

The formation of a market economy in our country made it possible to further develop the transport service by including specialized organizations in it, in particular forwarding activities, which previously existed only in the structure state enterprises main transport and worked, as a rule, in his interests.

The modern concept of forwarding activities (FEA) can be defined as activities to provide transport services in the logistics process of delivery of goods, performed in the interests of consignors and consignees.

Forwarding organizations, as entrepreneurs operating in a competitive environment, must be able to respond flexibly to customer requests and offer and provide the required services at an appropriate level of cost and quality. Such conditions are provided by the forwarder, who, on the one hand, can offer a wide range of services performed independently, on his own and with his own resources, and on the other hand, is able to attract intermediaries to ensure the complexity and minimize the cost of fulfilling the client's order. The solution to this problem, i.e. the ability to implement one of the basic principles of logistics, referred to as the “make or buy problem”, is one of the most important and most difficult.

The clients to whom forwarders provide their services are cargo owners (consignors, consignees), including foreign ones, as well as other forwarding and agency organizations. In turn, freight forwarders themselves can be clients of banks, enterprises of the main transport, customs and insurance companies. Thus, forwarding activities are conditioned by a wide range of technological, financial, and legal relations.

Mentioned in the definition of TED logistics process delivery of cargo involves such an organization that, providing optimal conditions for delivery, in a developed, competitive market freight forwarding services with the established priority of the buyer, not the seller, focused on the interests and needs of the consignee.

The past perestroika years were accompanied not only by an intensive growth in the number of forwarding organizations, but also often by the short duration of their work due to the lack or lack of relevant knowledge and experience.

A modern transport forwarder, ensuring the high quality of the services provided, must meet all the requirements that apply to him as a logistics operator.

The range of services provided as part of the logistics service is quite diverse and affects the competitiveness of the company and the amount of costs. A characteristic feature is that the services are systemic in nature. In this regard, the company needs to accurately determine the strategy in the field of logistics customer service.

The scope of each specific service includes a large set of various operations, the implementation of which is determined by the requirements of the client. However, in some cases, due to the client's lack of necessary experience, the freight forwarder must notify him of his possibilities.

The process of providing each specific forwarding service is evaluated primarily in terms of the technological completeness and legal literacy of the documentation confirming the result of its execution, as well as the professional competence of the personnel of the forwarding organization involved in its implementation. The basis of this documentation is documents confirming the execution of the transport expedition agreement, other agreements with customers, enterprises railway transport, insurance companies, customs brokers and other organizations that provide for the forwarder's obligations to perform or organize the performance of operations and services specified by these contracts.

Today, a lack of logistics service, whether provided by the manufacturer or by others, makes it easier for competitors to enter the developing market sector. Consumers take into account not only prices, appearance and the quality of goods, but also the quality and range of logistics services offered. In other words, customer service (satisfying their needs) is key factor, forming the needs of logistics.

The study and analysis of the problem of the quality of transport and forwarding services to consumers have shown that the existing service concepts are based on the assertion that a high level of quality of transport services is achieved provided that comprehensive service: the more services provided to consumers, the higher the level of service quality. At the same time, in market conditions, a service with a wider range of services offered than is necessary for the consumer costs the latter more.

In the course of further advancement of our economy from the producer market to the consumer market, the requirements of consignors and consignees (customers) to the quality of transport and forwarding services in all parts of the logistics chain are increasing. At the same time, the logistics approach is not limited to individual functions: transportation, transshipment, warehousing, commissioning, etc., but comprehensively covers all functions and value creation processes.

A modern, highly organized service is a prerequisite for improving the quality of work transport system Russia during the formation of the new economy.

2.5 Criteria for assessing the quality of freight forwarding services

The concept of "quality" in a broad sense is a philosophical category that expresses the essential certainty of an object, due to which it is precisely this and not another. In this sense, the quality of one object (service) cannot be compared with the quality of another, it cannot be said which object is better or worse. This aspect of quality is extremely important for the characterization of services and the practice of evaluating them.

To date, there are no effective quantitative methods for assessing the quality of services. According to GOST R 50 691 - 94 "Service Quality Assurance Model", the quality of a service is a set of characteristics of a service that determine its ability to satisfy the established or implied needs of the consumer. The analysis of the concept of "quality" is devoted to the works of many specialists. Despite the predominant coincidence of views, their opinions can be divided into two groups.

Representatives of the first group believe that the quality should be considered the production of such products and services, the characteristics of which meet specific requirements that have a numerical value. The main provisions of this position are as follows:

It is necessary that the quality be defined (established), otherwise it is impossible to manage it;

If the requirements are set as numerical values, the characteristics of the service can be measured to determine whether they meet the requirements.

Representatives of the second point of view believe that quality is determined by the degree to which the consumer's expectations are met in relation to the service provided, and not by any measurable characteristics.

Quality is thus inextricably linked to needs. For example, in modern international standards(MS) of the ISO 9000 - 2000 series, quality is defined as the degree to which a set of intrinsic characteristics fulfills requirements. It is characteristic that in this definition there is no word denoting the carrier of quality - "object". Here quality and requirements are directly related. At the same time, the standard, speaking of quality, implies not just the service itself, but also the process of its provision, and the concept of “requirements” includes the expected needs.

The composition and structure of the quality indicators of freight traffic for all types of transport are established by GOST R 51 005 - 96 “Transport services. Freight transportation. Nomenclature of quality indicators”,

The key parameters of the quality of transport services to consumers include:

time from receipt of the order for transportation to delivery;

reliability and the ability to deliver on demand;

availability of stocks, stability of supply;

completeness and degree of availability of order fulfillment;

convenience of placing and confirming the order;

objectivity of tariffs and regularity of information on service costs;

the possibility of providing loans;

efficiency of cargo handling in warehouses;

the quality of packaging, as well as the possibility of performing package and container transportation.

Each of the indicators under consideration plays a more or less important role depending on the specific market conditions. The quality of customer service is the result of the activities of employees structural divisions businesses throughout the supply chain. Quality is achieved through careful planning, vocational training workers and continuous improvement service indicators.

The most important comprehensive indicators for assessing the quality of services from the point of view of the consumer include:

the environment (furnishings and interior of the office, equipment, appearance of staff, etc.);

reliability (efficiency and confidence in the results of work and services; cargo delivery at the right time and place). A significant factor affecting the reliability of delivery is the existence of obligations (guarantees) stipulated by the contract, by virtue of which the supplier is liable for violation of delivery deadlines. The reliability of information and financial procedures is also understood. Reliability refers to the ability of a service system to function without failure;

accessibility (ease of establishing links with the performer). Availability also means having stocks of products to continuously meet the needs of consumers for products. In the case when we are talking about a transport and forwarding company, this may be the ability to order transport or a forwarding service.

security (lack of risk and distrust on the part of the consumer of services), for example, ensuring the safety of cargo;

diligence (guarantees that services will be performed by experienced and competent personnel);

politeness, responsiveness of the staff, mutual understanding with the consumer (sincere interest, ability to understand the problems of the consumer);

sociability of staff (the ability to communicate with the consumer of services in an accessible and understandable language);

functionality (characterized by the duration of the service cycle from receiving an order to its fulfillment). Functionality characterizes the ability of the service system to maintain the expected timing and acceptable flexibility of operations.

The service cycle (order fulfillment) is the interval between the sending of an order for the supply of products and the receipt by the consumer of the ordered products. This indicator must be considered from the point of view of the consumer. The time it takes to complete an order fulfillment cycle depends on the structure of the service system. It can last from several hours to several months. Order fulfillment cycles differ depending on the level of service, the type of customer and the degree of market uncertainty.

The order fulfillment cycle is determined by the following indicators:

the degree of satisfaction of consumer expectations in terms of order fulfillment;

uninterrupted execution of logistics operations;

flexibility of logistics operations;

level of service failures.

To ensure the required level of continuity, logistics management should:

determine the minimum order lead time;

prioritize with limited resources;

For a more complete assessment of the quality of service, other indicators are also considered:

response time to a consumer request;

completeness of the order - delivery of the entire range and the required quantity of products ordered by the consumer;

frequency of deliveries during the required period.

The considered indicators are the main indicators of the quality of customer service. Their definition, monitoring and evaluation determine the effectiveness of the service system. Moreover, for each parameter there are two values ​​(conditional): the first characterizes the consumer's expectations, the second - the perception of the consumer in relation to this parameter. When a consumer evaluates the quality of services, he compares the actual values ​​of the quality parameters with the expected ones, and if they match or are close, then the quality is considered satisfactory or acceptable. Consumer expectations of the client are determined by the information about the services transmitted by the consumers of services to each other; personal ideas of the client about quality (his requests, past experience); external sources of information (radio, television, press).

Foreign experience testifies to the increased attention to the problems of transport services. Thus, in countries with a developed market economy, the following trends in the development of transport services take place: an increase in the volume of transportation of high-value goods with a simultaneous reduction in low-value goods; increase in average delivery distances and growth in the share international transport; increasing responsibility for the quality and timing of transportation throughout the entire transport chain;

growth in the volume of traffic between enterprises while reducing the volume of traffic within enterprises; decrease in volumes of bulk bulk cargoes and increase in volumes piece cargo in containers and on pallets; increasing the carrying capacity of the rolling stock; increase in the volume of transportation of goods (passengers) in specialized rolling stock; dominance logistics approaches in the organization of transportation and management of the transport process.

In our country, the importance of logistics services is also constantly increasing, the service industry is expanding, and an increasing number of companies and workers are included in it. Many logistics intermediaries become service enterprises, whose services are inextricably linked with the promotion and sale of goods, and the cost of services may exceed the direct costs of production.

One of the important factors of the logistics transport service is the price as the expected compensation for the total set of services that the service organization offers to the consumer. Determining the price of logistics services is much more difficult than the price of transportation itself, since the price of logistics services largely depends on the client's perception of the entire service system. Choice optimal level customer service is determined by the completeness of logistics services and the amount of costs. Solving the “price-quality” problem requires the development of many options and optimization solutions. So, for example, with an increase in the quality level above 70%, service costs grow exponentially, and with a service level of 90% and above, the service becomes practically unprofitable. Expert assessments and calculations of specialists showed that with an increase in the level of service from 95 to 97%, the economic effect increases by 2%, and costs - by 14%.

Section "Modern logistics technologies in the development of the aerospace complex"

etc. To eliminate short-term cash gaps, the use of an overdraft is considered preferable, but with the constant use of borrowed capital, the choice of types of loan products should be based on taking into account the effect of financial and operating leverage. At the stage of operational management, synchronization of cash flows is carried out by compiling and executing a payment calendar that reflects specific dates, volumes, sources of income and directions for spending money.

Control cash flows means the implementation of them: planning; forecasting; budgeting; current accounting and control; cash flow analysis .

Summing up the above, we can conclude that cash flow management - essential element financial policy enterprise, it permeates the entire management system of the enterprise. The importance and importance of cash flow management in an enterprise can hardly be overestimated, since not only the stability of an enterprise in a specific period of time, but also the ability to further develop depends on its quality and efficiency.

whim, achievement financial success for the long term. Cash flows are one of the central elements of the life of any enterprise. Their management is an integral part of the management of all financial resources of the enterprise to ensure the goal of the enterprise - making a profit.

1. Van Horn J.K. Fundamentals of financial management / per. from English. M. : Finance and statistics, 2008.

2. Kolass B. Management financial activities enterprises. M. : Economics, 2009.

3. Trenev N. N. Financial management. M. : Perspective: Yurayt, 2007.

4. Blank I. A. Management of cash flows. 2nd ed. Kyiv: NikaCentre, 2007.

5. Khakhonova N. N. Methodological aspects of the formation of accounting and analytical support for cash flow management commercial organizations. Rostov n / a: RGEU "RINH", 2005.

© Zhirovov D. A., 2013

A. S. Zvereva Supervisor - M. V. Pimenova Siberian State Aerospace University named after Academician M. F. Reshetnev, Krasnoyarsk

FEATURES OF ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF TRANSPORT SERVICES

the main features of transport services are determined, which must be taken into account when assessing their quality.

With the development of the market and the intensification of competition in the market, the decisive factor in choosing a transport but forwarding company is the quality of transport services. In order to fully meet the requirements of customers, it is necessary to study the needs of consumers, the capabilities of competitors, accurately establish and professionally implement a marketing strategy for transport services to customers. The concept of "transport service" means not only the transportation of goods, but also operations related to the preparation and implementation of this process (loading, unloading, forwarding, preparation of vehicles, information and insurance services and etc.). The quality of transport services depends on the quality of transport services, the quality of operational work and is a special case of the quality of transport products. The process of providing transport services in accordance with established norms and requirements is called transport services.

An indicator of the quality of a service is a quantitative characteristic of one or more consumer properties of the service. Quality is judged by

a set of characteristics that determine their suitability to meet the needs of consignors and consignees in the relevant transportation. Research shows that acquiring a new customer is much more expensive than retaining an old one. Improving the quality of transport services leads to an increase in the customer base and revenue growth. Customer satisfaction with the provided transport service is determined by such quality criteria as speed, timeliness and safety of transportation, safety of goods, completeness of satisfaction of demand in terms of transportation volumes, complexity of transport services, availability and level of transport services, efficiency and culture of customer service when drawing up contracts and orders for transportation and etc. In order to meet the requirements of customers, it is necessary to study their requests, the approach to each of them must be individual and provide for a high level of transport services provided at a minimum level of costs.

The following features of ensuring the quality of transport services can be distinguished.

Actual problems aviation and astronautics. Socio-economic and human sciences

1. The quality of transport services is difficult to quantify. Most indicators of the quality of transport services cannot be directly measured, they can only be assessed by experts, which greatly complicates the assessment process. However, many quality characteristics, subjectively assessed by customers, can be subjected to quantitative measurement by the transport organization itself if there is a developed methodology for their assessment.

2. An important indicator of quality is the complexity of the provision of transport services, therefore, the quality of the service as a whole is determined by the quality of each subservice. The client, as a rule, prefers to use the services of one transport company, which would provide a comprehensive integrated satisfaction of all the services required by him. Failure as a single sub-service may offset the quality of other sub-services, resulting in the service as a whole being perceived as poor quality.

3. Since the production of a transport service and its consumption occur simultaneously, the preliminary certification of the quality of the service may not be sufficiently reliable. The specificity of transport services is that they cannot be recalled, corrected or verified after provision. The main inconsistencies in the activity may be deviations from the previously agreed parameters for the components that characterize the activity of the company's production business processes. Some of these criteria are agreed with the client before starting work, and some of the criteria are an internal requirement of the company and are guaranteed by default before starting cooperation. Elimination of the identified discrepancy is possible only if it is detected at an intermediate stage of the provision of the service. To do this, opportunities are being worked out to eliminate the discrepancy by improving similar parameters at the next stages of the service delivery process.

4. Direct interaction between the service provider and its consumer, thus, the client himself is a participant in the technology for its implementation. When providing transport services, the client can indirectly influence the quality of its performance. This is possible, for example, if the client provides false or incomplete information about the cargo presented for transportation. For a transport company, this is fraught with the choice of an irrational type

vehicle or technology of transportation, loading or securing, resulting in inconsistencies or violations in the course of the transport service.

5. An important role in the perception of customer satisfaction in the provision of transport services is played by issues of personal interaction and environment. The most important thing is often not the actual state of things, but the perception of them by the consumer, whose behavior can be unpredictable. When providing transport services, consumers themselves must choose the route and method of delivery, draw up documents, deliver the goods to the point of departure and pick up from the point of destination. Thus, consumers are, in fact, part of the workforce in the provision of services, so it is necessary to create appropriate conditions for them, to conduct training.

6. The service provider is not the owner of the result, moreover, it is not always possible to conduct tests to objectively verify this result. This circumstance causes difficulties in determining the values ​​of indicators of the quality of transport services and a comprehensive assessment of its level.

To take into account the peculiarities of ensuring the quality of transport services, expert evaluation methods are of particular importance. One of the effective, visual and useful tools for measuring the quality of service is the use of the SIAURIL methodology. It was developed with the aim of overcoming the difficulty of translating abstract reasoning about the quality of services into specific management decisions to improve the quality of customer service.

When conducting research, two main problems must be solved. First, it is required to identify consumer expectations regarding the service, i.e. what the consumer expects to receive when interacting with the company providing the service. Secondly, it is necessary to evaluate the perceived quality of the service.

Transport companies should regularly audit the quality of services by studying the customer base, complaints, letters and proposals, as well as through specially created quality audit teams. Measurement of the quality of transport services should be based on the same criteria that guide buyers of transport services.

© Zvereva A. S., 2013

Introduction

1. General characteristics of the forwarding company LLC "Fortek" and its place in the market of logistics services

1.1 Description and organizational structure of the company

1.2 Place of the company in the market of logistics services

2. Assessment of the quality of transport and forwarding services

2.1 The concept of freight forwarding services

2.2 Legal regulation of the activities of freight forwarding companies in Russia

2.3 Features of intra-port forwarding

2.4 Quality as a factor in increasing the competitiveness of freight forwarding services

2.5 Criteria for assessing the quality of freight forwarding services

3. Development of criteria and assessment of the quality of services of the freight forwarding company Fortek

3.1 General scheme of business processes of Fortek LLC 40

3.2 Substantiation of the criteria for assessing the quality of work of the company Fortek LLC

3.4 Issues of the company's business processes. Suggestions for improvement

Conclusion

List of sources used

Introduction

International freight forwarding service is an integral part of the process of transportation of foreign trade goods. Freight forwarding companies, as a transportation operator, organize the transportation of goods in international traffic from the manufacturer to the consumer, which is an extremely complex process; it is not without reason that forwarders are sometimes called the “transport architect”. Describing the specifics of the Russian freight forwarding business at the present stage, it can be noted that, in the current conditions, this is the business of many small companies with rather limited resources. The field of freight forwarding is characterized by low capital intensity, which, in the absence of state licensing, allows you to create new companies without much cost and effort, it is for this business that there is a high risk of frequent transition of corporate clients to competitors and the departure of key employees along with the client base in order to create their own enterprises.

