bill of lading

Do banks verify whether the cargo has actually been loaded on a ship..??

by Categories Bill of Lading, Education, Letter of Credit Tags , , , 5 Comments Estimated reading time = 4 minutes
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Shippers who deal with documentary credit know that the clause “Shipped on Board” on the bill of lading carries quite a bit of weight and there is often a lot of discussions, disputes and rejections from the side of the bank if there is any discrepancy in bill of lading in terms of the description of goods, customer details, shipped on board date, stamp or signature..

Since they are being so strict with documentation, one would naturally assume that the banks will verify whether the cargo covered in the bill of lading has actually been loaded on board the ship or not..

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How to safeguard cargo release using the correct type of bill of lading

by Categories Bill of Lading, Case Studies, Documentation, Education Tags , , 12 Comments Estimated reading time = 7 minutes
Safeguard Cargo Release

An article on how to safeguard cargo release using the correct type of bill of lading.. This article is based on a case study information received from one of the readers..

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Can a negotiable bill of lading be telex released..??

by Categories Bill of Lading, Documentation, Education Tags , , , , , 18 Comments Estimated reading time = 8 minutes
telex release - shipping and freight resource

Maybe because it is one of the most important documents in global trade, there always seems to be a degree of uncertainty around a bill of lading and questions such as this..

Many people have doubts regarding which bill of lading to issue, how many to issue..

There are also questions such as what is a Telex Release, how it works and under what circumstances a Telex Release maybe issued..

In this particular post, I will cover the circumstances under which a Telex Release maybe issued and whether a telex release can be actioned on a negotiable bill of lading..

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Help, shipping line won’t pre-date or back date my bill of lading

by Categories Bill of Lading, Documentation, Education, Legal, Letter of Credit, Opinion, Questions and Answers Tags , , , , 19 Comments Estimated reading time = 5 minutes
back dating bill of lading

Pre-Dating or Back Dating is when the shipper requests the shipping line to show the Shipped on Board date on the bill of lading as a date before the actual sailing of the vessel (example : the vessel actually sails on the 2nd of March but shipper wants the line to show the shipped on board date on the bill of lading as 28th of February)..

Why would a shipper want his bill of lading to be pre-dated or back dated and why would a shipping line reject this request..??

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Contour partners with CargoX to transform bills of lading

by Categories Bill of Lading, Blockchain, Digitalisation, Press Release, Technology, Trade Finance Tags , , , Leave a comment Estimated reading time = 3 minutes
Press Release on Shipping and Freight Resource

Contour, the Singapore-based global trade finance network has today announced its partnership with CargoX, a blockchain platform for transferring documents and data including a certified electronic bill of lading solution.

The news follows Contour’s transition to full production, with the network supporting electronic bills of lading as part of digital transformation of trade.

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Implications of issuing a Clean on Board bill of lading

by Categories Bill of Lading, Letter of Credit, Shipping and Freight Tags , , , , , 11 Comments Estimated reading time = 4 minutes

Many a time, shippers have asked shipping lines for “CLEAN ON BOARD” clause on a bill of lading and if the request relates to a container shipment, this might have very well been rejected by the shipping line..

Why do the shipping lines reject this..?? 

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How do I know the bill of lading issued is a House Bill or Master Bill..??

by Categories Bill of Lading, Documentation, Education, FAQ, Questions and Answers Tags , , , , , , 15 Comments Estimated reading time = 5 minutes
shipping and freight question

“How do I know the bill of lading issued is a House Bill of Lading or a Master Bill of Lading..?? Is it mentioned anywhere on the bill of lading that it is a House Bill or a Master Bill”

I really love such basic but curious questions because it rejuvenates the gray matter.. Let’s explore this question..

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If a bill of lading is an evidence of contract of carriage, then what is a contract of carriage..??

by Categories Bill of Lading, Documentation, Education, Opinion, Questions and Answers Tags , 5 Comments Estimated reading time = 6 minutes
types of bill of lading - shipping and freight resource

A Bill of Lading is one of the most important documents in the shipping cycle and comes in different forms such as Negotiable or Order Bill of Lading, Seaway Bill of Lading or Express Bill of Lading and Straight Bill of Lading with further permutations and combinations such as Port to Port Bill of Lading, Combined Transport Bill of Lading or Multimodal Bill of Lading and Through Bill of Lading ..

