Seafreight Import Key Account Coordinator

Location: Tyburn

Salary:
From £33,000 per annum, depending on experience (with full experience K £36/£37)

Benefits:

Twice-yearly discretionary bonus, subject to both company and individual performance

Enhanced pension scheme with Legal & General

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Health scheme benefit

Life Assurance scheme, including GP access

Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) with 24/7 confidential support

Location:

Erdington, Birmingham. Primarily office-based, with occasional attendance at another local office to provide holiday cover (with prior notice).

Hours:

Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm (one-hour lunch break)

Duties:

Account Administration and Shipment Coordination

Create and maintain freight jobs using pro-forma invoices, purchase order information

and supplier documentation.

Chase suppliers and shippers for booking confirmations, shipping instructions,

documentation and outstanding information.

Maintain shipment trackers, schedules and customer visibility reports, ensuring

milestones and outstanding actions remain current.

Coordinate with the customer, suppliers, shipping lines, hauliers, warehouses and

internal operational teams.

Maintain accurate electronic records and upload customer-facing documents to the

agreed platforms.

Customs and Regulatory Compliance – Essential

Complete and control UK import customs declarations, including the review of

commercial invoices, packing lists, bills of lading, commodity information, origin data

and customs valuation information.

Check declaration accuracy, manage duty and deferment requirements and escalate

discrepancies before submission.

Create and manage IPAFFS notifications and CHEDs for applicable food and Products of

Animal Origin movements.

Manage Port Health queries, health certificate documentation and supporting

regulatory records.

Complete and track duty reclaims.

Support HMRC or customer audits through accurate document collation and record

retention.

Support European movements and the associated customs or regulatory requirements

where required.

Customer Reporting, Financial Control and Billing

Prepare weekly shipment schedules and operational status reports for the customer.

Produce monthly management reports covering delivery activity, insurance, quay rent,

container or shipping line information and related account measures.

Complete weekly bulk invoicing, check charges and ensure deliveries are billed

accurately.

Prepare dummy costings and estimated landed cost information using complete

commercial and shipment data.

Respond to customer queries concerning invoices, duty and deferment, providing the

relevant supporting documentation.

Operational Cover and Business Continuity

Train to provide operational cover for the Account Supervisor during annual leave or

other absence.

Monitor vessel schedules, shipment progress and ETA changes, providing timely

updates to the customer and internal teams.

Liaise with shipping lines regarding releases, bills of lading, charges and operational

exceptions.

Coordinate hauliers, delivery bookings, warehouses, cold stores and delivery previews.

Update landed costs, issue releases and support urgent operational decisions in

accordance with customer instructions and Fracht procedures.

Maintain account continuity through clear handovers, current trackers and accessible

records.

Systems, SOPs and General Support

Use Cargo Wise to maintain accurate operational, customs, costing and billing records.

Use SharePoint, Web Tracker or equivalent platforms to maintain document control and

customer visibility.

Create, review and maintain account SOPs, work instructions and training records.

Monitor shared operational mailboxes and respond to relevant customer or shipment

requests.

Provide account-specific presentations, process support and ad hoc reporting when

required.

Experience required:

Experience of deep-sea import freight forwarding.

Practical experience of completing and controlling UK import customs declarations.

A high level of accuracy when reviewing and processing shipment and customs

documentation.

Confident and professional customer communication.

Ability to manage several live shipments and competing deadlines.

Competent spreadsheet and reporting skills.

Ability to…