- Shipped on Board is an important notation in a bill of lading
- Shipped on Board Date and Bill of Lading Date are different
- Bills of Lading should always show a bill of lading date
Shipped On Board is an important notation often displayed on the Bill of Lading which is a transport document issued by the carrier of the goods to the client (usually a shipper or exporter)..
The Shipped on Board notation confirms that the cargo has been loaded onboard the ship..
However, there seems to be some confusion between the terms Shipped on Board Date and Bill of Lading date prompting questions like
- Should the Shipped on Board Date and Bill of Lading Date be the same..??
- Can a bill of lading be issued without a Shipped on Board Date..??
- Can a bill of lading be issued without a Bill of Lading Date..??
But before I get to the answers, some bits to understand..
A lot of letters of credit come with a requirement as highlighted below :
For the terms of the letter of credit to be satisfied, the bill of lading should have the notation SHIPPED ON BOARD displayed on the bill of lading..
The Shipped on Board notation may be in the form of a stamp or typed in the body of the bill of lading and may or may not be shown along with a date..
What is Shipped on Board Date..??
When the Shipped on Board notation has an accompanying date (like you see on the right), this date is the Shipped on Board Date (SOB Date)..
As the name suggests, the Shipped on Board Date is the date on which the cargo was loaded onboard the ship..
In the case of container ships, however, when the ship is loading cargo for more than a day, it is possible that containers belonging to the same shipment could be loaded on two different dates..
To maintain consistency, as a general rule, container carriers choose the vessel departure date as SOB for the whole manifest (after all containers have been loaded)..
However, IF there is a specific request due to L/C requirement, the carrier may show the date on which the vessel was under loading operations as the SOB date..
What is the Bill of Lading Date..??
Bill of Lading Date = the date on which the bill of lading is issued..
You can see this date (either as Date of Issue or Place and Date of Issue) usually near the signature area on the bill of lading..
This date will be on the bill of lading whether there is a Shipped on Board notation/date or not..
This date is DIFFERENT from the SOB Date as the container could have been loaded on board the ship at a different date and a Bill of Lading was issued to the customer at a different (later) date..
Question 1 – “Should the Shipped on Board Date and Bill of Lading Date be the same“..??
The answer is NO, not necessarily..
These two dates can be the same or different..
But an important point is that the Bill of Lading date can only be after the Shipped on Board date..
In an ideal situation, if the container has been Shipped on Board on 11.03.2012, the bill of lading date cannot be 10.03.2012 as the carrier is supposed to issue a bill of lading showing Shipped on Board only after the container has been physically Shipped on Board..
The bill of lading date has to be on or after the SOB date which in the below example is 12.03.2012..
As per information and examples provided by some of the readers, I had to revise the above, as it seems that from a practical perspective, the SOB Date can be later than the Bill of Lading Date..
Here is a scenario from one of the readers :
“shipping lines will issue a “received for shipment” bill of lading without indicating the “shipped on board” date. Then, after the goods are loaded onto the ship, they will give an endorsement as “shipped on board” with the date. In this scenario, the “shipped on board” date will be later than the bill of lading issuance date.”
The ISBP 821 (International Standard Banking Practice) also seems to support this as it says “When a pre-printed “Shipped on board” bill of lading is presented, its issuance date will be deemed to be the date of shipment unless it bears a separate dated on board notation. In the latter event, such date will be deemed to be the date of shipment whether that date is before or after the issuance date of the bill of lading. The on board date may also be indicated in a designated field or box.”
A question remains for the ISBP team whether a bill of lading with an SOB “stamp” qualifies as “pre-printed Shipped on Board bill of lading“..
I also need to examine a carrier’s liability where a SOB date is later than the Bill of Lading date..
Question 2 “Can a bill of lading be issued without a Shipped on Board Date..??“..??
If the shipment involves a letter of credit, then UCP600 Article 20 – Section A – sub-section ii clarifies this point quite clearly..
So if a bill of lading is issued without an SOB date as shown below, the date of issuance of the bill of lading will be considered as the SOB date..
If a date is shown along with the Shipped on Board notation in the body of the bill of lading, then that date becomes the SOB Date
Question 3 “Can a bill of lading be issued without a Bill of Lading Date..??“..??
Technically and legally speaking, a bill of lading shouldn’t be issued and I have never seen it issued without a date on it..