On the basis of the foregoing, it can be summarized that the transport and forwarding business in Russia in modern conditions is still in the development stage, is antitrust, and its conduct takes place in conditions of fierce competition for customers and cargo flows, taking place both within the industry and with actual carriers. various types of transport. As a consequence of this, there are no entry barriers to this market and the highest level of entrepreneurial risk.

For normal functioning and development, a high quality of service for cargo owners, compliance with special international rules, precise fulfillment of the terms of the contract, orders of customers, carriers, banks, insurers, compliance with customs and state laws are required.

The existing growth in transportation volumes does not at all exclude fierce competition among freight forwarding companies, and it is in the conditions of such fierce competition that improving the quality of transport services for cargo owners becomes one of the main ways to conquer or expand the transport market. To do this, it is necessary to know well the needs of consumers of transport services, their capabilities and the capabilities of competitors, correctly determine the marketing strategy of transport services for specific cargo owners and skillfully implement it. This strategy, first of all, should provide for a high level of quality of the transport services offered, capable of satisfying the needs of cargo owners better than those of a competitor. The formation of an effective quality management system in any company is impossible without their identification, updating, systematization and analysis.

The analysis of the concept of "quality" is devoted to the works of many specialists. Despite the predominant coincidence of views, their opinions can be divided into two groups. The representative of the first point of view on quality as "compliance with requirements" is, for example, F. Crosby. A. Feigenbaum, E. Deming, V. Shewhart can be attributed to the second group of specialists who associate quality with meeting the needs and expectations of consumers. Questions of quality assessment, of course, are analyzed in the development of various standards and regulations.

This work is devoted to the issues of assessing the quality of the work of a freight forwarding company. The aim of the work is to analyze the current situation and develop a quality assessment system on the example of the functioning of the transport and forwarding company Fortek LLC.

To achieve this goal, the following tasks will be solved in the work:

the theoretical foundations of the concept of the quality of transport and forwarding services, the legal regulation of this field of activity are considered.

The currently existing methods and methods for assessing quality are described.

a system of the most relevant quality assessment criteria for the company has been developed.

describes the main business processes of the company.

Using a group of selected criteria, it is planned to implement the main task of this work - to analyze the main problems of the company at each stage of the business process.

The result of this work will be the development of proposals for improving the company's business processes and improving the quality of its services in order to increase competitiveness and strengthen its position in the market.

1. General characteristics of the forwarding company LLC "Fortek" and its place in the market of logistics services

1 Description and organizational structure of the company

This work is devoted to the analysis of the quality of the activities of the forwarding company "Fortek", therefore, acquaintance with the company, a description of the organizational structure, and a place in the market of forwarding services in this part of the work is necessary.

The Fortek company is an independent company in the form of a limited liability company as part of the Forum Group holding. In this regard, in order to describe the scope of activity and determine the place of the company in the holding, it is necessary first to tell directly about the Forum Group holding. Forum-Group Holding was organized in 2002 as a small company "Forum" - an intermediary that provides its customers with the service of customs clearance of goods at the Baltic Customs of St. Petersburg. Over time, the traffic handled by the company increased, the number of customers increased, and it became necessary to create its own forwarding department within the company. On the basis of this department, a separate forwarding company Fortek was later formed.

Due to the growth in the volume of processed goods, over time, it was decided to abandon the services of third-party brokers and organize our own customs broker company, with a staff of declarants and license its activities. At the moment, the forum group holding includes several companies (see Figure 1.1)

Forum-Broker Company is a leading customs broker in the North-West of Russia, licensed by the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation, and operates mainly in the area of ​​subordination of the Baltic and St. Petersburg customs. The company successfully operates in the market of customs services, constantly increasing its potential and improving its experience.

Figure 1.1 Organizational structure of holding "Forum-Group"

The list of the company's services includes services for consulting clients in the field of foreign economic activity; services for the classification of products according to TN VED; calculation of the amount of customs payments, provision of reference information on customs rates; preparation of documentation required for execution of customs declarations; submission of declarations to customs, provision of documentation and additional information required for customs procedures to the customs authority of the Russian Federation; payment of fees related to customs procedures. Great experience of interaction with customs authorities, professionalism of employees and individual approach to each client give the company the opportunity to carry out customs clearance and customs clearance of goods in the shortest possible time.

Fortek is a freight forwarding company that provides services for intra-port forwarding in different areas of the port of St. Petersburg, forwarding of road transport from Europe to the Russian Federation. The list of company services includes tracking (monitoring) the movement of goods from the sender to the point of destination, freight forwarding directly at the port, export of goods from the port and delivery to recipients, coordination of door-to-door transportation of goods by sea and road transport, handling of goods at customs terminals of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg, organization of transportation of oversized and dangerous goods.

To perform the functions of the company, we work with agents of shipping lines, with the structures of the port of St. Petersburg, with carriers and forwarders in Russia and abroad, insurance companies, customs terminals and commercial warehouses.

Many years of experience and officially concluded agreements with shipping line agents, stevedoring companies, large transport companies gives Fortek the opportunity to provide its services at a high level, but the competition is growing every year in the market of freight forwarding companies, and especially in St. Petersburg, where their countless number makes the company's management look for ways and directions to improve the quality of services and, accordingly, attract more and more customers.

It should be emphasized that it is extremely difficult to consider the work of the company as carrying out separately transport-forwarding and brokerage activities. Nowadays, external conditions and growing competition among similar companies force companies to offer their customers exactly a combined service. In the case of which the client receives a full package of services with door-to-door delivery, the solution of all issues with customs clearance and, as a rule, the total integral rate for all services, which can change only in case of force majeure, which gives the client a more secure . reliable service, service in a complex. And the company, on the other hand, allows the most successful coordination of processes within the company, while avoiding problems with the separation of information flows and document flow among different forwarding and brokerage companies. and provide a better and more efficient service.

It is impossible to consider the organizational structure and functional areas of the Fortek company without a preliminary comment on what place the company occupies within the structure of the Forum group holding. The organizational structure of the Forum Group holding is quite simple (see Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.2 Organizational structure of holding Forum-group

The company is headed by several founders, the functions of management and general coordination are carried out by the financial director and general directors of the two companies. Since the main activity of the holding and directly the company Forum-Broker LLC, which is part of the holding along with Fortek LLC, is the customs clearance of goods, the structure, traditionally for a company in this direction, includes customs declaration departments, a client department and an analytical department, who carry out the main functions of the company. Financial services - accounting and financial department headed by the financial director deals with all economic issues. The legal department, the personnel department, the security service and the IT department are, although auxiliary, but without them the work of the company would be difficult. The organizational structure of the Fortek company (see Figure 1.3) should be identified and explained as a separate diagram, since it is this company that is engaged in the freight forwarding business within our holding.

Figure 1.3 Organizational structure of Fortek

Such an organizational structure primarily reflects several areas of the company's activities, such as ordering sea container transportation, their coordination, ordering transportation by road and their coordination, intra-port freight forwarding, export of goods from the port, delivery of cargo to the client, mediation in solving financial issues by clients in the lines.

In more detail, the functions of each of the departments and their relationship will be discussed in the third chapter when describing business processes within the company.

1.2 Place of the company in the market of logistics services

The general crisis state of the world and national economy could not but have a negative impact on the work of the transport and forwarding industry of the Russian Federation. According to the Association of Freight Forwarders, the total cargo turnover of Russian transport in 2009 was approximately 87% compared to 2008. However, in 2010, and especially for maritime transport, the situation improved significantly due to the growth of cargo traffic. The volume of cargo transportation by sea for 6 months of 2010 amounted to 17.8 million tons, which exceeds the same indicator in 2009 by 1.5%.

Given this situation in the industry, we can say that the activities of the Forum Group holding in general and Fortek LLC in particular are very promising. However, the factor of strong competition in the market and the presence of a lot of negative external factors force us to look for ways to increase the competitiveness of the company and strengthen its place in the market. It is necessary to give a general brief assessment of the company's activities, identifying strengths and weaknesses. The internal advantages of the company in a competitive environment include:

the possibility of offering customers a combined customs clearance service with forwarding, which is an important factor when choosing a company from a customer's point of view. Promotes greater clarity and efficiency of work.

The presence of an official license for brokerage activities. This factor increases the reliability of the company in the eyes of customers and contractors, and allows you to speed up the process of working with customs.

a wide range of services provided by the company. Due to the presence in the staff of the company of specialists in various logistics areas, the company can meet the wide needs of its customers and offer them a variety of services.

The result of many years of experience in the forwarding services market and the positive reputation of the company was the presence of a sufficient number of large regular customers, which allowed the company to survive the crisis year and continue to develop further.

You can also highlight some of the weak points of the holding organization, which should be paid serious attention to in the analysis.

Inadequately effective personnel policy of the company. Lack of specialists in certain departments. Private change of personnel and their excess in others.

Conservative policy of the company's owners. This mainly concerns long-term development plans to conquer new markets, open new offices, and expand the package of services.

The lack of a PR department in the company and, as a result, the company's lack of awareness in the market of potential customers.

Speaking about external positive and negative factors, we can single out as advantages a stable demand for the services provided by the company, a good reputation of the company in customs and client circles. And as external threats to the company: the instability of the customs policy of the Russian Federation, strong competition in the forwarding services market, the specifics of working with monopoly shipping lines.

As a result of this chapter, it is important to emphasize that it is necessary to carry out a subsequent analysis and assessment of the quality of the company's services, taking into account all the factors listed below. Only in this case the assessment will be sufficiently objective and applicable in practice.

2. Assessment of the quality of transport and forwarding services

1 The concept of freight forwarding services

Forwarding support in foreign trade is commonly understood as the commercial activity of intermediary firms carried out during the transportation of foreign trade goods and supplementing the main activities of carriers, cargo owners and other persons interested in the cargo. From a legal point of view, forwarding activities can be carried out in the national legal or international legal regime, if there is an international element in it.

Forwarding services in foreign economic activity is the practical implementation of forwarding support, the object of which is foreign trade turnover (freight turnover). The purpose of the feasibility study is to promote the transportation of foreign trade goods and the development of exports of transport services. Forwarding services begin from the moment a decision is made on the need or possibility of transportation and ends at the moment when the cargo is delivered to its final consumer.

Forwarding services include several groups of basic operations.

Organization and registration of transportation. The operations of this group are carried out after the selection, search and finding of transport companies that meet the conditions of the client, as well as establishing business contacts with them. If this is done, then the main functions of the freight forwarding company are:

conclusion of contracts with participants in the transportation process;

operational planning of transportation (submission of applications for transportation, coordination of dates for the delivery of vehicles, reservation of places on ships and aircraft, coordination of the timing of the arrival of goods at the port, etc.);

preparation of transport, shipping and other documents necessary for the transportation process;

conclusion of a cargo transport insurance agreement with an insurance company and receipt of the necessary insurance documents from it;

settlement of accounts with all participants in the transportation process and the insurance company;

conclusion of contracts for the leasing of containers and the practical receipt of the latter.

Preparation of cargo for transportation. Bringing the cargo into a transportable state includes practical work on the packaging of goods, their packing, labeling, as well as on laying the goods into containers, consolidation (consolidation) and disaggregation of container lots and the formation of transport packages. The requirements for these operations are determined by the terms of contracts for transportation, transshipment and sale and purchase.

Customs clearance. For the passage of foreign trade goods through the customs authorities, the freight forwarding company draws up the necessary customs documents.

In a number of countries around the world, freight forwarding firms carry out customs clearance of goods for export and import and pay customs duties, taxes and fees. The customs activity of intermediary firms is subject to licensing by the customs authorities of the state.

Receiving and issuing cargo. A freight forwarding company interacts with carriers and transport infrastructure enterprises, accepting goods from some and transferring them to others.

Loading and unloading, stevedoring and warehouse operations. The freight forwarding company itself can carry out loading and reloading operations or involve any other professionally trained companies for their execution. Warehousing is directly related to the transportation of goods (in anticipation of loading, reloading, as well as for customs purposes), so warehouse operations are one of the functions of a freight forwarding company.

Claim work. It is carried out in case of non-delivery of the cargo to the destination, its delivery in a commercially defective condition or in case of violation of the delivery time.

The above list of functions of freight forwarding companies is not exhaustive and can be supplemented, but at the request of the parties, with other works and services.

Forwarding support of foreign trade turnover as an integral part of international trade should be based on common approaches to the organization of this activity. For the purpose of unification, on May 31, 1926, the International Federation of Forwarding Organizations - FIATA (abbreviations in French) was founded by sixteen national associations of forwarders. FIATA is a non-governmental non-profit international organization. The main goal of FIATA is to ensure the interests of forwarders at the international level.

About 40 thousand forwarding companies from more than 150 countries of the world are members of FIATA, and the number of these companies is constantly growing. Russia is represented in FIATA by the Association of Freight Forwarders of the Russian Federation (AER), which has about 170 members.

The results of FIATA's practical activities have been the development and implementation of forwarding documents that have received official recognition around the world: a forwarding receipt, a forwarder's transport certificate, a warehouse receipt, a shipper's declaration for the transport of dangerous goods, a multimodal transport bill of lading, etc.

2 Legal regulation of the activities of freight forwarding companies in Russia

International legal regulation of the contract of transport expedition has not yet been created. International private law does not contain agreements and conventions that define the main terms of the forwarding contract. Separate attempts to unify the conditions of forwarding activities are made by FIATA. So, in the proforma of the FCR (Forwarder's Certificate of Receipt) forwarding receipt, the basic rules for the performance of forwarding services are indicated. However, all freight forwarding contracts are governed by the norms of national civil law, which, in the absence of the necessary provisions, are supplemented by forwarders with legal regimes borrowed from the norms of French, German and Anglo-American law.

The procedure for the legal regulation of forwarding activities in Russia is enshrined in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (CC RF). Transport expedition is devoted to Ch. 41 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Articles 801 - 806). According to the law, under a freight forwarding contract, one of the parties (forwarder) undertakes, for remuneration and at the expense of the other party (client - consignor or consignee), to perform or organize the performance of services specified in the freight forwarding contract related to the carriage of cargo. Freight forwarding agreements are concluded in the form of an agency agreement (Chapter 49 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) or a commission agreement (Chapter 51 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

The law contains a norm that allows combining the duties of a forwarder and a carrier in one person. Mandatory are the written form of the freight forwarding agreement and the issuance of a power of attorney by the client to the forwarder. The freight forwarder shall not be liable to the client for non-performance or improper performance of the contract of carriage, unless the freight forwarder and the carrier are the same person. The limit of the forwarder's liability for improper performance of the contract by him is not defined. The client is obliged to provide the freight forwarder with full information and the necessary documents for the latter to fulfill the obligations for organizing transportation and data on the nature of the goods presented. The client is responsible for the completeness and accuracy of the submitted documents and information. The freight forwarder has the right to engage any other person to fulfill his obligations under the contract, but in this case he is liable to the client in the same amount as if he himself performed the proper work and services.

The final provisions of Chapter 41 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation explain the procedure and consequences of a unilateral refusal to fulfill obligations under a transport expedition agreement. It is indicated, in particular, that such a refusal by one of the parties may entail compensation to the other party for losses caused by the termination of the contract.

July 2003, the Federal Law of June 30, 2003 No. 87 FZ “On Freight Forwarding Activities” came into force. which, however, did not introduce any fundamentally new norms of TED regulation. Despite the very specific content, the terms “forwarder”, “forwarding”, “forwarding operations” do not always unambiguously define the functions that transport intermediaries assume under contracts concluded with clients.

The subject matter of a freight forwarding contract that a client concludes with a transport intermediary often states that the client instructs, and the forwarder assumes the organization of cargo transportation. Attention should be paid to the fundamental difference in the concepts of "organization of transportation" and "implementation of transportation".

The freight forwarder assumes obligations to organize transportation, informs the client about the progress of the cargo and violations of the delivery time. The fulfillment of the obligations of the forwarder is considered to be the presence of a carrier, the conclusion of a contract of carriage on its own behalf, but at the expense of the client, the provision of a vehicle for loading to the customer in accordance with the terms specified in the application, and informing the client about the arrival of the cargo at the destination.

The client in his application is obliged to provide the forwarder with all the information necessary to conclude a contract of carriage. At the same time, he undertakes to reimburse all expenses incurred by the forwarder and pay him remuneration.

The client undertakes to ensure the loading, unloading of the vehicle and customs clearance of the cargo within the time specified in the contract. The liability of the parties contains force majeure clauses, declares provisions on the liability of the parties for losses caused to the counterparty in the event of improper performance of this agreement, and establishes specific penalties. For example, for non-delivery of vehicles, for their untimely loading and unloading, etc.

The freight forwarding contract contains an article "claims and claims", but the client must understand that they can be presented only under the freight forwarding contract, and not under the contract of carriage.

