Study On International Freight Forwarder Selection For An Overseas Copper Smelting Project

EPC contracting mode has emerged in China(engineering,procurement,and construction)since the 1980 s.As government authorities gradually recognize and pay attention to the EPC contracting mode,a number of planning guidance and preferential policies have been issued and such policies have pushed design institutes to make functional and institutional reform,establish their corporate structure for EPC contracting,and set up engineering contracting companies.Therefore,in recent years,the government has also been creating a favorable environment for domestic engineering companies to "go global",encouraging Chinese enterprises to undertake overseas EPC projects in the international market,make their enterprise bigger and stronger to be better integrated into the "One Belt and One Road" initiative.Typical industries such as metallurgy,railway,chemical industry,building,electric power and municipal engineering have taken this opportunity to explore the overseas market one after another.The proportion of overseas EPC contract amount has been increasing year by year,and their emphasis and focus gradually move to the overseas market.Of the many differences between overseas EPC projects and domestic EPC projects,the most remarkable is international logistics that plays a bridging role in overseas EPC projects.The international logistics not only includes transportation from China to the port of the country where the project locates and from the port to the project site,but also includes exit customs declaration,entry customs clearance and related entry and exit permits.All these are linked with one another.Lack of any link or any delay will lead to the delay of the whole project.It requires an international freight forwarder with high service level.Under such background,it is particularly important to make a study on international freight forwarder selection.Therefore,it is of great significance for smooth development and implementation of an overseas EPC project to do a detailed evaluation of comprehensive strength of international freight forwarders and make the final selection before the overseas EPC project.With Project P of Company X as the example,the paper aims to provide a reference for international freight forwarder selection in an overseas copper smelting EPC project from the perspective of an EPC contractor in comprehensive use of expert interview method,analytic hierarchy process,and grey comprehensive evaluation method.The paper digitizes characteristics of the proposed international freight forwarder for the project,establishes a proper mathematical model,and upgrade international freight forwarder selection from qualitative research to quantitative research,making the final decision making more conducive and the international freight forwarder selection more scientific and reasonable.