Releasing a bill of lading without a date will put the carrier at risk as the client can put any date they want and the carrier may be exposed to all sorts of claims and other issues including shipping and freight fraud etc..
You can also read why a shipping line won’t backdate a bill of lading..
This article has been republished after some critical updates..
Good day Hariesh,
did you know which countries require Issuing Date same as SOB Date. i am thinking about Brazil and Colombia, if i am not wrong. have you an idea why such this requirement? there are so many misunderstandings, and even both customers and shipping companies are lost, because between 2 Bills of lading on a same vessel, but different countries destination, the BL date is not the same. finally, everyone think this is a customs local requirement, without being totally certain.
Hi Hariesh, interesting facts about Shipped on Board notation. I have a question. One of my shippers uses a barge to move the containers/goods to the main sea port. The date the containers/goods laden on the barge is shown in the Liner BL as the “SOB” date. Whereas, the actual shipment (loading of the containers and sailing from the main port) on the Mother vessel happens sometime after 3 weeks or even 4 weeks after the goods have arrived at the loading port.
Can the Liner issue BL show the barge loading date as the shipped-on-board date? Because for us, the BL date / SOB date becomes the basis for making the payment to the shipper. We think we are at a disadvantage because of the reason that the shipper uses the barge-laden date as the “SOB” date, and in actuality, the containers are still in the exporting country.
Hello
this is a very important article. unfortunately, there are customs in various countries that require the SOB date to be the same as the BL date. when we push to understand why, as it simply does not make sense, the usual reply is – “this is the customs requirement. there is never logic”.
is there a push in the industry to get this changed?
Thanks for this Missy.. These practices of “this is how it has been” is there in every country and frankly it is disruptive to trade.. In the “SAFE Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade” there is only a mention of “Date and time of arrival at first port of arrival in Customs territory = Date and time / scheduled date and time of arrival of means of transport at (for air) first airport, (land) arrival at first border post and (sea) arrival at first port, coded.” and no mention any loading dates or SOB etc.. This could be some arbitrary requirement from some local customs..
Hello Hariesh, quite interesting to learn on this. Would there be a difference on the Received bill of lading and the bill of lading itself? How would we distinguished between both. And if a received BL is issued, post loading – would there be another BL issued? Thanks
UCP600 has devoted four articled for Bills of Lading namely Combined Transport covering at least two different modes of transport, Port to Port. Non-Negotiable Sea Waybill, and Charter Party Bill of Lading.
On Board Notation issue generally comes with combined Transport Document which is also known as Multi Model BL. Documentary Examiners under LC compare this document against article 19 of UCP600 because this document stipulates at least two modes of transport involving inland waterways, road, air or railways.
In a letter of credit calling for an on board BL for a particular cargo that has to be accepted by a carrier at an inland point of loading and then transported to the named port of loading, an examiner will look for an onboard notation in the BL stating the name of ship, name of the port and the date loaded to satisfy compliance with the terms of the LC.
In such an event, date of the BL may be prior to the on board date. However, multi model BL showing a pre-carriage, with an ‘on board notation’ in the body of BL without mentioning name of the vessel, date and the port will not be considered an LC complying document.
It might be worth adding that an LC requirement for “Shipped on board” bills of lading is also satisfied by presentation of pre-printed shipped on board BLs in lieu of pre-printed “Received for shipment” type with a separate dated “on-board” notation.
In the former case the issuance date would be deemed to be the shipped on board date and in fact, sub-articles 19 a ii and 20 a ii of UCP600 were created to cover this possibility
Hi Hariseh, i’ve been into this shipping world more than a year now. Only found out I seem to get it wrong with Bill Issue Date. My understand of
1. BoL A’s Shipped on Board Date = Cargo A loaded onboard date
2. Bill Issue Date = Date of the completion of all the BLs (can be A-Z cargoes) loaded onboard that vessel.
3. Departure/Sailing Date is the date vessel leaves the port.
4. Shipped on Board Date can only earlier than Bill of Issue Date
5. Shipped on Board Date can only earlier than Departure/Sailing Date.
My question is: Can Bill Issue Date earlier than Departure Date?
thanks
Jo welcome to the industry.. What type of ship, cargo are you talking about..??