The contract also indicates whether its parties can transfer their rights and obligations to third parties

3 Features of intra-port forwarding

Since the main activity of Fortek is related to intra-port forwarding, we will touch on this type of forwarding business in more detail. Intermediary activities carried out by professional participants in the market of freight forwarding services at transport infrastructure enterprises have a number of features related to the specifics of freight forwarding on certain main modes of transport. Each of the transport infrastructure facilities (port, airport, station, terminal) has its own organizational, legal, economic and technological features. For the development of international trade, the procedures for organizing cargo handling in seaports are of paramount importance - more than half of the physical volumes of foreign trade goods of most countries are transported with the participation of sea transport.

When considering the basics of forwarding activities in ports, two aspects should be taken into account.

On the one hand, the specifics of the forwarder's activity in the port is that he must organize the interaction of various modes of transport. In the seaport, as in a transport hub, the flows of at least three types of transport converge and distribute - sea, rail and road. Therefore, the freight forwarder must be sufficiently professionally trained in the commercial operation of these modes of transport and their interaction.

On the other hand, the freight forwarder must carry out its activities directly in the port. He must know the laws and customs of the port and strictly observe them. In addition, the port, which belongs to the category of natural monopolists, tends to dictate its terms to all its customers. The forwarder, as a person representing the interests of the cargo owner, has to convince the port administration of the need to give preferences to his clients.

Consider the structure and content of the contract for the transshipment and processing of goods between the forwarder and the port. This agreement has two features. Firstly, it does not reflect the agreements between the cargo owner and the freight forwarder. These arrangements may be different than those agreed between the port and the freight forwarder. Secondly, none of the norms of international and national legislation provides for special rules and procedures for contractual relations with ports. Therefore, the proforma of the contract is developed by the port itself and, as a rule, is offered to the forwarder. The port is a monopoly in its region and is not inclined to adapt to each of its clients.

Most often, in accordance with the subject of the forwarder's agreement with the port, the port, on behalf of the forwarder, receives goods from the railway and road carriers, short-term storage and loading of containers with export cargo and empty ones, as well as similar operations with import cargo in containers arrived in port on sea vessels.

The port determines the places (berths) where container handling operations will be carried out, the type of navigation, the maximum capacity of ships with which the port will work, and the daily ship loading and unloading of containers.

The main obligations of the freight forwarder under the contract are:

Compliance with the planned system for coordinating the volumes of processing containers in the port and their import (for export) or export (for import).

Conclusion of transportation contracts (domestic and international) with carriers of certain types of transport and coordination of schedules for the delivery of vehicles to the port;

Declaration and licensing of cargo in containers in accordance with the current rules at the regional customs. The freight forwarder resolves in advance with the customs authorities all issues regarding the unhindered release of goods from the port;

Guaranteeing the loading of goods into containers with a gross weight not exceeding the carrying capacity of the containers, ensuring the loading of goods only into technically sound containers;

Sending their representatives to the port, who participate in the acceptance of containers by the port from carriers of one type of transport and their delivery by the port to carriers of another type of transport. All possible claims for containers and cargo in them are regulated by the forwarder independently;

Registration of waybills of railway and road transport, issuance of export orders to the port (with a customs permit stamp) with all the details necessary for issuing bills of lading, including the procedure for sending shipping documents;

Ensuring the export of containers from the territory of the port within the time limits stipulated by the contract;

Independent performance of freight forwarding services for those operations that are not provided for by the contract;

Ensuring compliance with safety regulations by its employees in the port.

In accordance with the agreement, the port assumes the following obligations:

Mooring of the ship, stated in the schedule, to the berth without delays in the roadstead, if this is not prevented by weather conditions or the berth is occupied by another vessel;

Unhindered reception of vehicles arriving at the port and wagons transferred to it by the railway;

Carrying out loading and unloading and stevedoring works, ensuring the loading and unloading of containers within the terms specified by the contract;

Acceptance of containers from carriers of various modes of transport with the participation of a representative of the forwarder, external inspection of containers with checking their serviceability and compliance of seal impressions with the information specified in the shipping documents. If necessary, drawing up acts-notifications and general and commercial acts, which reflect the results of inspections;

Registration of acceptance of containers by acceptance certificates (for export) and delivery of containers to the forwarder by expense orders (for import), issuance of export and shipping notices, respectively;

storage of containers in accordance with the procedure, terms and rates specified in the contract.

Delivery of containers to a ship, railway, road carriers with the participation of a forwarder's representative - according to an external inspection with keeping a numbered record of containers behind customs seals, and also, if necessary, a sender or a forwarder;

Proper execution of bills of lading and ensuring that the captain of the vessel signs bills of lading and other shipping documents;

Provision of other services to the freight forwarder under separate contracts or requests and for a fee.

The agreement between the port and the forwarder always contains articles on the responsibility of the parties, tariffs for the performance of works and services by the port.

Thus, intra-port freight forwarding undoubtedly has its own characteristics, which cannot be ignored in the process of organizing and functioning of a company engaged in this line of business.

4 Quality as a factor in increasing the competitiveness of freight forwarding services

Regarding the issue of quality, it is very important to note that freight forwarding services belong to the service sector. Let's turn to the definition of this concept.

Service (maintenance) is an activity for the provision of services that accompanies or ensures the implementation of a certain process.

In a generalized sense, a service is an action that benefits the consumer.

In the international standard ISO 8402 - 86 “Quality. Glossary containing general terms and definitions in the field of quality, a service is defined as an activity associated with the exchange of values, aimed at satisfying needs, expressed in the form of demand, which is not limited to the transfer of ownership of some material product.

Transport service (service) is defined as the activity of forwarding enterprises associated with the process of moving goods in space and time with the provision of transportation, handling and storage services.

Forwarding service is an integral part of the movement of goods from the manufacturer to the consumer and includes the performance of additional work and operations, without which the transportation process is impossible.

Transport service, therefore, is a part of the system of circulation and distribution of goods, which includes, in addition to the transportation of goods, the performance of warehouse, handling and commercial operations.

The quality of transport services is determined by the speed, time and reliability of delivery just in time, the degree of safety, the safety of goods and passengers, the tariff cost, the presence of a large number of related services, etc.

The formation of a market economy in our country made it possible to further develop the transport service through the inclusion of specialized organizations in it, in particular forwarding activities, which previously existed only in the structure of state enterprises of mainline transport and worked, as a rule, in its interests.

The modern concept of forwarding activities (FEA) can be defined as activities to provide transport services in the logistics process of delivery of goods, performed in the interests of consignors and consignees.

The clients to whom forwarders provide their services are cargo owners (consignors, consignees), including foreign ones, as well as other forwarding and agency organizations. In turn, freight forwarders themselves can be clients of banks, enterprises of the main transport, customs and insurance companies. Thus, forwarding activities are conditioned by a wide range of technological, financial, and legal relations.

The logistical process of cargo delivery mentioned in the definition of TED assumes such an organization, which, providing optimal conditions for delivery, in a developed, competitive market of forwarding services with an established priority of the buyer, not the seller, is focused on the interests and demands of the consignee.

The past perestroika years were accompanied not only by an intensive growth in the number of forwarding organizations, but also often by the short duration of their work due to the lack or lack of relevant knowledge and experience.

A modern transport forwarder, ensuring the high quality of the services provided, must meet all the requirements that apply to him as a logistics operator.

The range of services provided as part of the logistics service is quite diverse and affects the competitiveness of the company and the amount of costs. A characteristic feature is that the services are systemic in nature. In this regard, the company needs to accurately determine the strategy in the field of logistics customer service.

The scope of each specific service includes a large set of various operations, the implementation of which is determined by the requirements of the client. However, in some cases, due to the client's lack of necessary experience, the freight forwarder must notify him of his capabilities.

The process of providing each specific forwarding service is evaluated primarily in terms of the technological completeness and legal literacy of the documentation confirming the result of its execution, as well as the professional competence of the personnel of the forwarding organization involved in its implementation. The basis of this documentation is documents confirming the execution of a freight forwarding contract, other contracts with customers, railway transport enterprises, insurance companies, customs brokers and other organizations that provide for the forwarder's obligations to perform or organize the performance of operations and services specified by these contracts.

Today, a lack of logistics service, whether provided by the manufacturer or by others, makes it easier for competitors to enter the developing market sector. Consumers take into account not only prices, appearance and quality of goods, but also the quality and range of logistics services offered. In other words, customer service (satisfaction with their needs) is a key factor in shaping the needs of logistics.

The study and analysis of the problem of the quality of freight forwarding services to consumers showed that the existing service concepts are based on the assertion that a high level of quality of transport services is achieved under the condition of providing comprehensive services: the more services provided to consumers, the higher the level of service quality. At the same time, in market conditions, a service with a wider range of services offered than is necessary for the consumer costs the latter more.

In the course of further advancement of our economy from the producer market to the consumer market, the requirements of consignors and consignees (customers) to the quality of transport and forwarding services in all parts of the logistics chain are increasing. At the same time, the logistics approach is not limited to individual functions: transportation, transshipment, warehousing, commissioning, etc., but comprehensively covers all functions and value creation processes.

A modern highly organized service is a necessary condition for improving the quality of the Russian transport system during the formation of a new economy.

5 Criteria for assessing the quality of freight forwarding services

The concept of "quality" in a broad sense is a philosophical category that expresses the essential certainty of an object, due to which it is precisely this and not another. In this sense, the quality of one object (service) cannot be compared with the quality of another, it cannot be said which object is better or worse. This aspect of quality is extremely important for the characterization of services and the practice of evaluating them.

To date, there are no effective quantitative methods for assessing the quality of services. According to GOST R 50691 - 94 "Service Quality Assurance Model", service quality is a set of service characteristics that determine its ability to satisfy the established or implied needs of the consumer. The analysis of the concept of "quality" is devoted to the works of many specialists. Despite the predominant coincidence of views, their opinions can be divided into two groups.

Representatives of the first group believe that the quality should be considered the production of such products and services, the characteristics of which meet specific requirements that have a numerical value. The main provisions of this position are as follows:

It is necessary that the quality be defined (established), otherwise it is impossible to manage it;

If the requirements are set as numerical values, the characteristics of the service can be measured to determine whether they meet the requirements.

Representatives of the second point of view believe that quality is determined by the degree to which the consumer's expectations are met in relation to the service provided, and not by any measurable characteristics.

Quality is thus inextricably linked to needs. For example, in modern international standards (IS) of the ISO 9000 - 2000 series, quality is defined as the degree to which a set of own characteristics meets the requirements. It is characteristic that in this definition there is no word denoting the carrier of quality - "object". Here quality and requirements are directly related. At the same time, the standard, speaking of quality, implies not just the service itself, but also the process of its provision, and the concept of “requirements” includes the expected needs.

The composition and structure of the quality indicators of freight traffic for all types of transport are established by GOST R 51005 - 96 “Transport Services. Freight transportation. Nomenclature of quality indicators”,

The key parameters of the quality of transport services to consumers include:

time from receipt of the order for transportation to delivery;

reliability and the ability to deliver on demand;

availability of stocks, stability of supply;

completeness and degree of availability of order fulfillment;

convenience of placing and confirming the order;

objectivity of tariffs and regularity of information on service costs;

the possibility of providing loans;

efficiency of cargo handling in warehouses;

the quality of packaging, as well as the possibility of performing package and container transportation.

Each of the considered indicators plays a more or less important role depending on specific market conditions. The quality of customer service is the result of the activities of employees of structural divisions of enterprises in all parts of the supply chain. Quality is achieved through careful planning, professional training of employees and continuous improvement of service performance.

The most important comprehensive indicators for assessing the quality of services from the point of view of the consumer include:

environment (furnishings and interior of the office, equipment, appearance of staff, etc.);

reliability (efficiency and confidence in the results of work and services; cargo delivery at the right time and place). A significant factor affecting the reliability of delivery is the existence of obligations (guarantees) stipulated by the contract, by virtue of which the supplier is liable for violation of delivery deadlines. The reliability of information and financial procedures is also understood. Reliability refers to the ability of a service system to function without failure;

accessibility (ease of establishing links with the performer). Availability also means having stocks of products to continuously meet the needs of consumers for products. In the case when we are talking about a transport and forwarding company, this may be the ability to order transport or a forwarding service.

security (lack of risk and distrust on the part of the consumer of services), for example, ensuring the safety of cargo;

diligence (guarantees that services will be performed by experienced and competent personnel);

politeness, responsiveness of the staff, mutual understanding with the consumer (sincere interest, ability to understand the problems of the consumer);

sociability of staff (the ability to communicate with the consumer of services in an accessible and understandable language);

functionality (characterized by the duration of the service cycle from receiving an order to its fulfillment). Functionality characterizes the ability of the service system to maintain the expected timing and acceptable flexibility of operations.

The service cycle (order fulfillment) is the interval between the sending of an order for the supply of products and the receipt by the consumer of the ordered products. This indicator must be considered from the point of view of the consumer. The time it takes to complete an order fulfillment cycle depends on the structure of the service system. It can last from several hours to several months. Order fulfillment cycles differ depending on the level of service, the type of customer and the degree of market uncertainty.

The order fulfillment cycle is determined by the following indicators:

the degree of satisfaction of consumer expectations in terms of order fulfillment;

uninterrupted execution of logistics operations;

flexibility of logistics operations;

level of service failures.

To ensure the required level of continuity, logistics management should:

determine the minimum order lead time;

prioritize with limited resources;

For a more complete assessment of the quality of service, other indicators are also considered:

response time to a consumer request;

completeness of the order - delivery of the entire range and the required quantity of products ordered by the consumer;

frequency of deliveries during the required period.

The considered indicators are the main indicators of the quality of customer service. Their definition, monitoring and evaluation determine the effectiveness of the service system. Moreover, for each parameter there are two values ​​(conditional): the first characterizes the consumer's expectations, the second - the perception of the consumer in relation to this parameter. When a consumer evaluates the quality of services, he compares the actual values ​​of the quality parameters with the expected ones, and if they match or are close, then the quality is considered satisfactory or acceptable. Consumer expectations of the client are determined by the information about the services transmitted by the consumers of services to each other; personal ideas of the client about quality (his requests, past experience); external sources of information (radio, television, press).

Foreign experience testifies to the increased attention to the problems of transport services. Thus, in countries with a developed market economy, the following trends in the development of transport services take place: an increase in the volume of transportation of high-value goods with a simultaneous reduction in low-value goods; an increase in average delivery distances and an increase in the share of international transportation; increasing responsibility for the quality and timing of transportation throughout the entire transport chain;

growth in the volume of traffic between enterprises while reducing the volume of traffic within enterprises; reduction in volumes of bulk bulk cargoes and increase in volumes of piece cargoes in containers and on pallets; increasing the carrying capacity of the rolling stock; increase in the volume of transportation of goods (passengers) in specialized rolling stock; the predominance of logistics approaches in the organization of transportation and management of the transport process.

In our country, the importance of logistics services is also constantly increasing, the service industry is expanding, and an increasing number of companies and workers are included in it. Many logistics intermediaries become service enterprises, whose services are inextricably linked with the promotion and sale of goods, and the cost of services may exceed the direct costs of production.

One of the important factors of the logistics transport service is the price as the expected compensation for the total set of services that the service organization offers to the consumer. Determining the price of logistics services is much more difficult than the price of transportation itself, since the price of logistics services largely depends on the client's perception of the entire service system. The choice of the optimal level of customer service is determined by the completeness of logistics services and the amount of costs. Solving the "price-quality" problem requires the development of many options and optimization solutions. So, for example, with an increase in the quality level above 70%, service costs grow exponentially, and with a service level of 90% and above, the service becomes practically unprofitable. Expert assessments and calculations of specialists showed that with an increase in the level of service from 95 to 97%, the economic effect increases by 2%, and costs - by 14%.

To identify a rational level of service, costs, revenues and profits are compared, realizing the principle of a compromise solution in which firms achieve the best

the relationship between prices and the level of service, between costs and income. In fact, the procedure is reduced to comparing the costs associated with an increase in the level of service, with the loss of income, growing with a decrease in the number and quality of services. As a result of the comparison, some optimum service level is found. As service levels increase, costs increase, but the revenue loss associated with reduced service levels decreases. The resulting curve is obtained by summing the coordinates of the two named components. Due to the significant difficulties in finding and practical implementation the optimal level of service, service providers and their clientele are guided by a “good enough solution” - a rational, acceptable ratio of costs and income.

In accordance with the prevailing logistical views on quality, the manufacturer must pay all his attention to satisfying the needs and wishes of consumers. Ultimately, it is human needs, as the American scientist A. Maslow defined, that are the "engine" of the market.

When considering the quality of transport services, the following features should be taken into account:

the choice of a complex of services requires consideration of all possible options for the levels of transport services;

the client may have several needs, which entails the compliance of the properties and characteristics of services with several and often conflicting requirements at the same time;

when concluding a contract, the requests and needs of customers are clearly specified and recorded;

in many cases, the needs of the client change over time, which necessitates periodic marketing research. Each type of transport service requires serious study and analysis;

customer needs and requests are usually expressed in terms of quantified properties and include aspects such as safety, operability, availability, reliability, economics, environmental friendliness, etc.;

to quantify quality, expressions such as “relative quality”, “quality level”, “quality measure” are used.

In order to improve transport services, information on the quality of transport services, obtained on the basis of accumulated experience and the wishes of customers, should be carefully studied and analyzed.

Quality is evaluated only by the consumer, and therefore should be made dependent on his needs and wishes. This means that the consumer is a participant in the process carried out by the manufacturer and is interested in the final result, being the main arbiter in its evaluation.

