Receipt route and R3483 DRP

We are using receipt routing to take possession of material as it leaves our Chinese suppliers.  We have set up the route step for in-transit and A/P creation.  The material may be in-transit for several weeks.  

The problem is that R3483 does not recognize the material as on-hand and since the PO is now closed, it will plan another PO for the demand.

We found a white paper indicating that we should simply have a status of 250 (as an example) for the in-transit, but that does not allow for the A/P entry.   Is there a different approach we can take?