Thanks Hariesh, it’s indeed a very interesting and confusing world 😃
It’s ro-ro vessel for vehicles. Not sure if it is much different to other goods?
Different goods load on ships differently.. Bulk and Break Bulk shipments can have parcel cargoes which could be split into different bills.. In certain cases, the dates could also be dependent on what is mentioned in the L/C and/or Charter Party.. In container shipments, many containers can be covered under one bill of lading but all containers would have 1 bill of lading date, shipped on board date even if a few of the containers were physically not loaded on the same day.. It is accepted industry practice..
Generally, departure/sailing date will be same as bill of lading date.. But it is also possible that the bill of lading date is before the shipped on board date or sailing date if the bill issued is a Received for Shipment bill of lading.. The bill of lading date is the date on which the bill of lading is issued and IF there is no specific “shipped on board” date on the bill, then it is usually considered that the shipped on board date maybe same as bill of lading date as well..
Thank you very much Hariesh. Will read through all the articles to get better understanding of this shipping world, too much to learn!
Good Luck..
Hello, nice article and also very interesting QnA.
I have a question from my practice, where a dry-bulk vessel was loading several parcels, but one of them say ABC is in concern. Statement of facts as follows. Part of this ABC parcel (1000 mts) was loaded from 26 to 29 Oct, then other parcels were loaded till 15 Nov. On 15th Nov continued loading of the ABC parcel and it was fully completed/loaded by the next day of 16 Nov (another 200 mts loaded). Due to loading deadline for that ABC parcel (15 Nov), the Charterers and LC term require splitting of its BL, as loaded up to 15 Nov and afterwards (penalty to be implied for the second BL). Problem is that Charterers/LC bank do not accept “shipped on board” notation and they require BL dated 15 Nov for the 1000 mts and another BL dated 16 Nov for the other 200 mts, HOWEVER, Carrier insist on either placing onboard notation (which is impossible for the bank/customer), or otherwise they wanted the first BL dated as 29 Oct, when first part of the parcel was onboard actually (again not ok for customer). Who is right and who is wrong? Why? Is it right to say that 15 Nov BL is ok as the same qty was onboard at that date? Is there risk for different market and mis presentation to receiver? Important is to note that both parts are mixed in one hold and part of one parcel.
I have a question about the B/L date of liquid (petroleum) products. A cargo finished loading at 22:30 and hoses were disconnected at that time. The surveyor only finished his calculations of quantity on board at 02:00 the next day. In you opinion, what is the correct BOL date, hoses disconnected or the next day when the actual final quantity was known? And, is there any English law jurisprudence on this subject?
I had this question many times with Owners loading mostly in ARA region. The vast majority tend to agreed to “Complete loading” time instead of “Hose disconnected”. Does not matther when the docs are on board or how long SOB takes to be on board.
Hi,
If after a shipment has been closed off, and I have only now realized that the freight charges on the BL was incorrect, can I do another BL to account for the difference? What is the best way to go about this?
The presented bills of lading show “shipped on board Date 7 March 2019” .
The presented packing list shows “shipping date 6 March 2019”
Problem: the issuing bank raised the discrepancy that packing list shows inconsistent shipping date with the bill of lading.The beneficiary disagreed claiming that the shipped on board date and the shipping date may refer to 2 different things. Do you agree with the issuing bank or beneficiary?
please explain
I NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS THE EXACT MEANING OF SHIPPED ON BOARD WITH NOTATION DATE ON BL IS REQUIRED DULY VALIDATED .
Hi Harish,
Thank you for this article with Letter of credit information and benefits and cons for the seller and buyer . Would you be able to provide the benefits of new incoterms 2020 FCA with on board notation and how it can be used for letter of credit shipments and how will on board notation help in buyer bank releasing the payment ti seller so that it avoids banking delays in LC shipment.
Hallo
Our customer who has L/C does not want to accept B/L were in the body of B/L we mentioned Shipped on Board: Vessel name + Date. They want to have it mentioned or in the box: Pre-carriage or Port of Loading or in the bottom, next to stamp and Issue date. Both options we rejected to apply but they insist as their bank would not accept if “shipped on board” is mentioned in Body of B/L. Does it matter for L/C (bank) where shipped on Board is mentioned?