Of course, a quantitative assessment of the level and feasibility of service maintenance is multifactorial and multicriteria. Since a particular type of service that has advantages in some respects may be inferior in other respects, a practical assessment of the level of service can only be correctly carried out using the method expert assessments. Based on this, it is important to determine the list of criteria for assessing the quality, which is inherent in a freight forwarding company. A number of criteria for assessing quality have been listed above. For the convenience of their use to assess the situation directly in the company, the following classification of quality criteria is proposed, by combining them into 4 main groups (see Figure 2.1):

Figure 2.1 Classification of quality assessment criteria

Time characteristics:

The time from receipt of the order to delivery of the goods to the client, one of essential qualities efficiency is often the main defining requirement for the client, even bypassing the price of service.

Availability to ensure the implementation of the service at the request of the client. This characteristic indicates the ability of the company to fulfill the client's request as quickly as possible, which may depend on the availability of a free park, on the breadth of established relationships with contractors. It is also about continuity of supply.

Response time to customer requests. It is also a very important characteristic at the preparatory stage, before working directly with the client's transportation.

Price characteristics:

The cost of basic and additional services compared to competitors is, of course, a key characteristic, but relying only on it in the assessment is not enough and wrong.

Objectivity and transparency of tariffs for services, has great importance when it comes to standard tariffs - tariffs of lines, ports, terminals.

The regularity of informing the client about the costs, especially about the additional costs that arise already in the process of transportation.

The possibility of lending to the client, providing him with a deferral of payments to customs and for transport. Payment of advance payments to line agents.

Prompt and accurate calculation of preliminary expenses. First of all, it influences the client's choice of a particular company for work. It makes it possible to evaluate the efficiency of transportation in general, both for the client and for the feasibility study.

Professionalism in choosing the optimal delivery scheme. This characteristic can also be included in the list of efficiency indicators.

Reliability characteristics:

The degree of cargo safety during transportation and processing, as one of the main indicators.

Informativeness of the transportation process, namely, the possession by the company's employees of operational and up-to-date information about the location of the cargo at any time.

Reasonable distribution of risks between the client and the company in case of force majeure. These moments, of course, are legally fixed in the contract, but taking into account the realities of modern business, it is important for the client in exceptional situations to be confident in the reasonable behavior of the company and its reliability from this point of view.

Legal and financial literacy of staff. This characteristic affects a lot of points in the transportation process. This includes the execution of contracts, the calculation of payments and expenses, the transfer of funds to counterparties, and much more.

Guarantees of fulfillment of obligations. Here also, along with the existence of the contract, guarantees must be present and confirmed in practice. Most often, initially, customers associate guarantees with a good reputation of the company in the market, its fame and scale of work.

The professional competence of the staff as a guarantee of the correct representation of the client's interests in the customs authorities. Confidence in choosing reliable counterparties. Solving all possible problem situations. Experience and personal approach.

Additional characteristics:

Functional flexibility in the work of the company. This means the possibility in the process of transportation under the influence of various circumstances, to adjust previous plans, to find opportunities to solve problems that arise.

Complexity of services. This criterion has already been discussed in the previous chapter. It is very important, since more and more clients outsourcing the logistics of their company, it is very important to receive services as a package, in a complex.

Communication characteristics of the staff. Accessibility - ease of establishing connections, politeness, responsiveness, sociability, interest. They are important, both at the initial stage of developing a service project, and in the process of its implementation. This is the key to long-term cooperation.

Company environment. These are such moments as the atmosphere and interior of the office, the appearance of employees, equipment, etc.

Having outlined all the above criteria, it is important to emphasize that, of course, in each individual company, their set will be diverse. In different subgroups of the classification, characteristics can be repeated, since they can simultaneously characterize several qualities. When choosing priorities in improving quality characteristics, it is important to understand that the growth of the company's competitiveness, recognized by an increase in the level of service, is accompanied, on the one hand, by a decrease in losses in the market, and on the other hand, by an increase in service costs. The task of the logistics service is precisely to find the optimal level of service.

service forwarding logistic quality

3. Development of criteria and assessment of the quality of services of the freight forwarding company Fortek

1 General scheme of business processes of LLC Fortek

As already mentioned in the first part of this work, Fortek LLC is an integral part of the Forum Group holding. Thus, it is impossible to describe the business processes of the company without considering them as part of the overall business process in the holding.

In turn, it is better to consider the business process diagram of the company as a whole in stages, since the business process itself consists of several logically separated functional parts. It is necessary to make a digression regarding the fact that departments that perform not the main, but auxiliary functions in the company, such as the security service, the personnel department and the IT department, will not be involved in these schemes, since the schemes are rather simplified regarding their work and the functions of similar departments in any company is pretty clear.

It should be emphasized that each of the clients can, along with an application for a full service - forwarding, freight and customs clearance (the so-called full package of services), apply for any services selectively. For example, if the client uses the services of a third-party customs broker, and he only needs delivery and forwarding, or vice versa, he only needs customs clearance.

It is important to clarify that the processes below are presented rather simplified, the diagram describes the process in which there were no failures, that is, its simplest variant. Before describing the business processes directly, it is necessary to present a general scheme of interaction between the holding departments. Previously, before describing the business processes directly, it is necessary to present a general scheme of interaction between the holding's departments, see Fig. 3.1.

Figure 3.1. General scheme of interaction between holding departments

You can comment on this scheme as follows.

The commercial department is the coordinating department in the overall system; almost all information and documentary flows of the company pass through it. Structurally, a specific manager is attached to each of the clients, who, in turn, acts as an intermediary for him and solves all issues for him within the company.

Managers are formally divided into subgroups according to functional duties Search for clients and their development are engaged in - managers-search engines, directly maintaining the cargo of a particular client - client managers. Also informally, each of the managers is a specialist in a certain type of cargo. This allows them to make the most of their opportunities.

The legal department is traditionally the department dealing with settlement legal issues, and from different sides, between clients and the company, between the company and the customs authorities, they prepare contracts of various types.

The finance department is an integral part of any transaction with a client. All payments to customers, payments for payments to customs authorities, payments to transport companies and shipping line agents go through it.

The analytics department performs, at the request of the commercial department, an analysis of requests for the identification of TNVED codes and the preliminary calculation of payments. Also, their main function is to analyze the possibilities for paying minimum payments for the client, by selecting declaration options with different TNVED codes and, accordingly, different duty rates.

The customs declaration department performs the main function of the company as a customs broker. Declarants prepare the necessary package of documents, observing all legislative norms, for submission to customs and declaration of goods. Its employees, located directly at the terminals and in the port, are engaged in filing declarations directly with the customs, supervise inspection procedures, various additional customs procedures and coordinate the process of releasing goods for free circulation.

A detailed description of the function and business processes of the freight forwarding department, which is just a legally separate company LLC Fortek, will be given below.

At the first stage of the company's business process, departments are involved: analytical, feasibility study, legal, commercial, and on the other hand directly to the client, who is still potential.

At this stage, there is a direct request of a new or regular client for forwarding and customs clearance. Each of the departments processes the information given to the clients and at the output the client gives a positive or negative answer. For clarity, the elements of the first stage of the business process can be represented in the diagram (see Figure 3.2). In words, this stage can be described as follows:

· A request from a potential client to the commercial department for a calculation of the cost of services. Providing them with the necessary documents for this calculation.

Figure 3.2 General scheme of the first stage of the company's business process

o A request from a potential client to the commercial department for a calculation of the cost of services. Providing them with the necessary documents for this calculation.

o Document processing by the manager of the client department and transfer of data to the analytical department for analysis and selection of TNVED codes and preliminary calculation of payments

o Transfer by the manager of the client department of data to the forwarding department for preliminary calculation of the cost of delivery, forwarding, removal from terminals, etc.

o Analyst response

o Feasibility study response

o The manager of the commercial department, based on the information collected, forms a general offer and send it to the client

o The client considers the company's proposal and gives an answer - consent or disagreement to the transaction, it is also quite possible to make some adjustments on both sides.

o In case of agreement to the transaction, the manager of the commercial department sends to the legal department all the necessary documents for signing the contract for brokerage services and forwarding.

o The legal department returns contracts for submission to the client for signature

The manager prepares for the client a complete list of documents required for registration and, together with the contract, transfers to the client

o The business process moves to the second stage

In the event that the client agrees to the transaction, but with adjustments, the process is repeated from the beginning.

In case of disagreement of the client, the transaction is not executed

At the second stage of the business process, the cargo is in transit. On the this stage the following departments are involved in the business process: analytical, feasibility study, declarations, commercial, financial and from the outside the client-importer and counterparties (transport companies, line agents, etc.)

At this stage, monitoring, processing of documentation and financial payments are mainly carried out, as a preparatory work for the clearance of cargo that is in transit. The elements of the second stage of the business process in the company can be represented in the diagram (see Fig. 3.3)

It should be noted that since this stage is no longer preparatory, but working, all elements of the process are accompanied by entering data into the company's program.

The client provides the manager of the commercial department with an application for transportation or transport forwarding, original documents (bills of lading), gives information about the location of the cargo, dates of arrival.

The manager submits to the feasibility study department applications for forwarding and transportation and the necessary documentation

The manager of the commercial department sends all the necessary documentation to the analytical department.

time passed from the first request of the client to the actual registration process.

The feasibility study agrees on the details of loading with the client's supplier or requests information from counterparties on the location of the cargo already in transit for further tracking.

The feasibility study and analysts give the results of the work to the manager, he informs the client about the planned dates of the arrival of the cargo, the amounts of payments.

The feasibility study department and the manager inform the finance department about the need for invoicing. Invoices are issued to the client.

Figure 3.3 General scheme of the second stage of the company's business process

­
Client transfers cash to company accounts

The financial department informs the manager about the receipt of funds, the funds are transferred to counterparties (to customs authorities, transport companies, line agents)

At the third stage, the customs clearance of the cargo and its release into free circulation takes place. At this stage, the following departments participate in the business process: feasibility study, declaration department, commercial, financial, and also from the outside, the importing client and counterparties.

This is the final stage of the transaction, in its process, customs clearance and forwarding of cargo within the port and terminal, release and delivery of cargo to the client take place directly. The diagram (see Fig. 3.4) shows the following elements of the third stage of the business process in the company.

The feasibility study during the monitoring process learns about the arrival of cargo at the land customs terminal or at the port of arrival

In the case of sea transportation, forwarders in the port receive documents from line agents and transfer them to the manager.

In the case of road transportation, the declaring department is informed about the need to start the customs declaration process

The manager transfers the entire package of documents for submission to customs to the declaration department. Additionally, you may need various constituent documents, certificates, licenses, technical descriptions, which the manager also prepares at the second stage.

The submitting declarants of the declaration department submit documents to the customs.

The declaration department learns about the release of goods for free circulation. Transfers information and documents to the manager.

The manager coordinates with the client all the details of the delivery of the goods.

Applies to the feasibility study with an application for export from the port or from the terminal. Submits documents

Feasibility study solves all issues related to the export of cargo and informs the manager

The manager submits an application to the finance department for issuing final invoices to the client

Invoices issued and paid

The cargo is taken out and delivered to the client

The following digression can be made about this stage. Part of the invoices can be issued at the end of the transportation. At the request of the client, the cargo can be exported for temporary storage to a third-party warehouse.

Now let's touch on a more detailed description of the business processes of Fortek LLC. It's like the internal business processes of the company. Along with them, those described above are external for Fortek LLC. We will describe the business processes within the company starting from the working stage, omitting the approval process, since it has already been described in sufficient detail above.

As follows from the previous descriptions, the forwarding department is involved in almost all stages of the company's business process. Once again, it should be recalled that the main activity of the company is intra-port forwarding of export cargo and the provision of services for the transportation of goods by sea, as well as forwarding cargo from the European direction by road.

In connection with this division of the company's services, it is necessary to present its business processes in two versions: the option of coordinating sea transportation and the option of coordinating transportation by road.

In the case of the first option. The cargo is transported by sea. The company provides intra-port forwarding service. Additionally, a cycle of ordering sea freight from the company's logisticians can be added to it. You can depict this business process in the form of a diagram (see Fig. 3.5)

Figure 3.4 General scheme of the third stage of the company's business process

You can describe the process as follows:

The manager brings to the department an application for forwarding and documentation (originals or copies of bills of lading, warrants, powers of attorney

The manager submits an application for sea transportation to the department

Booking specialists order transportation from contractors

Specialists - logisticians for sea transportation track the movement of the container and transfer documents to monitoring specialists.

Monitoring specialists track the movement of the container to the port of destination

When cargo arrives at the port, forwarding agents-couriers are sent to the offices of line agents to receive documents

Documents are processed and transferred to the manager for submission to customs

Finance specialists request invoices from counterparties (agents, terminals) and submit them as payment to the financial department

After the cargo is released for free circulation, the manager submits an export request to the export specialists

Simultaneously asks to get a release for export from the port

Specialists request lines for export permits, pay the necessary bills, provide the necessary documentation (powers of attorney, payments, insurance)

At this moment, the export specialists are looking for a transport to export the cargo from the port and coordinate the delivery with the client

After receiving all confirmations, the cargo is delivered to the client, and the manager is informed about it.

This is where the process of intra-port forwarding for the company ends, in the general program of the holding, notes are made about the closure of the transportation, the final settlements between the company and the client take place already in the external part of the business process.

If the cargo is transported by road transport. The process will look like this:

KO manager submits an application to the department for forwarding and transportation of goods by road

The Road Forwarding Specialist (SEA) contacts the shipper and clarifies the shipment details.

Figure 3.5 Scheme of the business process of Fortek LLC. Intraport forwarding

SEA orders transportation from contractors

In the process of delivery, the movement of transport is monitored, when the cargo arrives at intermediate warehouses (Finland, the Baltic States), if necessary, the documents are corrected, additional analysis of the cargo

Upon the arrival of the cargo at the terminal, the SEA notifies the declaration department and the manager.

The manager and the declaration department notify the SEA about the release of the cargo for free circulation

Finance specialists ask counterparties for invoices for services

Bills are paid

Export specialists or SEA clarify with the client the details of the delivery of cargo to him

The cargo is delivered to the client and the client department is informed about it. Visually, a business process can be represented as a diagram (see Figure 3.6). This type services is a fairly new, developing direction of the company. LLC "Fortek" has been forwarding vehicles for about 2 years, and this, of course, is not the main direction. On the other hand, even taking into account the low profitability of this area of ​​activity, it was necessary to create and develop it in order to increase the universality of the company's services. With the current development of road transport and the demand for this type of service, the inability to provide it would be a big omission for the company.

What are the advantages of this direction?

The company, if necessary, can always offer the client an alternative for choosing the mode of transport or combined transportation.

Delivery by road on time is much more preferable for the client, especially for perishable goods.

Delivery by road involves most often door-to-door delivery in one vehicle, which increases the safety of the cargo.

Figure 3.6 Scheme of the business process of Fortek LLC. Freight Forwarding

3.2 Substantiation of the criteria for assessing the quality of work of the company Fortek LLC

The second chapter presented a classification of the main criteria that should be used to assess the quality of the majority of the fuel and energy complex. For a subsequent assessment of the situation in the analyzed company, it is necessary to select from the general list exactly those characteristics that are relevant for Fortek. Those characteristics that, taking into account the internal situation in the company and a number of external factors, really affect the increase in the efficiency of the fuel and energy complex and the holding as a whole.

It is extremely difficult to characterize and analyze the quality of Fortek fuel and energy complex services based on quantitative indicators. This is primarily due to the fact that the list of activities of the company is diverse, there are quite a lot of customers who need a one-time service, moreover, with a specific type of cargo, direction of transportation. It is perhaps possible to conduct comparative characteristics according to the same criterion only in the case of comparing several transportations of the same type of the same client. But, even in this case, the process of providing services in different periods of time is influenced by various external and internal factors, such as changes in freight rates, tariffs, the situation at customs, and the workload of the port.

Thus, a practically applicable assessment option in this case is the subjective assessment of the client. Quality, in this case, is evaluated only by the consumer, and therefore must be made dependent on his needs and wishes. This means that the consumer is a participant in the process carried out by the manufacturer and is interested in the final result, being the main arbiter in its evaluation.

Speaking about the choice of the main evaluation criteria for Fortek, we can say that due to the specifics of intra-port forwarding as a type of service, the price factor is important for the client, but when choosing the fuel and energy complex, it is not the key one, since the basis for the fuel and energy complex rate are the tariffs of the lines and the port , which are the same for all forwarders.

Reliability criteria, of course, are taken into account by the client when choosing a company and are no less decisive. Since the delivery of cargo, albeit promptly and possibly cheaper than that of competitors, is not in proper condition and the absence of certain guarantees from the fuel and energy complex is unlikely, in principle, to be of interest to a potential client.

Let us single out the main criteria from the criteria mentioned in the previous chapter and comment on the relevance of their application in the conditions of the Fortek company.

o The time from the receipt of the order to the delivery of the cargo to the client - the criterion can only be compared based on the results of the same type of transportation (by cargo, direction, etc.). The client, as a rule, compares the time indicators for his cargo with those of other fuel and energy companies.

Within the indicator of receiving an application for transportation before shipment of goods by the supplier, the indicator characterizes the ability of the company's specialists to respond promptly to the request, coordinate loading issues with the sender and, most importantly, the ability of the fuel and energy complex, having a wide range of counterparties, to order the necessary transport - ensuring uninterrupted supply.

