Aya Salem

• Supervise daily operations of both Freight Forwarding (Sea and Air Freight) and Customs Clearance departments, ensuring seamless coordination between internal teams and external partners.
• Manage end-to-end import and export processes for sea and air shipments, while ensuring full compliance with international trade regulations and local customs requirements.
• Coordinate directly with clients to guide and assist them through the preparation and verification of all shipping and banking documents related to their shipments.
• Ensure full compliance of shipping documentation with bank requirements for both import and export transactions, including: Commercial invoices, Packing lists, Bills of lading, Air waybills, Certificates of origin, Insurance certificates, Customs declarations and relevant permits, Form 4 / Form 5, All documentation required under letters of credit.
• Act as a key liaison between clients and banking institutions to ensure proper document presentation, compliance with L/C terms and conditions, and handling of any discrepancies to avoid shipment or payment delays.
• Maintain close follow-up with freight agents, shipping lines, airlines, and customs brokers to ensure seamless logistics operations and smooth cargo clearance.
• Trained new employees on company policies, procedures, safety guidelines as well as job-specific tasks for smooth integration into the team.
• Reduced shipping documentation errors by thoroughly cross-checking shipment details with client instructions, and ensuring compliance with carrier and customs requirements.
• Enhanced customer satisfaction through prompt inquiry handling, effective issue resolution, and transparent communication of shipment progress.
• Led and coordinated operations staff, laborers, and material movers to complete tasks efficiently and on schedule.
• Support finance and accounting teams by ensuring logistics documentation aligns with invoicing and trade finance processes.
• We were the exclusive logistics agent for Africa Health ExCon 2025, and I was responsible for managing the shipments and coordinating with the finance team to prepare bank guarantees for each shipment.
• Prepare a monthly operational analysis to track my work and the team’s activities, ensuring shipments are progressing smoothly and documents are accurate.

Regarding the customs clearance process.

• Receiving and checking the full set of shipping documents from the client.
• Assuring that the acid is mentioned in all the documents, as per the customs regulations.
• Insured against loss, damage, etc., on the shipments.
• Checking if the shipment will be applicable to an agreement, or not.
• In the case of the original B/L, contact the agents to receive either the release letter or the delivery order.
• Calculating the THC for the LCL shipments.
• Follow up with the customs broker in the clearance process.
• Keeping in mind the free days and following up on a daily basis to hinder any demurrage.
• Contacting co-loaders to negotiate the storage fees.
• Receiving the customs fees and reviewing them with the customs broker to make sure they have been calculated correctly, and if there is an agreement, it should be applied.
• Arrange with the client and the customs broker the releasing of the goods.
• Arrange with the client the facilities for when and where the shipment will be delivered.
• Arranging with the truck contractor for the loading and unloading of the shipment.
• Receiving the official receipts from the broker and making sure they belong to the mentioned shipment.
• Reviewing the final customs invoice before sending it to the client.
• Following up on the payment process with the client.
• Creating daily clearance follow-up reports for the client and the manager.

Regarding the import process.

• Receiving bookings from customers to arrange shipments from the point of origin to the final delivery point.
• Instructing overseas partners to arrange shipments from the point of origin, and maintaining communication with them to ensure shipments are arranged and booked accordingly.
• Provide quotations to overseas partners and customers.
• Communicate and update customers on a regular basis on the status of their shipments.
• Request information from customers for the preparation and submission to the Customs system, and for delivery to the customer, avoiding unnecessary delays.
• Negotiate the rates with overseas partners, carriers, and local transporters to guarantee the best cost for customers' inquiries.
• Coordinate with shipping lines, LCL operators, and service providers, arranging the release, delivery, and payment of charges in a timely manner.
• Resolve service failures, delays, or problems with partners, shipping lines, LCL operators, and service providers to the satisfaction of the customer and the company.
• Update and maintain shipping line rates and customer schedules.
• Work effectively with other team members to ensure good operating procedures and practices.

Regarding the export process.

• Contacting the shipping lines to receive the best rates for export shipments.
• Responsible for all shipment documents, SI, VGM, and BL.
• Submit bookings with SL, agents, and sea freight carriers.
• Following up with the customs broker to release the shipping order.
• Check the bill of lading with the client, and make sure that the BL matches the actual goods stacked in the container.
• Receiving the invoices from the shipping line and following up on the payment process with the client.
• Daily follow-up and tracking for all shipments, and provide a daily report.