Thanks
Hi Anna, in my opinion NO, it should not matter where the SOB clause or date is mentioned.. It is usually in the body of the bill below all the descriptions, but each line has its own format.. “Pre-carriage or Port of Loading….” is absolutely the wrong place to show SOB information though..
I would LOVE to understand/hear from any trade finance bankers as to why they insist on such archaic practices..
If bank has below question & HBL SOB date was managed by the Forwarder, what should be a shipper answer?
Kindly advise on the reason that the B/L onboard date differs from the vessel arrival date.
can bank accept future dated bill of lading ( Letter of credit is not involved ).
can issue BL date on Sunday date ?
Not an issue, it seems, a Sunday Date ? If the Office is working on a Sunday, then ?
Normally, if the office is NOT working on a Sunday, the date will be different and also as per the instructions of the Shipping Line.
In LC CFR basis, Invoice date is later than sailing date is acceptance or not
Hi Hariesh
I have below few questions.
1. Our exporter has informed us that the latest vessel loading date is 12/09/2018 and ETD on 15/09/18. Does this mean BL date will be 12/09/18 or earlier.
2. If the BL date is later than LC last date of shipment
Can a bank consider it as a discrepancy for making a LC null and void and not honoring a irrecoverable LC.
Hi ,
Is it a discrepancy not to mention the on board date right next to the wording ” ON BOARD ” but with only the BL date at the bottom ?
Hi, We have shipped one consignment from India to Singapore customer through our Dubai office. Our India office (Exporter) Export the goods to our Dubai office as per the Invoice received from Dubai office & in turn Dubai office export the same goods to Singapore customer as per their Invoice to Dubai office.
Now, as per India Invoice Marine Insurance policy generated & value covered is also as per India Invoice.
My question is can we amend the Insurance no. & value as per our Dubai office Invoice for higher value.
please advise
Hi,
I have one quick question, one of our customer is insisting vessel birthing date as SOB date,
whereas container loaded on next day,
in brief – vessel arrived on dated 30th May, whereas container loaded on 31st may at 0410hrs and sailed in noon hours, customer is requesting SOB date should be 30th May. Can we issue SOB date as 30th May. if not… please share the reason, in order to explain the same to our dear customer.
Thanks & BRgds/Santosh Pandit
For DES, the shipment date on the LC referring to BL date or arrival date at discharge port? Please advise.
Sometimes bill of lading is issued after draught survey for bulk cargo showing the quantity loaded.
If the vessel sinks before issue of Bill of lading
Can the shipping co avoid their liability if loading is complete?
same bill of lading format only have “laden on board”
Shipper request manual insert wording “shipped on board” in BL description said to comply LC “Shipped on board” requirements.
both is the same?
Could explain more?
Hi Eve, you can read https://www.shippingandfreightresource.com/difference-laden-board-shipped-board/..
there some mistakes in the article, when the L/C mention 3/3 original B/L that means ALL of the originals issued, if it was 1 issued then you have to give the 1. and, it have to show onboard date, in which case the first picture is discrepant while the second one is conform. it printed on UCP 600 you depicted: pre-printed wording or on-board notation INDICATING the date. it obvious there are no pre-printed onboard word (the B/L pre-printed RECEIVED by the carrier NOT SHIPPED onboard) so it have to have on-board notation with the date.
Dhany, when the L/C mentions 3/3 it means 3 of 3 should be Originals and the bank requires all 3 originals to satisfy the L/C conditions.. And by pre-printed, UCP600 means “typed” on the bill of lading..
Not entirely correct. when the L/C mentions 3/3 it means all of the originals, so if the carrier release 2 original the bank requires all 2. if the carrier release 1 original the bank requires the original. while the pre-printed, UCP600 means “typed” on the “BLANK” bill of lading. on your first picture with red markings there are no PRE-PRINTED On board, therefore you need “on board notation indicating the date” which means the first one do not have an onboard date! ask anyone with a CDCS title.
Your Question : “Not entirely correct. when the L/C mentions 3/3 it means all of the originals, so if the carrier release 2 original the bank requires all 2. if the carrier release 1 original the bank requires the original.”
My Answer : Yes agreed and this is what i have also mentioned in my previous comment that the bank requires ALL originals issued by the line for that shipment..