The time from the moment the cargo is released for free circulation to the delivery of the cargo to the client. Based on the experience of Fortek, this indicator is especially important for the client, since if, before the release of the cargo, everything is in more depends on the customs authorities, it is during this period that the acceleration of the process depends entirely on the professionalism of the employees.

Response time to customer requests. From the moment of submitting data for calculation to receiving results. It is also a very important feature for preparatory stage, to direct work with the transportation of the client and influences his choice. There are often situations when, having not received the results of the miscalculation in a timely manner, the client decides to use the services of another company.

As noted above, the cost of a full package of company services in the majority includes several items of expenditure, which will be the same for each fuel and energy complex. These are, for example, the amounts of customs payments, freight rates for lines, port and terminal tariffs, tariffs for warehouse services, and much more. Therefore, the cost of basic services is hardly the key. But there are characteristics related to the company's capabilities that can directly affect the formation of the price of the service.

The ability of the fuel and energy complex to receive discounts from counterparties, thanks to the work with a large volume of transportation in general, having official contracts, paying bills on time and in full.

The ability of the company to regularly and accurately inform the client about the costs both at the initial stage of the preliminary calculation of the service, and in the process of additional costs. Transparency of the components of the overall s / s services for the client.

Opportunity to choose the optimal delivery scheme, especially in the case of combined transportation, transportation of groupage cargo. This characteristic depends on the professionalism of fuel and energy complex logisticians and the breadth of relations with contractors.

Parameters characterizing the reliability of the fuel and energy complex

First of all, speaking of reliability, it should be noted that since the competition in the fuel and energy complex market is huge, there are a lot of companies in this business area, when choosing a partner, a client very often focuses on the recommendations of regular customers of the fuel and energy complex, on the company's fame and business environment. Its position and place in the market. Subsequently, already in the process of providing services. The client evaluates the reliability of the company based on the results of its work, compliance with agreements, compliance with the declared costs and many other indicators. What characteristics can be distinguished as the main ones.

The degree of cargo safety during transportation and warehouse processing. To clarify, we can say that in the event of loss or damage to cargo during transportation, of course, the carrier bears responsibility to the forwarder, and the forwarder bears responsibility to the client within the framework of international and Russian law and in accordance with the contract. At the same time, it is important for the forwarding company to make every effort to avoid possible cases of damage to the cargo in the process, as well as to comply with all obligations for registration and compensation for losses if the cargo is nevertheless damaged or lost.

The presence of a reasonable distribution of risks between the fuel and energy complex and the client in case of force majeure, examples of which may be the distribution of unplanned expenses at the port, during customs clearance, and the resolution of various issues arising during transportation.

High level of financial and legal literacy of the staff. This criterion has an impact on many stages of the business process, it is the timely payment of customs duties, payment and invoicing, the preparation of legally competent declarations, contracts. All these moments influence the formation of a common s / s transportation.

Possession of clear and correct information about the location of the forwarded cargo at any time and the resulting opportunity to correct actions within the process at any time in order to avoid additional losses for the client.

The company has reliable and proven counterparties that transport goods for the fuel and energy complex, draw up various documents, and have agents in the port. All this allows the client to be confident in the clear, efficient work of the company with the cargo. With the output of minimal costs with maximum results.

It is also important to note that in the freight forwarding environment it is possible for a company to receive more effective results work in the case when it firmly occupies its niche in the market. On the one hand, the possibility of providing different kind services of one company is very attractive to the client, but if the approach in the company is professional and the specialist understands that the required services do not belong to the specialization of the company, he will not mislead the client and inform him about it. On the other hand, when requesting services for specialization company, the work will be done professionally, with knowledge of the matter.

From the last group - additional criteria, the following should be distinguished.

The level of complexity of the services provided. The Fortek company has an undeniable advantage due to the combination of the functions of a customs broker and a forwarding agent in one holding. This factor has a positive effect on many indicators, both price and time.

Company environment and contact availability. This factor, of course, is not the key one, however, external attractiveness and comfort in work for the client is a concomitant circumstance for starting work and subsequent long-term cooperation.

Flexibility in the work of the company, interest in the problems of the client, diligence and commitment of the staff are the criteria inherent in high-quality work in any area of ​​service. And in the conditions of the fuel and energy complex, they are also necessary.

Undoubtedly, this list contains only the main criteria for assessing quality. In the actual process of the company's functioning, there are many more of them, since each of them can be divided into more specific ones, many of them influence each other. It is very important to look at the problem comprehensively when assessing the quality according to the specified criteria and taking appropriate measures to improve them.

4 Issues of the company's business processes. Suggestions for improvement

The description of the problems identified in the business processes of the Fortek company and the Forum-group holding should begin with a description of the problems associated with working with customs. First of all, this is due to the fact that this group of problems can be classified as independent of the actions or inactions of the company's specialists. Problems that arise in the process of customs clearance often do not arise due to the absence or presence of the correct work of the company's specialists or the client's mistakes. These are the problems that are associated with frequent changes in the tariff policy of customs, rules for the passage of goods at the borders, cargo clearance procedures at the port. Often problems arise due to the imperfection and lack of transparency of the customs legislation. All these issues, unfortunately, have a negative impact on the efficiency of the fuel and energy complex, bringing quite serious losses to the company and customers.

Let us designate the main and most frequently encountered problems related to the work of customs authorities. Downtime of vehicles in front of customs terminals in queues and at terminals, downtime of containers in the port, associated with insufficient efficiency in customs clearance of goods, in particular, frequent inspections at customs posts. As a rule, such downtime results in large amounts of storage and demurrage costs in the port, port and terminal costs. That is, they reduce the time and, as a result, the price indicators of the quality of the company's work.

The following measures can be suggested to mitigate such losses:

Mandatory submission of preliminary declarations to customs, which allows minimizing the days of idle transport and container equipment.

Preliminary discussion with the client of the possibility of such expenses and their division between the client and the company.

Minimize the processing time of declarations, commercial and financial documentation in the process of transportation and clearance in order to speed up the processes of traffic in general and to avoid downtime at other stages of transportation.

When preparing a package of documents for submission to customs, it is necessary to prepare the most complete set of documents, taking into account in advance all possible additional questions and customs requirements.

Frequent and ambiguous changes in the tariff and customs policy of state bodies. Basically, this is a change in the rates of customs duties, requirements for customs clearance of goods, the introduction of new rules for the certification and licensing of goods. The consequences of such changes are also the emergence of unplanned customs clearance costs, demurrage of vehicles and containers.

The way to reduce the negative consequences in this case can be:

1. More careful tracking of all changes in the customs legislation.

2. Preliminary calculation of expenses and payments to the client, taking into account possible changes and preliminary discussion with him of possible additional costs.

Starting the analysis of the problems of the company, it should be noted that, although in terms of the quality of its work, the ability and professionalism of specialists in building the most effective logistics delivery schemes is very important, this issue will not be considered in this analysis. The specifics of the cargo flow processed by the company is such that the logistics schemes are either already built by the client or are quite simple and repeatable. That is why the subject of analysis to a greater extent is the study of the problems organizational issues in company.

Let's proceed to the description of the problems identified at different stages of the company's business processes. Highlighting certain problematic points, one should immediately determine their consequences and give proposals for their solution. It is important to note that, of course, the problems at each of the stages can be repeated, so the points that are the most problematic at this particular stage will be described below.

At the first stage of the business process, the following number of problems can be distinguished:

Ø Insufficient efficiency in the calculation of preliminary payments by the analytical department, as well as insufficiently prompt calculation of freight rates and preliminary costs for forwarding the feasibility study. The result of inefficiency is the failure to meet the needs of the client, up to his leaving for another forwarder at the preparatory stage. Such actions reduce the temporary indicators of the quality of the company's work, namely, the response time to customer requests. The existence of such a problem is primarily due to the lack of staff in the analytical department and feasibility study specialists. As a solution, it is possible to offer incentives for increasing efficiency and increasing the number of employees in the relevant departments.

Ø Errors in the assignment of TNVED codes and in the calculations of advance payments by the analytical department. The consequences of such errors are erroneous informing the client about the amounts of payments and, as a result, the transfer of inappropriate amounts to customs, subsequent delays in clearance, and transport downtime. Depending on the stage at which they are discovered, the problem can result in a variety of losses, dissatisfaction with the needs of the client, up to his departure. Most critically, if errors are found at the last stage, serious problems may arise with the customs authorities. Thus, such errors reduce the price performance and reliability of the company for the client. Namely, they tell the client about the impossibility of the company's specialists to accurately calculate the preliminary amounts of expenses and reduce the overall trust and his confidence in the professionalism of the staff.

Ways out of this situation - a thorough, multiple verification of calculations, to ensure which even the introduction of new software is possible. It is possible to increase the number of staff of the analytical department.

Ø The next problem of the first stage is the existence of a possible time gap between the preliminary calculation of expenses for the client until the actual provision of services. The specificity of the company's services is such that very often, customers spend from several weeks to six months to analyze the possible cost of transportation from different forwarders and brokers. During this time, many components of costs may change, for example, seasonal freight allowances appear, tariffs for port and terminal costs change, and changes in the amount of payments occur. The client, requesting a preliminary calculation, builds on the basis of his financial plan and after the time has passed, the change in the amount of expenses for him is a very negative criterion for the company's work, for him the level of trust and reliability of the company decreases, and the cost characteristics decrease. If measures are not taken and, without foreseeing all the consequences of possible cost changes, the client is not informed in advance, the consequence may be his departure and a possible decrease in the company's income to retain him.

Ø Another serious number of problems is the incorrect drafting of contracts by lawyers and the preparation by the client of an incorrect application for services. These two issues should be considered together, as information in reservations and requests for services often overlaps. The specifics of the freight forwarding business is such that an incorrectly executed client application can lead to serious cost consequences in the form of losses due to untimely submitted transport, mismatch of the transport with the dimensions of the cargo or delivery of transport to the wrong address. In this case, the client may not agree to reimburse any expenses, since it is the responsibility of the forwarder to find out from the client all the points necessary for the implementation of the transportation. It is also important to correctly draw up contracts for freight forwarding and brokerage services in order to avoid future misunderstandings with the client, which will stipulate all possible problematic points, such as downtime rates, delivery times and clearance, force majeure. For better and more accurate customer service, it is necessary to draw up a standard contract-application, in which it is necessary to take into account all possible issues. It is also important for the commercial department to initiate end-to-end verification of contracts by the heads of all departments of the company. We have identified the main problematic points of the 1st stage of the business process (see Figure 3.7).

At the second stage of the company's business process, the following series of problems can be identified (see Figure 3.8):

Ø Inconsistencies in the shipping documents for the cargo. Basically, in the process of intra-port forwarding, we are talking about errors in bills of lading that require subsequent correction, if such a problem occurs during forwarding of vehicles, most often it is necessary to correct data in CMR, TIR and commercial documents. Such problems most often arise due to insufficiently careful execution of documents by the supplier, as well as due to a possible discrepancy between the requirements for documentation of Russian and foreign legislation. Such errors increase both the time and cost of delivery, as they lead to additional costs for correction and downtime. Most often, such problems are an oversight of the company's logistics specialists, since the client, as a rule, lays the responsibility for checking all the documentation on them. The only way to prevent such problems is a thorough, advance check of all shipping documentation in advance and already at the stages of transportation, as well as, if necessary, correction of documents as soon as possible, before the cargo arrives at the port or terminal.

Figure 3.7 Issues of the first stage of the company's business process

Figure 3.8 Issues of the second stage of the company's business process

Figure 3.9 Issues of the third stage of the company's business process

Ø There is such a problem as a sudden, unplanned transfer of cargo for forwarding to the company. Most often, this is the transfer of cargo by the client from another broker or forwarder. The consequence of such suddenness can be a lot of problems associated with the urgent receipt of missing documents, their re-issuance if necessary, urgent payment of expenses to counterparties and customs payments. With insufficient efficiency in actions, the company and the client may suffer serious losses due to equipment and transport downtime. And the client, for his part, having transferred his cargo to the work of the company, is unlikely to agree to take such expenses on himself. Thus, inappropriate actions in such a situation can lead to a decrease in price, time indicators and indicators of the reliability of the company's work quality for the client. In order to avoid negative consequences, measures should be taken already at the stage of transferring the goods from another forwarder. The manager of the commercial department must collect all the documentation and information on the cargo as much as possible, promptly notify all the departments involved in the process. Warn the client about all possible consequences and not mislead him about non-existent opportunities.

Ø The third problem that often occurs at this stage is the late payment of payments and freight components by the client of the company or the company to the relevant counterparties. This problem is mainly related to the insufficiently efficient work of the financial services of the client and the company, both in terms of payments and in terms of accounts. The consequence of such actions is the occurrence of all the same downtime, the boundary problem develops at the third stage of the business process. The company and the client suffer losses. As a solution, more thorough monitoring of billing and payment by managers as coordinating centers is proposed. Making advance payments to the accounts of customs and contractors. Preliminary payment by the client of advances to the company's accounts.

Ø Also at this stage, the problems that have already been described in detail above are very relevant - these are incorrectly executed customer applications, analysts' errors when calculating payments.

The problems of the third stage of the company's business process should be described together with the problems of the process within the Fortek company, since at this stage they are closest to each other (see Figure 3.9).

Ø One of the most serious problems at this stage are possible mistakes in the process of monitoring and tracking the movement of goods. Their consequences may be untimely receipt of documents from line agents and at terminals, untimely informing specialists of other departments about the arrival of cargo and, as a result, late payment of payments, submission of documents to customs, serious downtime and costs at terminals and in the port, a decrease in the level of reliability and professionalism of the company in the eyes of the client. The monitoring process is quite complicated, and that is why, for a comprehensive solution to this issue, it is proposed not only to increase the number of specialists and the thoroughness of monitoring, but also to apply a special software, as the existing software does not allow to control the process completely.

Ø The second important issue is the correctness of filing documents with customs. In the event of a shortage of any document or the submission of an incorrect declaration, the consequences may be various types of losses, such as adjustment of the customs value according to the declaration, downtime of transport and container equipment, additional storage costs at the terminal. The reasons for such errors lie in the insufficiently thorough check and preparation of documentation at the previous stages of the business process. And the solution can only be a more attentive, professional approach on the part of managers and specialists.

Ø Another important problem is the late payment of invoices by the company in favor of counterparties and by the client in favor of the company. Failure to pay can have very serious consequences in the form of non-issuance of an export permit by the line, blocking the cargo by the terminal, prohibition of unloading from the transport company and the resulting losses. Non-payment of invoices can occur for many reasons, first of all, it can be loss and non-issuance of an invoice, payment of an inappropriate amount, incorrect operation of the bank. The ways to solve and prevent such problems can be the conclusion of official contracts with counterparties, payment of advances, periodic reconciliation of accounts, an increase in the total volume of traffic and long-term work with regular partners, which increases the credibility of the company and allows you to have additional guarantees in problem situations.

Ø The issues of coordinating the process of exporting cargo from the terminal and from the port are also important. They arise quite often, since at this stage it is necessary to coordinate the work of many departments - the commercial department, the feasibility study, the declaration department, the recipient's warehouse, and all this, taking into account the requirements of the port and terminals, as well as customs, for the export of goods. Increasing the level of efficiency at this stage of the forwarding process is very important and depends, first of all, on the qualifications, experience and capabilities of the company's specialists. To improve the quality of the company's work at this stage, it is very important to work with the KO manager as a process coordinator, close work of the feasibility study with the recipient of the cargo, and the presence of established relationships with contractors to increase the efficiency of export.

Having considered the list of the main problems that arise at certain stages of the company's business processes, we can also highlight some of the problems that arise in the case of road forwarding. Although the share of services provided in this direction is relatively small, but due to the specifics of this direction, some main points should be listed.

Freight forwarding by road has much in common and many differences from intra-port forwarding. First of all, there are specifics in the procedures for cargo clearance at land terminals and in the port. In this regard, within the declaration department of LLC "Fortek" there is an independent group of declarants of the Baltic and St. Petersburg customs. Goods transported by road also have some specifics. That is why the forwarding of this direction in the company is carried out by specially dedicated managers of the commercial department and feasibility study specialists.

There are a number of main advantages of using this type of transport:

Delivery by road is more preferable for the transportation of groupage (small-sized cargo), perishable cargo, oversized cargo.

Delivery by road is most often carried out from door to door, which reduces the time and costs of transportation and increases the level of cargo safety.

The terms of delivery by road, as a rule, are shorter than delivery by sea.

If we talk about the disadvantages of this type of transportation, we can first of all note the high cost compared to sea transportation, as well as the impossibility of single delivery from some countries, such as America or China.

What problems can be identified when talking about forwarding vehicles:

First and most important, these are problems arising from certain actions of the customs authorities - the inefficiency of customs clearance, customs checks and inspections, changes in customs legislation, the consequences of which are huge losses from transport downtime. In 2010, this problem became very urgent after the closure of most of the posts of the St. Petersburg customs as part of a program to improve the structure of customs authorities located in the Northwestern Federal District.

Lack of free transport in the period of November-December and increase in rates by transport companies. During this period, the demand for road transport services increases significantly, hence the increase in the cost of freight and the lack of free transport, which is almost impossible to overcharge for customers who work with the company constantly. The way to resolve this issue may be to expand the number of partner companies in advance and conclude long-term contracts with them with stable freight rates.

In essence, the possibility of providing road transport services along with intra-port forwarding and sea transportation increases the complexity, versatility and flexibility of the company's work, and allows increasing the number of customers. Therefore, in general, the quality of the company's work in this area should be improved by expanding the network of counterparty companies and the volume of transportation in this area as a whole, concluding long-term cooperation agreements with transport companies in order to increase reliability and reduce the cost of transportation.

It should be added that the result of the analysis and its implementation in practice must necessarily be the development of a system of quality standards within the company. Such a system will allow in the process of providing a certain service to the client to check the compliance of the quality of the service provided with the requirements of the company's standards. A list of the main measures to improve quality, based on the analysis in this chapter, will be named in the conclusion.

Conclusion

Freight forwarding activity is an integral element of the system of movement of goods from the consignor to the consignee. Abroad in last years the degree of influence of the freight forwarder on the coordination of the transport process has increased significantly. According to the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations, about 75% of all international transport of goods is organized and controlled by forwarders. A large number of freight forwarding companies have appeared on the transport services market, offering services of all types of transport. The growth in the number of enterprises is accompanied by increased competition between them. In addition, the openness of the Russian economy has led to penetration into Russian market foreign freight forwarding companies, whose services turned out to be more competitive. All of the above determines the relevance of the issues of in-depth assessment of the quality of the work of a freight forwarding company.

Lack of quality in customer service can negative impact on the results of all contract work. An incorrectly calculated transport component in the contract price of the goods sometimes leads to inefficient sales foreign trade deal, but the wrong choice of species transport route following and the carrier - to the loss of the goods themselves. Poor organization of transport support can negate all the efforts of enterprises and organizations acting together in the course of the implementation of a particular transaction.

This thesis is devoted to the study of the issue of assessing the quality of work in the field of freight forwarding services.

The object of study of the work was the forwarding company Fortek LLC, as part of the Forum Group holding. The subject of the study was the organizational structure of the company and its main business processes.

According to the theme thesis it addressed the following questions:

The characteristics of the company as a whole and its place in the market of logistics services are given.

A brief analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the holding, as well as the advantages and threats from external environment.

The organizational structure of the holding in general and the company in particular is described.

The theoretical aspects of the concept of transport and forwarding services are considered, the issues of legal regulation of this field of activity are touched upon.

The characteristic of the concept of quality of services in the field of forwarding is given and the currently existing methods for assessing the quality of forwarding enterprises are considered.

On the basis of a practical analysis of the activities of Fortek LLC, the main stages of business processes in the company were described in the work. Proposed and substantiated a number of criteria for assessing the quality relevant to the enterprise.

To achieve the main goal of the work, on the basis of the developed system of criteria, an analysis of the existing problems of the holding at all stages of the company's business process was carried out and the consequences of their influence on quality indicators were determined. Based on the issues considered in the work, conclusions were drawn for each of the problems and solutions were proposed.

In general, summarizing the results of the study, one can single out the main number of problems that most negatively affect the company's work system. These are insufficient efficiency in the work of some departments, inattention in the preparation of documentation and calculations, insufficiently correct preparation of requests for transportation, errors and inaccuracies in contracts with clients, untimely and incorrect financial transfers, errors in the process of monitoring cargo flow, insufficient coordination of work between departments of the company and imperfection software.

Based on the analysis, the following suggestions can be made to improve the company's business processes and improve the quality of its services.

Increasing the efficiency of all divisions of the company in the process of preliminary calculations, customs clearance, procedures in the port and at the terminals. A way to increase efficiency can be the developed material system incentives for employees.

An increase in the number of professional specialists, especially in the analytical department and the declaration department, where there are clearly not enough employees, since the existing staff, even working overtime, does not have time to complete the amount of existing work.

Development of new information and analytical software, in accordance with the requests of employees, the general goals and objectives of the company. This issue is long overdue, and moreover, new software is already being developed. It is important that the resulting software product does not have the shortcomings of the previous system and fully meets the requirements of employees in terms of convenience and functionality.

Development of an internal system for tracking the company's financial flows in order to improve the work of the financial department and the company as a whole. At the moment, there is no complete monitoring system, it is replaced by the manager of the commercial department as a coordinating center. The existence of such a system as a subsystem of the company's general software is possible.

Development of new areas of the company's work to provide services in the field of import of goods, transport forwarding in new geographical areas. This is very important for the growth and development of the company in the future. Expanding the company's niche in the market, increasing the number of customers and increasing profits.

Expanding the scope of the company's activities in the countries-sources of the main cargo flow of the company (in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries), establishing closer ties with suppliers, opening branches in the field.

Expansion of the number of contractors among transport companies, shipping line agents, terminals, warehouses, conclusion of long-term contracts in order to increase the efficiency of the company, its versatility, flexibility, reduce costs and increase customer attractiveness and profitability.

Development within the company of a system of quality standards for various subgroups and types of services provided.

Summarizing the results of this work, we can say that in the conditions modern development of the forwarding services market, both small and developing, and large and diversified companies can no longer work and develop effectively, based only on the talent and experience of their managers and a high sense of responsibility of all employees. It is necessary to use evidence-based methods to analyze the activities of the enterprise and evaluate its work. The goals of this work set at the beginning of the study can be considered achieved, the issue of assessing the quality of LLC "Fortek" is disclosed and studied, and in the future, in the case of a comprehensive, timely and thoughtful application of these measures, the quality of the company's work will certainly increase, which will lead it to increase its competitiveness in market, strengthening its position and general prosperity.

List of sources used

1. On forwarding activities [Text]: federal law of the Russian Federation of 11.06.03 N 87-FZ// .

Charter of the Association of Russian Freight Forwarders [Text]: approved by the decision of the general meeting of the Association of Freight Forwarders of the Russian Federation of February 17, 2005, registration number 060.267 // .

Antonov D.L. Integration of Russia into the system of international trade in freight forwarding services [Text] / D.L. Antonov - M. : Moscow. Case, 2004 - 56 p.

Gromov N.N. Transport management [Text] / N.N. Gromov, V.A. Persianov. - M.: Transport, 1990. - 336s.

Mirotin L.B. Logistics: customer service [Text] / L.B. Mirotin, Y.E. Tashbaev. - M. : RosConsult, 2001. - 368 p.

Mirotin L.B. Logistics: management in cargo transport and logistics systems [Text] / L.B. Mirotin. - M.: Jurist, 2002. - 414 p.

Nikolashin V.M. Transport service [Text] / V.M. Nikolashin, N.A. Zudilin. - M.: Publishing Center "Academy", 2004. - 272p. The popularity of container transportation is growing [Text] / T. Kiisky //FI.LOGISTICS. - 2009. - No. 3. - S. 51-52.

The growth of transportation on rivers and at sea / N.N. Sokolova //Marine Business of the North-West. - 2010. - No. 3. - S. 4-5.

Shustov A.S. Terminal system of international transportation by road freight [Text] / A.S. Shustov, E.A. Malyshev. - M. : ASMAP, 1994. - 66 p.

General conditions of forwarders of the Russian Federation [Text] / January 2001//

Intangible business [Text] / August 2002// http://sklada.ru

Specification and essence of the freight forwarding service [Text] / August 2009 / / http://www.efi-trans.com.ua.

Strategic Crossroads [Text] / June 2007// .

Management of a freight forwarding company [Text] / September 2009// http://

The level of quality of transport services- a relative characteristic of the quality of the transport services provided, based on a comparison of the values ​​of the quality indicators of the evaluated transport service with the basic values ​​of the corresponding indicators.

There are four levels of quality of transport service:

I level - "compliance with the standard", i.e. articles of Federal laws (Charter of the railway transport of the Russian Federation, On railway transport, Rules for transportation and others regulations);

II level - "compliance with capabilities", i.e. the compliance of transport services not only with the requirements of standards, but also with the technical and technological capabilities of the railways;

Level III - "compliance with market requirements", i.e. meeting the requirements of the clientele for high quality and low price of transport services;

IV level - "compliance with latent needs" in rail transportation.

A distinction is made between development quality, compliance quality, and production quality.

Development quality- the degree to which the specification (description, regulatory requirements) of the product or service meets the needs of the market. It is determined on the basis of marketing research.

Production quality- the degree of error-freeness in the manufacture of goods and services, the reduction of losses, defects in work.

Compliance quality- the degree of compliance of goods and services ready for sale with specifications (description, regulatory requirements). The quality of conformity can be maintained by technical control even with relatively low production quality.

Characteristics of products (goods and services) can be both countable and uncountable. The calculated characteristics are called indicators. Uncountable characteristics can define quality as "bad", "good" or "excellent", "better" or "worse".

Transport service quality indicator - a quantitative characteristic of one or more consumer properties of a service (service) that make up its quality.

Depending on the characterized properties, several groups of service quality indicators can be distinguished. »

Aristov O.V. Quality control: Tutorial for universities. - M.:

INFRA-M, 2003

Effect indicators (purposes)- indicators characterizing the beneficial effect of receiving services - delivery route, delivery time, consignment size, etc.

Reliability indicators. Reliability characterizes such an indicator as probability of conformity of service properties to established norms or the terms of the contract. For example, the probability of cargo arrival within the standard delivery period, the probability of cargo delivery with a loss that does not exceed the rate of natural loss, etc.

The quality of transport service directly depends

competitiveness of domestic transport companies,

rational use of modes of transport and modern schemes

service. In this regard, transport quality management

maintenance is an imperative requirement of the time, since this knowledge

vital in a market economy and acute

competition in the transportation market.

The following features of quality assurance can be distinguished

transport service.

1. The quality of transport services is difficult to quantify.

Indeed, if the indicators of the quality of the goods, as a rule,

are quite measurable indicators (for example, power, service life and

etc.), then most indicators of the quality of transport services do not

quantifiable, they can only be assessed by experts

way (e.g. service culture, informativeness). it

significantly complicates the process of assessing the level of service quality.

At the same time, many qualitative characteristics, subjectively

evaluated by customers can be quantified

by the transport organization itself, in the presence of a developed methodology for their

2. The quality of the transport service, as a rule, is complex, i.e. important

the quality of each sub-service.

The complexity of the transport service is the most important indicator

her qualities. The client, as a rule, prefers to use the services of all

several transport companies, and even better one, which has

integrated satisfaction of all

the services he needs.

In addition, when considering the quality of the goods, the absence or breakage

any minor of its options may not materially affect

on assessing the quality of the product as a whole (for example, if the client does not use

this additional option).

While in transport, the discrepancy as a separate

subservices can level the quality performance of other subservices, in

as a result, the service as a whole will be perceived as poor quality

(for example, in case of damage to cargo during intermediate storage, the transport

the service will not be assessed as high quality, even if the deadlines are met

delivery).

3. The reliability of the preliminary certification of quality is low

transport service: in relation to a particular client, you cannot first

to test the quality of the service, and then again it is more correct to provide it.

The specificity of transport services is that they cannot be

withdraw, correct or verify after submission.

The main inconsistencies in activities can be deviations

from the previously specified parameters for the components characterizing

activities of the company's production business processes: delay

previously agreed terms for the provision of services, an increase in the cost

services in progress, deviations in informing the client about

the course of the service, etc. 2 "

2". Maksimkin V.N., Spirin I.V. Transportation quality management

passengers by city buses: Textbook. allowance. - M.: Acad. center

QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF TRANSPORT SERVICE

Foreign and domestic scientists and specialists

determining ways to improve it.

The simplest method is to assess the quality of transport

services by calculating the proportion of service requests,

performed without claims, in the total volume of applications.

The cost method can also be used to evaluate the quality.

He proposes a definition of the quality of transport service by

taking into account the damage to the clientele from insufficient quality service, and

as well as the total extra-transport effect.

Most often to assess the quality of transport service

a method based on the calculation of single indicators is applied

quality. In this case, various

indicators, for example: the level of compliance with the terms of the provision of services as

the ratio of the volume of services performed in compliance with the established

standards of terms to the total volume of services for the same period.

The scoring method is also widely used, which consists in

assigning each quality indicator to qualified

experts of a certain assessment in points.

The weighting coefficients take into account the importance or

the value of each single quality indicator among others. AT

depending on specific conditions one or another group of quality indicators

is more important, weightier than others.

Summation of individual quality indicators, taking into account their weights

must be produced in accordance with the rules of dimensional theory.

Therefore, from the absolute values ​​of single quality indicators

first pass to relative ones. 16

The weighting parameters of quality indicators play exclusively

important role in the assessment and have a significant impact on the final

calculation result. Among the main methods for determining parameters

weighting it is necessary to note the following: cost regression

dependencies (cost); limit and nominal values;

equivalent ratios; probabilistic; expert.

For market conditions where valuation is required based on the set

indicators for a certain period, they are all the more difficult for

use, so the most preferred method for solving

quality assessment tasks remain the expert method.

When expertly determining the parameters of the weight of indicators

quality, preference methods are most widely used

(ranks), evaluation and comparison.

To translate quality into quantity, with peer review

use scoring scales. The point scale serves to assign

objects of quantitative evaluation, which is a measure of expression

quality level of the trait. There are many different scales such

such as 3, 5, 9, 25, 50, 100 point scales.

The results are processed according to the principle of average

arithmetic as follows:

The arithmetic mean is considered again

estimates provided by experts for each sample, rounded up to

first decimal place;

Expert estimates that differ from the calculated average value by

value greater than one point are discarded;

From the remaining number of ratings after this

the average of the grades is calculated, which is the final

scoring of this indicator.

A special way to assess the quality of transport service can

serve as a vector method. 17

This is because mathematically quality can be represented

a vector in a multidimensional coordinate system. Each coordinate

corresponds to a certain quality indicator.

The vector representation is very visual and explains the similarities and

vector quantity, then the quantity is always represented by the quantity

scalar, displayed on the corresponding coordinate axis, as

projection of the value of the quality indicator.

Another option for graphical representation of quality is

vector or radar chart. This form is convenient to use

when the number of quality indicators is more than three

On the vector diagram, the quality indicators on the axis diverge

"fan". The quality is modeled by a line passing through the points

on the axes corresponding to the values ​​of quality indicators. promotion

quality corresponds to the "expansion" of the figure formed by such a line.

If the coordinate axes on the vector diagram are marked in

relative units, then the normative quality will correspond to

equidistant from the center line. This presentation provides

high visibility of opportunities and promising directions

quality improvement.

Since quality is a vector characteristic, the process of its

evaluation consists of two stages:

Impact assessment individual indicator quality for the formation

perception of the quality corresponding to the considered coordinate

(differential assessment of quality);

Aggregation of the set of obtained differential

assessments into a generalized or integral assessment of quality.

In the simplest case, the assessment is carried out using a scale like "good -

unfit". Then, starting from some normative value indicator,

quality is acceptable. Such an estimate, however, along with simplicity 18

has a drawback - it does not take into account the possibility of assessing quality with

certain gradations. Therefore, estimates are often used

using not discrete, but continuous scales.

The above methods for assessing the quality of transport services,

have their advantages, disadvantages and scope.

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

• Table of contents
• Introduction
• 2.1 The concept of freight forwarding services.
• 2.2 Legal regulation of the activities of freight forwarding companies in Russia.
• 3. Development of criteria and assessment of the quality of services of the freight forwarding company Fortek
• 3.1 General scheme of business processes of Fortek LLC
• 3.2 Substantiation of the criteria for assessing the quality of work of the company Fortek LLC
• 3.4 Issues of the company's business processes. Suggestions for improvement
• Conclusion
• List of sources used
• Introduction
• International freight forwarding service is an integral part of the process of transportation of foreign trade goods. Freight forwarding companies, as a transportation operator, organize the transportation of goods in international traffic from the manufacturer to the consumer, which is an extremely complex process; it is not without reason that forwarders are sometimes called the “transport architect”. Describing the specifics of the Russian freight forwarding business at the present stage, it can be noted that, in the current conditions, this is the business of many small companies with rather limited resources. The field of freight forwarding is characterized by low capital intensity, which, in the absence of state licensing, allows you to create new companies without much cost and effort, it is for this business that there is a high risk of frequent transition of corporate clients to competitors and the departure of key employees along with the client base in order to create their own enterprises.
• On the basis of the foregoing, it can be summarized that the transport and forwarding business in Russia in modern conditions is still in the development stage, is antitrust, and its conduct takes place in conditions of fierce competition for customers and cargo flows, taking place both within the industry and with actual carriers. various types of transport. As a consequence of this, there are no entry barriers to this market and the highest level of entrepreneurial risk.
• For normal functioning and development, a high quality of service for cargo owners, compliance with special international rules, precise fulfillment of the terms of the contract, orders of customers, carriers, banks, insurers, compliance with customs and state laws are required.
• The existing growth in transportation volumes does not at all exclude fierce competition among freight forwarding companies, and it is in the conditions of such fierce competition that improving the quality of transport services for cargo owners becomes one of the main ways to conquer or expand the transport market. To do this, it is necessary to know well the needs of consumers of transport services, their capabilities and the capabilities of competitors, correctly determine the marketing strategy of transport services for specific cargo owners and skillfully implement it. This strategy, first of all, should provide for a high level of quality of the transport services offered, capable of satisfying the needs of cargo owners better than those of a competitor. The formation of an effective quality management system in any company is impossible without their identification, updating, systematization and analysis.
• The analysis of the concept of "quality" is devoted to the works of many specialists. Despite the predominant coincidence of views, their opinions can be divided into two groups. The representative of the first point of view on quality as "compliance with requirements" is, for example, F. Crosby. A. Feigenbaum, E. Deming, V. Shewhart can be attributed to the second group of specialists who associate quality with meeting the needs and expectations of consumers. Questions of quality assessment, of course, are analyzed in the development of various standards and regulations.
• This work is devoted to the issues of assessing the quality of the work of a freight forwarding company. The aim of the work is to analyze the current situation and develop a quality assessment system on the example of the functioning of the transport and forwarding company Fortek LLC.
• To achieve this goal, the following tasks will be solved in the work:
• - the theoretical foundations of the concept of the quality of transport and forwarding services, the legal regulation of this field of activity are considered.
• - describes currently existing methods and methods of quality assessment.
• - developed a system of the most relevant quality assessment criteria for the company.
• - describes the main business processes of the company.
• Using a group of selected criteria, it is planned to implement the main task of this work - to analyze the main problems of the company at each stage of the business process.
• The result of this work will be the development of proposals for improving the company's business processes and improving the quality of its services in order to increase competitiveness and strengthen its position in the market.
• 1. General characteristics of the forwarding company LLC "Fortek" and its place in the market of logistics services
• 1.1 Description and organizational structure of the company
• This work is devoted to the analysis of the quality of the activities of the forwarding company "Fortek", therefore, acquaintance with the company, a description of the organizational structure, and a place in the market of forwarding services in this part of the work is necessary.
• The Fortek company is an independent company in the form of a limited liability company as part of the Forum Group holding. In this regard, in order to describe the scope of activity and determine the place of the company in the holding, it is necessary first to tell directly about the Forum Group holding. Holding "Forum-Group", was organized in 2002 as a small company "Forum" - an intermediary that provides its customers with the service of customs clearance of goods at the Baltic Customs of St. Petersburg. Over time, the traffic handled by the company increased, the number of customers increased, and it became necessary to create its own forwarding department within the company. On the basis of this department, a separate forwarding company Fortek was later formed.
• Due to the growth in the volume of processed goods, over time, it was decided to abandon the services of third-party brokers and organize our own customs broker company, with a staff of declarants and license its activities. At the moment, the forum group holding includes several companies (see Figure 1.1)
• Forum-Broker Company is a leading customs broker in the North-West of Russia, licensed by the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation, and operates mainly in the area of ​​subordination of the Baltic and St. Petersburg customs. The company successfully operates in the market of customs services, constantly increasing its potential and improving its experience.