Your Question : “while the pre-printed, UCP600 means “typed” on the “BLANK” bill of lading. on your first picture with red markings there are no PRE-PRINTED On board, therefore you need “on board notation indicating the date” which means the first one do not have an onboard date!” –
My Answer : Yes exactly.. First picture (below)
does not have the On-Board date as some lines may issue a Bill of Lading without an SOB date in which case the Date of Issuance of the bill of lading becomes the SOB Date as also mentioned by UCP600..
I am not sure what you are finding incorrect..
Thank you very much! Very clear and well structured!
The shipper requires OBL to be released without the wordings either “Shipped on Board” or “Received for Shipment”. Can the BL be issued without these words. Please advise
Basheer, it has been known to happen, but this would depend totally on the carrier releasing the bill of lading..
shipped on board date 19/10/17 and bill of exchange date is 20/10/17 is there any problem ?
Bill of Exchange date can be 20/10/2017 or even later than that. you can not have Bill of Exchange date prior to Shipped on Board date.
Can a “Shipped on board” Bill of lading be issued before the actual On-boarding of the container on the vessel?
Not at all..
what if an bill of lading only contain shipped on board date and the column of issue date left blank..would that consider as an draft or unconfirmed copy of BL
Thanks a lot, sir
What in the case the applicant initially got “received for shipment” bill of lading and later on requested for “stamped on board notation” on it??..Obviously the date of issue in received fro shipment BL would prior to on board date. Is it acceptable bey bank. Correct me if I am wrong.
In such cases and to avoid confusion the shipper returns the full set of Received For Shipment bill issue new sets of bill of lading with Shipped on Board..
Thank you Hariesh Manaadiar♥♥
Should the Shipped on Board Date 30/04/2015 and Bill of Lading Date 29/04/2015, possible
Hello Raj no it is not possible.. If BL requires SOB notation then BL date can only be AFTER SOB date..
Should the Shipped on Board Date 25/01/2016 and Bill of Lading Date 30/01/2016
No problem..
Hi, Hariesh. How about Clean on Board? Would you mind to explain this? Thanks 🙂
Hello Winda, if you search on this blog for Clean on Board, there are several articles that explains it..
Hi, we are facing issues where all documents have been dated with the SOB date and bank rejecting them view the date of issue is different. It is a shipment under LC. In this case what to do? can somebody please help 🙁
Hello Laura, if the date of issue is BEFORE date of Shipped on Board then bank will have a problem.. If Date of Issue is AFTER the Shipped on Board date, then they shouldn’t have the problem because both these dates are different.. However, if the body of the bill doesn’t show the notation Shipped on Board and only shows a date, then there might be issues because in the absence of SOB notation, the date of shipment and date of issue will be same..
It will be considered 16th May. Though many bank’s or buyer’s , may use this to their favor if they intend to dishonor a Letter of Credit.
Hi,
If the SOB date is 16th May and if the bill is released after 10 days, what would be the B/L date, what is acceptable variance in the dates between SOB date and B/L date ?
There is no time frame between these two dates.. It is in the shipper’s interest to get the bill of lading released asap (if it is a negotiable bill, they will usually take release pretty quickly) and its also in the lines interest to push the shipper to take release of the bill (if it is an original bill).. Each line has their own mechanism to deal with bills that have not yet been released..
If it is a Waybill, the bill can be considered to be automatically released (issued) once the client confirms the final draft.. A copy of the Waybill is usually sent to the client which indicates that the Waybill has been issued..
Hi Hariesh, what is my understanding is SOB date will be the vessel sailing date and BL issue date will be the date when BL is issued to customer. Is that right ?
Hi Gowri, that is correct yes..
Hariesh, I’m still confused. The Shipped on Board date is the date that the goods are loaded on the vessel as stated in your post. Is the shipped on board date also the day the vessel actual sets sail, or can this be later than the shipped on board date?
Thanks
Hi Sean, the actual date of sailing of the vessel can be different from that of SOB because not in all cases the ship will load and sail on the same day although this is the majority case..
Therefore there are different terminology like ETD (Estimated Time of Departure) when the ship departed from the berth, and ETS (Estimated Time of Sailing) when the ship actually sailed from the port..
Example : ship can load at container terminal and depart from the terminal, but had some engine trouble or crew sickness etc which it had to sort out before it finally sailed from the port.. From the time the ship departed from the terminal and finally sailed, it could have been staying at outer anchorage (still within the port limits)..
Trust this helps..