Hosted at http://www.allbest.ru/

• Figure 1.1 Organizational structure of holding "Forum-Group"
• The list of the company's services includes services for consulting clients in the field of foreign economic activity; services for the classification of products according to TN VED; calculation of the amount of customs payments, provision of reference information on customs rates; preparation of documentation required for execution of customs declarations; submission of declarations to customs, provision of documentation and additional information required for customs procedures to the customs authority of the Russian Federation; payment of fees related to customs procedures. Great experience of interaction with customs authorities, professionalism of employees and individual approach to each client give the company the opportunity to carry out customs clearance and customs clearance of goods in the shortest possible time.
• Fortek is a freight forwarding company that provides services for intra-port forwarding in different areas of the port of St. Petersburg, forwarding of road transport from Europe to the Russian Federation. The list of company services includes tracking (monitoring) the movement of goods from the sender to the point of destination, freight forwarding directly at the port, export of goods from the port and delivery to recipients, coordination of door-to-door transportation of goods by sea and road transport, handling of goods at customs terminals of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg, organization of transportation of oversized and dangerous goods.
• To perform the functions of the company, we work with agents of shipping lines, with the structures of the port of St. Petersburg, with carriers and forwarders in Russia and abroad, insurance companies, customs terminals and commercial warehouses.
• Many years of experience and officially concluded agreements with shipping line agents, stevedoring companies, large transport companies gives Fortek the opportunity to provide its services at a high level, but the competition is growing every year in the market of freight forwarding companies, and especially in St. Petersburg, where their countless number makes the company's management look for ways and directions to improve the quality of services and, accordingly, attract more and more customers.
• It should be emphasized that it is extremely difficult to consider the work of the company as carrying out separately transport-forwarding and brokerage activities. Nowadays, external conditions and growing competition among similar companies force companies to offer their customers exactly a combined service. In the case of which the client receives a full package of services with door-to-door delivery, the solution of all issues with customs clearance and, as a rule, the total integral rate for all services, which can change only in case of force majeure, which gives the client a more secure . reliable service, service in a complex. And the company, on the other hand, allows the most successful coordination of processes within the company, while avoiding problems with the separation of information flows and document flow among different forwarding and brokerage companies. and provide a better and more efficient service.
• It is impossible to consider the organizational structure and functional areas of the Fortek company without a preliminary comment on what place the company occupies within the structure of the Forum group holding. The organizational structure of the Forum Group holding is quite simple (see Figure 1.2).

Hosted at http://www.allbest.ru/

• Figure 1.2 Organizational structure of holding Forum-group
• The company is headed by several founders, the functions of management and general coordination are carried out by the financial director and general directors of the two companies. Since the main activity of the holding and directly the company Forum-Broker LLC, which is part of the holding along with Fortek LLC, is the customs clearance of goods, the structure, traditionally for a company in this direction, includes customs declaration departments, a client department and an analytical department, who carry out the main functions of the company. Financial services - accounting and financial department headed by the financial director deals with all economic issues. The legal department, the personnel department, the security service and the IT department are, although auxiliary, but without them the work of the company would be difficult. The organizational structure of the Fortek company (see Figure 1.3) should be identified and explained as a separate diagram, since it is this company that is engaged in the freight forwarding business within our holding.

Hosted at http://www.allbest.ru/

• Figure 1.3 Organizational structure of Fortek
• Such an organizational structure primarily reflects several areas of the company's activities, such as ordering sea container transportation, their coordination, ordering transportation by road and their coordination, intra-port freight forwarding, export of goods from the port, delivery of cargo to the client, mediation in solving financial issues by clients in the lines.
• In more detail, the functions of each of the departments and their relationship will be discussed in the third chapter when describing business processes within the company.
• 1.2 Place of the company in the market of logistics services
• The general crisis state of the world and national economy could not but have a negative impact on the work of the transport and forwarding industry of the Russian Federation. According to the Association of Freight Forwarders, the total cargo turnover of Russian transport in 2009 was approximately 87% compared to 2008. However, in 2010, and especially for maritime transport, the situation improved significantly due to the growth of cargo traffic. The volume of cargo transportation by sea for 6 months of 2010 amounted to 17.8 million tons, which exceeds the same indicator in 2009 by 1.5%.
• Given this situation in the industry, we can say that the activities of the Forum Group holding in general and Fortek LLC in particular are very promising. However, the factor of strong competition in the market and the presence of a lot of negative external factors force us to look for ways to increase the competitiveness of the company and strengthen its place in the market. It is necessary to give a general brief assessment of the company's activities, identifying strengths and weaknesses. The internal advantages of the company in a competitive environment include:
• -possibility to offer customers a combined customs clearance service with forwarding, which is an important factor when choosing a company from the client's point of view. Promotes greater clarity and efficiency of work.
• - availability of an official license for brokerage activities. This factor increases the reliability of the company in the eyes of customers and contractors, and allows you to speed up the process of working with customs.
• - a wide range of services provided by the company. Due to the presence in the staff of the company of specialists in various logistics areas, the company can meet the wide needs of its customers and offer them a variety of services.
• - the result of many years of experience in the forwarding services market and the positive reputation of the company was the presence of a sufficient number of large regular customers, which allowed the company to survive the crisis year and continue to develop further.
• You can also highlight some of the weak points of the holding organization, which should be paid serious attention to in the analysis.
• - Not enough effective personnel policy of the company. Lack of specialists in certain departments. Private change of personnel and their excess in others.
• -Conservative policy of the company's owners. This mainly concerns long-term development plans to conquer new markets, open new offices, and expand the package of services.
• - Lack of a PR department in the company and, as a result, insufficient awareness of the company in the market of potential customers.
• Speaking about external positive and negative factors, we can single out as advantages a stable demand for the services provided by the company, a good reputation of the company in customs and client circles. And as external threats to the company: the instability of the customs policy of the Russian Federation, strong competition in the forwarding services market, the specifics of working with monopoly shipping lines.
• As a result of this chapter, it is important to emphasize that it is necessary to carry out a subsequent analysis and assessment of the quality of the company's services, taking into account all the factors listed below. Only in this case the assessment will be sufficiently objective and applicable in practice.
• 2. Assessment of the quality of transport and forwarding services
• 2.1 The concept of freight forwarding services
• Forwarding support in foreign trade is commonly understood as the commercial activity of intermediary firms carried out during the transportation of foreign trade goods and supplementing the main activities of carriers, cargo owners and other persons interested in the cargo. From a legal point of view, forwarding activities can be carried out in the national legal or international legal regime, if there is an international element in it.
• Forwarding services in foreign economic activity is the practical implementation of forwarding support, the object of which is foreign trade turnover (freight turnover). The purpose of the feasibility study is to promote the transportation of foreign trade goods and the development of exports of transport services. Forwarding services begin from the moment a decision is made on the need or possibility of transportation and ends at the moment when the cargo is delivered to its final consumer.
• Forwarding services include several groups of basic operations.
• Consulting services. The operations of this group precede not only the contractual relations for the carriage of goods, but also the contractual relations between the participants in the foreign trade contract of sale.
• Organization and registration of transportation. The operations of this group are carried out after the selection, search and finding of transport companies that meet the conditions of the client, as well as establishing business contacts with them. If this is done, then the main functions of the freight forwarding company are:
• - conclusion of contracts with participants of the transportation process;
• - operational planning of transportation (submission of applications for transportation, coordination of dates for the delivery of vehicles, reservation of places on sea and aircraft, coordination of the timing of the arrival of goods at the port, etc.);
• -preparation of transport, shipping and other documents necessary for the transportation process;
• - conclusion of a transport insurance agreement with the insurance company and receipt of the necessary insurance documents from it;
• - conducting settlements with all participants of the transportation process and the insurance company;
• -conclusion of contracts for the leasing of containers and the practical receipt of the latter.
• Preparation of cargo for transportation. Bringing the cargo into a transportable state includes practical work on the packaging of goods, their packing, labeling, as well as on laying the goods into containers, consolidation (consolidation) and disaggregation of container lots and the formation of transport packages. The requirements for these operations are determined by the terms of contracts for transportation, transshipment and sale and purchase.
• Customs clearance. For the passage of foreign trade goods through the customs authorities, the freight forwarding company draws up the necessary customs documents.
• In a number of countries around the world, freight forwarding firms carry out customs clearance of goods for export and import and pay customs duties, taxes and fees. The customs activity of intermediary firms is subject to licensing by the customs authorities of the state.
• Receiving and issuing cargo. A freight forwarding company interacts with carriers and transport infrastructure enterprises, accepting goods from some and transferring them to others.
• Loading and unloading, stevedoring and warehouse operations. The freight forwarding company itself can carry out loading and reloading operations or involve any other professionally trained companies for their execution. Warehousing is directly related to the transportation of goods (in anticipation of loading, reloading, as well as for customs purposes), so warehouse operations are one of the functions of a freight forwarding company.
• Claim work. It is carried out in case of non-delivery of the cargo to the destination, its delivery in a commercially defective condition or in case of violation of the delivery time.
• The above list of functions of freight forwarding companies is not exhaustive and can be supplemented, but at the request of the parties, with other works and services.
• Forwarding support of foreign trade turnover as an integral part of international trade should be based on common approaches to the organization of this activity. For the purpose of unification, on May 31, 1926, the International Federation of Forwarding Organizations - FIATA (abbreviations in French) was founded by sixteen national associations of forwarders. FIATA is a non-governmental non-profit international organization. The main goal of FIATA is to ensure the interests of forwarders at the international level.
• About 40 thousand forwarding companies from more than 150 countries of the world are members of FIATA, and the number of these companies is constantly growing. Russia is represented in FIATA by the Association of Freight Forwarders of the Russian Federation (AER), which has about 170 members.
• The results of FIATA's practical activities have been the development and implementation of forwarding documents that have received official recognition around the world: a forwarding receipt, a forwarder's transport certificate, a warehouse receipt, a shipper's declaration for the transport of dangerous goods, a multimodal transport bill of lading, etc.
• 2.2 Legal regulation of the activities of freight forwarding companies in Russia
• International legal regulation of the contract of transport expedition has not yet been created. International private law does not contain agreements and conventions that define the main terms of the forwarding contract. Separate attempts to unify the conditions of forwarding activities are made by FIATA. So, in the proforma of the FCR (Forwarder's Certificate of Receipt) forwarding receipt, the basic rules for the performance of forwarding services are indicated. However, all freight forwarding contracts are governed by the norms of national civil law, which, in the absence of the necessary provisions, are supplemented by forwarders with legal regimes borrowed from the norms of French, German and Anglo-American law.
• The procedure for the legal regulation of forwarding activities in Russia is enshrined in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (CC RF). Transport expedition is devoted to Ch. 41 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Art. 801 - 806). According to the law, under a transport expedition contract, one of the parties (the forwarder) undertakes, for a fee and at the expense of the other party (the client - the consignor or consignee), to perform or organize the performance of the services specified in the expedition contract related to the transportation of cargo. Freight forwarding agreements are concluded in the form of an agency agreement (Chapter 49 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) or a commission agreement (Chapter 51 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
• The law contains a norm that allows combining the duties of a forwarder and a carrier in one person. Mandatory are the written form of the freight forwarding agreement and the issuance of a power of attorney by the client to the forwarder. The freight forwarder shall not be liable to the client for non-performance or improper performance of the contract of carriage, unless the freight forwarder and the carrier are the same person. The limit of the forwarder's liability for improper performance of the contract by him is not defined. The client is obliged to provide the freight forwarder with full information and the necessary documents for the latter to fulfill the obligations for organizing transportation and data on the nature of the goods presented. The client is responsible for the completeness and accuracy of the submitted documents and information. The freight forwarder has the right to engage any other person to fulfill his obligations under the contract, but in this case he is liable to the client in the same amount as if he himself performed the proper work and services.
• The final provisions of Chapter 41 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation explain the procedure and consequences of a unilateral refusal to fulfill obligations under a transport expedition agreement. It is indicated, in particular, that such a refusal by one of the parties may entail compensation to the other party for losses caused by the termination of the contract.
• On July 3, 2003, the Federal Law of June 30, 2003 No. 87 FZ “On Forwarding Activities” came into force. which, however, did not introduce any fundamentally new norms of TED regulation. Despite the very specific content, the terms “forwarder”, “forwarding”, “forwarding operations” do not always unambiguously define the functions that transport intermediaries assume under contracts concluded with clients.
• The subject matter of a freight forwarding contract that a client concludes with a transport intermediary often states that the client instructs, and the forwarder assumes the organization of cargo transportation. Attention should be paid to the fundamental difference in the concepts of "organization of transportation" and "implementation of transportation".
• The freight forwarder assumes obligations to organize transportation, informs the client about the progress of the cargo and violations of the delivery time. The fulfillment of the obligations of the forwarder is considered to be the presence of a carrier, the conclusion of a contract of carriage on its own behalf, but at the expense of the client, the provision of a vehicle for loading to the customer in accordance with the terms specified in the application, and informing the client about the arrival of the cargo at the destination.
• The client in his application is obliged to provide the forwarder with all the information necessary to conclude a contract of carriage. At the same time, he undertakes to reimburse all expenses incurred by the forwarder and pay him remuneration.
• The client undertakes to ensure the loading, unloading of the vehicle and customs clearance of the cargo within the time specified in the contract. The liability of the parties contains force majeure clauses, declares provisions on the liability of the parties for losses caused to the counterparty in the event of improper performance of this agreement, and establishes specific penalties. For example, for non-delivery of vehicles, for their untimely loading and unloading, etc.
• The freight forwarding contract contains an article "claims and claims", but the client must understand that they can be presented only under the freight forwarding contract, and not under the contract of carriage.
• The contract also indicates whether its parties can transfer their rights and obligations to third parties
• 2.3 Features of intra-port forwarding
• Since the main activity of Fortek is related to intra-port forwarding, we will touch on this type of forwarding business in more detail. Intermediary activities carried out by professional participants in the market of freight forwarding services at transport infrastructure enterprises have a number of features related to the specifics of freight forwarding on certain main modes of transport. Each of the transport infrastructure facilities (port, airport, station, terminal) has its own organizational, legal, economic and technological features. For the development of international trade, procedures for organizing cargo handling in seaports are of paramount importance - more than half of the physical volumes of foreign trade goods of most countries are transported with the participation of sea transport.
• When considering the basics of forwarding activities in ports, two aspects should be taken into account.
• On the one hand, the specifics of the forwarder's activity in the port is that he must organize the interaction of various modes of transport. In the seaport, as in a transport hub, flows of at least three types of transport converge and distribute - sea, rail and road. Therefore, the freight forwarder must be sufficiently professionally trained in the commercial operation of these modes of transport and their interaction.
• On the other hand, the freight forwarder must carry out its activities directly in the port. He must know the laws and customs of the port and strictly observe them. In addition, the port, which belongs to the category of natural monopolists, tends to dictate its terms to all its customers. The forwarder, as a person representing the interests of the cargo owner, has to convince the port administration of the need to give preferences to his clients.
• Consider the structure and content of the contract for the transshipment and processing of goods between the forwarder and the port. This agreement has two features. Firstly, it does not reflect the agreements between the cargo owner and the freight forwarder. These arrangements may be different than those agreed between the port and the freight forwarder. Secondly, none of the norms of international and national legislation provides for special rules and procedures for contractual relations with ports. Therefore, the proforma of the contract is developed by the port itself and, as a rule, is offered to the forwarder. The port is a monopoly in its region and is not inclined to adapt to each of its clients.
• Most often, in accordance with the subject of the forwarder's agreement with the port, the port, on behalf of the forwarder, receives goods from the railway and road carriers, short-term storage and loading of containers with export cargo and empty ones, as well as similar operations with import cargo in containers arrived in port on sea vessels.
• The port determines the places (berths) where container handling operations will be carried out, the type of navigation, the maximum capacity of ships with which the port will work, and the daily ship loading and unloading of containers.
• The main obligations of the freight forwarder under the contract are:
• compliance with the planned system for coordinating the volumes of processing containers in the port and their import (for export) or export (for import).
• conclusion of transportation contracts (domestic and international) with carriers of certain modes of transport and coordination of schedules for the delivery of vehicles to the port;
• declaration and licensing of cargo in containers in accordance with the current rules at the regional customs. The freight forwarder resolves in advance with the customs authorities all issues regarding the unhindered release of goods from the port;
• guaranteeing the loading of goods into containers with a gross weight not exceeding the carrying capacity of the containers, ensuring the loading of goods only into technically sound containers;
• sending their representatives to the port, who participate in the acceptance of containers by the port from carriers of one type of transport and their delivery by the port to carriers of another type of transport. All possible claims for containers and cargo in them are regulated by the forwarder independently;
• preparation of waybills of railway and road transport, issuance of export orders to the port (with a customs permitting stamp) with all the details necessary for issuing bills of lading, including the procedure for sending shipping documents;
• ensuring the export of containers from the port territory within the time period stipulated by the contract;
• independent performance of freight forwarding services for those operations that are not provided for by the contract;
• ensuring compliance with safety regulations by its employees in the port.
• In accordance with the agreement, the port assumes the following obligations:
• mooring of the ship, stated in the schedule, to the berth without delays in the roadstead, if this is not prevented by weather conditions or the berth is occupied by another vessel;
• unhindered reception of vehicles arriving at the port and wagons transferred to it by the railway;
• performance of loading and unloading and stevedoring works, ensuring the loading and unloading of containers within the terms specified by the contract;
• acceptance of containers from carriers of various modes of transport with the participation of a representative of the forwarder, external examination of containers with a check of their serviceability and compliance of seal impressions with the information specified in the shipping documents. If necessary, drawing up acts-notifications and general and commercial acts, which reflect the results of inspections;
• registration of acceptance of containers by acceptance certificates (for export) and delivery of containers to the forwarder by invoices (for import), issuance of export and shipping notices, respectively;
• storage of containers in accordance with the procedure, terms and rates specified in the contract.
• delivery of containers to a ship, railroad, road carriers with the participation of a forwarder's representative - according to an external inspection with keeping a numbered record of containers behind customs seals, and also, if necessary, a sender or a forwarder;
• proper execution of bills of lading and ensuring the signing of bills of lading and other shipping documents by the captain of the vessel;
• provision of other services to the freight forwarder under separate contracts or requests and for a fee.
• The agreement between the port and the forwarder always contains articles on the responsibility of the parties, tariffs for the performance of works and services by the port.
• Thus, intra-port freight forwarding undoubtedly has its own characteristics, which cannot be ignored in the process of organizing and functioning of a company engaged in this line of business.
• 2.4 Quality as a factor in increasing the competitiveness of freight forwarding services
• Regarding the issue of quality, it is very important to note that freight forwarding services belong to the service sector. Let's turn to the definition of this concept.
• Service (maintenance) is an activity for the provision of services that accompanies or ensures the implementation of a certain process.
• In a generalized sense, a service is an action that benefits the consumer.
• In the international standard ISO 8402 - 86 “Quality. Glossary containing general terms and definitions in the field of quality, a service is defined as an activity associated with the exchange of values, aimed at satisfying needs, expressed in the form of demand, which is not limited to the transfer of ownership of some material product.
• Transport service (service) is defined as the activity of forwarding enterprises associated with the process of moving goods in space and time with the provision of transportation, handling and storage services.
• Forwarding service is an integral part of the movement of goods from the manufacturer to the consumer and includes the performance of additional work and operations, without which the transportation process is impossible.
• Transport service, therefore, is a part of the system of circulation and distribution of goods, which includes, in addition to the transportation of goods, the performance of warehouse, handling and commercial operations.
• The quality of transport services is determined by the speed, time and reliability of delivery just in time, the degree of safety, the safety of goods and passengers, the tariff cost, the presence of a large number of related services, etc.
• The formation of a market economy in our country made it possible to further develop the transport service through the inclusion of specialized organizations in it, in particular forwarding activities, which previously existed only in the structure of state enterprises of mainline transport and worked, as a rule, in its interests.
• The modern concept of forwarding activities (FEA) can be defined as activities to provide transport services in the logistics process of delivery of goods, performed in the interests of consignors and consignees.
• Forwarding organizations, as entrepreneurs operating in a competitive environment, must be able to respond flexibly to customer requests and offer and provide the required services at an appropriate level of cost and quality. Such conditions are provided by the forwarder, who, on the one hand, can offer a wide range of services performed independently, on his own and with his own resources, and on the other hand, is able to attract intermediaries to ensure the complexity and minimize the cost of fulfilling the client's order. The solution to this problem, i.e. the ability to implement one of the basic principles of logistics, referred to as "make or buy problem", is one of the most important and most difficult.
• The clients to whom forwarders provide their services are cargo owners (consignors, consignees), including foreign ones, as well as other forwarding and agency organizations. In turn, freight forwarders themselves can be clients of banks, enterprises of the main transport, customs and insurance companies. Thus, forwarding activities are conditioned by a wide range of technological, financial, and legal relations.
• The logistical process of cargo delivery mentioned in the definition of TED assumes such an organization, which, providing optimal conditions for delivery, in a developed, competitive market of forwarding services with an established priority of the buyer, not the seller, is focused on the interests and demands of the consignee.
• The past perestroika years were accompanied not only by an intensive growth in the number of forwarding organizations, but also often by the short duration of their work due to the lack or lack of relevant knowledge and experience.
• A modern transport forwarder, ensuring the high quality of the services provided, must meet all the requirements that apply to him as a logistics operator.
• The range of services provided as part of the logistics service is quite diverse and affects the competitiveness of the company and the amount of costs. A characteristic feature is that the services are systemic in nature. In this regard, the company needs to accurately determine the strategy in the field of logistics customer service.
• The scope of each specific service includes a large set of various operations, the implementation of which is determined by the requirements of the client. However, in some cases, due to the client's lack of necessary experience, the freight forwarder must notify him of his capabilities.
• The process of providing each specific forwarding service is evaluated primarily in terms of the technological completeness and legal literacy of the documentation confirming the result of its execution, as well as the professional competence of the personnel of the forwarding organization involved in its implementation. The basis of this documentation is documents confirming the execution of a freight forwarding contract, other contracts with customers, railway transport enterprises, insurance companies, customs brokers and other organizations that provide for the forwarder's obligations to perform or organize the performance of operations and services specified by these contracts.
• Today, a lack of logistics service, whether provided by the manufacturer or by others, makes it easier for competitors to enter the developing market sector. Consumers take into account not only prices, appearance and quality of goods, but also the quality and range of logistics services offered. In other words, customer service (satisfaction with their needs) is a key factor in shaping the needs of logistics.
• The study and analysis of the problem of the quality of freight forwarding services to consumers showed that the existing service concepts are based on the assertion that a high level of quality of transport services is achieved under the condition of providing comprehensive services: the more services provided to consumers, the higher the level of service quality. At the same time, in market conditions, a service with a wider range of services offered than is necessary for the consumer costs the latter more.
• In the course of further advancement of our economy from the producer market to the consumer market, the requirements of consignors and consignees (customers) to the quality of transport and forwarding services in all parts of the logistics chain are increasing. At the same time, the logistics approach is not limited to individual functions: transportation, transshipment, warehousing, commissioning, etc., but comprehensively covers all functions and value creation processes.
• A modern highly organized service is a necessary condition for improving the quality of the Russian transport system during the formation of a new economy.
• 2.5 Criteria for assessing the quality of freight forwarding services
• The concept of "quality" in a broad sense is a philosophical category that expresses the essential certainty of an object, due to which it is precisely this and not another. In this sense, the quality of one object (service) cannot be compared with the quality of another, it cannot be said which object is better or worse. This aspect of quality is extremely important for the characterization of services and the practice of evaluating them.
• To date, there are no effective quantitative methods for assessing the quality of services. According to GOST R 50691 - 94 "Service Quality Assurance Model", service quality is a set of service characteristics that determine its ability to satisfy the established or implied needs of the consumer. The analysis of the concept of "quality" is devoted to the works of many specialists. Despite the predominant coincidence of views, their opinions can be divided into two groups.
• Representatives of the first group believe that the quality should be considered the production of such products and services, the characteristics of which meet specific requirements that have a numerical value. The main provisions of this position are as follows:
• it is necessary that the quality be determined (established), otherwise it is impossible to manage it;
• if the requirements are set as numerical values, the characteristics of the service can be measured to determine whether they meet the requirements.
• Representatives of the second point of view believe that quality is determined by the degree to which the consumer's expectations are met in relation to the service provided, and not by any measurable characteristics.
• Quality is thus inextricably linked to needs. For example, in modern international standards (IS) of the ISO 9000-2000 series, quality is defined as the degree to which a set of own characteristics fulfills requirements. It is characteristic that in this definition there is no word denoting the bearer of quality - "object". Here quality and requirements are directly related. At the same time, the standard, speaking of quality, implies not just the service itself, but also the process of its provision, and the concept of “requirements” includes the expected needs.
• The composition and structure of the quality indicators of freight traffic for all modes of transport are established by GOST R 51005 - 96 “Transport Services. Freight transportation. Nomenclature of quality indicators”,
• The key parameters of the quality of transport services to consumers include:
• time from receipt of the order for transportation to delivery;
• reliability and the ability to deliver on demand;
• availability of stocks, stability of supply;
• completeness and degree of availability of order fulfillment;
• convenience of placing and confirming the order;
• objectivity of tariffs and regularity of information on service costs;
• the possibility of providing loans;
• efficiency of cargo handling in warehouses;
• the quality of packaging, as well as the possibility of performing package and container transportation.
• Each of the considered indicators plays a more or less important role depending on specific market conditions. The quality of customer service is the result of the activities of employees of structural divisions of enterprises in all parts of the supply chain. Quality is achieved through careful planning, professional training of employees and continuous improvement of service performance.
• The most important comprehensive indicators for assessing the quality of services from the point of view of the consumer include:
• environment (furnishings and interior of the office, equipment, appearance of staff, etc.);
• reliability (efficiency and confidence in the results of work and services; cargo delivery at the right time and place). A significant factor affecting the reliability of delivery is the existence of obligations (guarantees) stipulated by the contract, by virtue of which the supplier is liable for violation of delivery deadlines. The reliability of information and financial procedures is also understood. Reliability refers to the ability of a service system to function without failure;
• accessibility (ease of establishing links with the performer). Availability also means having stocks of products to continuously meet the needs of consumers for products. In the case when we are talking about a transport and forwarding company, this may be the ability to order transport or a forwarding service.
• security (lack of risk and distrust on the part of the consumer of services), for example, ensuring the safety of cargo;
• diligence (guarantees that services will be performed by experienced and competent personnel);
• politeness, responsiveness of the staff, mutual understanding with the consumer (sincere interest, ability to understand the problems of the consumer);
• sociability of staff (the ability to communicate with the consumer of services in an accessible and understandable language);
• functionality (characterized by the duration of the service cycle from receiving an order to its fulfillment). Functionality characterizes the ability of the service system to maintain the expected timing and acceptable flexibility of operations.
• The service cycle (order fulfillment) is the interval between the dispatch of an order for the supply of products and the receipt by the consumer of the ordered products. This indicator must be considered from the point of view of the consumer. The time it takes to complete an order fulfillment cycle depends on the structure of the service system. It can last from several hours to several months. Order fulfillment cycles differ depending on the level of service, the type of customer and the degree of market uncertainty.
• The order fulfillment cycle is determined by the following indicators:
• the degree of satisfaction of consumer expectations in terms of order fulfillment;
• uninterrupted execution of logistics operations;
• flexibility of logistics operations;
• level of service failures.
• To ensure the required level of continuity, logistics management should:
• determine the minimum order lead time;
• prioritize with limited resources;
• calculate the available stock.
• For a more complete assessment of the quality of service, other indicators are also considered:
• response time to a consumer request;
• completeness of the order - delivery of the entire range and the required quantity of products ordered by the consumer;
• frequency of deliveries during the required period.
• The considered indicators are the main indicators of the quality of customer service. Their definition, monitoring and evaluation determine the effectiveness of the service system. Moreover, for each parameter there are two values ​​(conditional): the first characterizes the consumer's expectations, the second - the perception of the consumer in relation to this parameter. When a consumer evaluates the quality of services, he compares the actual values ​​of the quality parameters with the expected ones, and if they match or are close, then the quality is considered satisfactory or acceptable. Consumer expectations of the client are determined by the information about the services transmitted by the consumers of services to each other; personal ideas of the client about quality (his requests, past experience); external sources of information (radio, television, press).
• Foreign experience testifies to the increased attention to the problems of transport services. Thus, in countries with a developed market economy, the following trends in the development of transport services take place: an increase in the volume of transportation of high-value goods with a simultaneous reduction in low-value goods; an increase in average delivery distances and an increase in the share of international transportation; increasing responsibility for the quality and timing of transportation throughout the entire transport chain;
• growth in the volume of traffic between enterprises while reducing the volume of traffic within enterprises; reduction in volumes of bulk bulk cargoes and increase in volumes of piece cargoes in containers and on pallets; increasing the carrying capacity of the rolling stock; increase in the volume of transportation of goods (passengers) in specialized rolling stock; the predominance of logistics approaches in the organization of transportation and management of the transport process.
• In our country, the importance of logistics services is also constantly increasing, the service industry is expanding, and an increasing number of companies and workers are included in it. Many logistics intermediaries become service enterprises, whose services are inextricably linked with the promotion and sale of goods, and the cost of services may exceed the direct costs of production.
• One of the important factors of the logistics transport service is the price as the expected compensation for the total set of services that the service organization offers to the consumer. Determining the price of logistics services is much more difficult than the price of transportation itself, since the price of logistics services largely depends on the client's perception of the entire service system. The choice of the optimal level of customer service is determined by the completeness of logistics services and the amount of costs. Solving the “price-quality” problem requires the development of many options and optimization solutions. So, for example, with an increase in the quality level above 70%, service costs grow exponentially, and with a service level of 90% and above, the service becomes practically unprofitable. Expert assessments and calculations of specialists showed that with an increase in the level of service from 95 to 97%, the economic effect increases by 2%, and costs by 14%.
• To identify a rational level of service, costs, revenues and profits are compared, realizing the principle of a compromise solution in which firms achieve the best
• the relationship between prices and the level of service, between costs and income. In fact, the procedure is reduced to comparing the costs associated with an increase in the level of service, with the loss of income, growing with a decrease in the number and quality of services. As a result of the comparison, some optimum service level is found. As service levels increase, costs increase, but the revenue loss associated with reduced service levels decreases. The resulting curve is obtained by summing the coordinates of the two named components. Due to the significant difficulties in finding and practical implementation of the optimal level of service, service providers and their clientele are guided by “enough good decision» -- a rational, acceptable ratio of expenses and income.
• In accordance with the prevailing logistical views on quality, the manufacturer must pay all his attention to satisfying the needs and wishes of consumers. Ultimately, it is human needs, as the American scientist A. Maslow defined, that are the "engine" of the market.
• When considering the quality of transport services, the following features should be taken into account:

Similar Documents

Characteristics of the freight forwarding company OOO "Fortek" and its place in the market of logistics services. Justification of the criteria for assessing the quality of the company's work. Analysis of the problems of its business process and development of proposals for improving the quality of services.

thesis, added 02/15/2012


Organization of the work of LLC "Operator of the Refrigerated Terminal" in a mixed traffic for the provision of transport and forwarding services for the transportation of perishable goods. Comparative analysis the cost of LNG delivery by road and rail.

thesis, added 11/09/2012


Study of the main activities of the company OOO "Amisa". Review of markets for transport and logistics services. Organizational structure of the enterprise. Calculation of the railway freight charge taking into account the current tariff policy of the CIS and Baltic countries.

practice report, added 12/02/2014


Significance and characteristics of the market of forwarding services. Organizational structure and personnel motor transport enterprise. The relationship between the process of delivery of goods and forwarding services. Preparing cargo for shipment.
Improving the transportation activities of a freight forwarding enterprise on the example of AutoDealer LLC

Technical and operational indicators of the enterprise. Improving the efficiency of freight forwarding enterprises and the quality of services provided. Accelerating the turnover of material and financial resources. Reducing accidents on the roads.

thesis, added 05/12/2018


Development of a transport and logistics scheme for the delivery of goods using universal containers. Calculation of the cost of delivery for various transport and technological schemes. Choosing the best delivery option and preparing a commercial offer.

term paper, added 12/04/2013


Essence and specifics of the freight forwarding service, classification and types of services, justification of the chosen means. The direction of improving the organization of the work of a freight forwarding enterprise, the introduction information systems control.

thesis, added 06/16/2015


Characteristics of the transported goods. The process of receiving and processing an application for transportation. General assessment of the effectiveness of the enterprise. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the implementation of the program called "1C: Enterprise 8. 1C-Logistics: Transportation Management".