As most of you may know by now, a Bill of Lading has 3 basic purposes or roles..

  1. Evidence of Contract of Carriage;
  2. Receipt of Goods; and
  3. Document of Title to the goods

In its role as Evidence of Contract of Carriage, the emphasis is on the term “Evidence” because contrary to popular belief, a Bill of Lading is neither

  1. a contract between the Seller and the Buyer nor
  2. a contract of carriage between the Carrier and Shipper

So if the bill of lading is the evidence of the contract of carriage, then what is the contract of carriage..??

This is the question in the minds of many in the industry and I will try to shed some light on this issue here..

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Product Review : CargoX Platform – secure, trusted, instant transfer for trade documents

by Categories Bill of Lading, Blockchain, Digitalisation, Documentation, Innovation, Product Review, Technology Tags , , , 1 Comment Estimated reading time = 12 minutes
Product Review by Shipping and Freight Resource

The world of shipping involves several commercial, documentary, operational and financial processes..

While there have been many developments in the industry, a lot of the documentary processes in shipping and freight has stayed much the same for many decades..

Delays in document transmissions which could take anywhere between 5-10 days with the added risk of loss or delay of documents have severe consequences such as demurrage, detention and/or port storage, possible loss or cargo damage due to non-clearance and abandoned cargo..

CarogX Platform, a neutral, public blockchain-based platform is offering to provide a solution which will help to digitalize the trade documentation process using BDT (Blockchain Document Transfer) and reduce document transmission time to 20 seconds..!!

I took the platform for a test drive to see how it works and if it can assist the industry in saving costs and making the process of document transfer simpler, easier, economical and more importantly, secure and safer..

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What is a letter of credit, how it works and who needs it..

by Categories Bill of Lading, Documentation, Letter of Credit, Trade Tags , , , , , 36 Comments Estimated reading time = 10 minutes
sales contract and trade

Many of you would have come across the term Letter of Credit (L/C)..

If you are a shipping line, you would have heard this term from various customers asking you to expedite the draft bill of lading for checking by the bank or for the release of the bill of lading to be expedited because the shipment is under L/C..

If you a freight forwarder or agent, you may have been put under pressure by the BCO to get all the documents required by the L/C sent to them in time..

If you are a BCO, you may have been told by your bank that the documents submitted do not match the requirements of the L/C and some of the documentation may need to be redone..

So what exactly is a Letter of Credit, what is the need for a letter of credit, who issues it and how does it work..

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The beginning of the end for the Paper Bill of Lading

by Categories Bill of Lading, Blockchain, Digitalisation, Opinion, Shipping, Technology, Trade Tags , , 3 Comments Estimated reading time = 9 minutes
My Opinion

Many things have changed in the last 30 years in shipping and freight..

Many positive new developments have taken place with things from the vintage days of shipping either obsolete to almost obsolete now..

If you look at many of the news items about the industry recently, there has been a certain buzz and intensity around the electronic bill of lading..

I am fairly confident that people entering the shipping and freight industry in the next decade will be told that 2020 was the year that saw the beginning of the end for the paper “Bill of Lading” and the year in which the switch to “Electronic Bill of Lading” (eBL) began in earnest..

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Cargo release without Original Bill of Lading – COVID-19

by Categories Bill of Lading, Documentation Tags , 1 Comment Estimated reading time = 5 minutes
cargo release without original bill of lading

The pandemic that is COVID-19 is sweeping the world, disrupting global trade patterns like never before.. When one part of the globe is starting to settle down, the other part starts or spikes..

No one has any real idea of how long it will take for the world to get back to normal and its after effects..

Shipping lines, importers, exporters, ports, terminals, Governments, all businesses, insurance companies have all been affected by the pandemic and continue to look for ways to make the business of shipping as easy as possible considering the severe constraints everyone is going through..

This issue is also putting some of the documentary issues and cargo releases under pressure and leaving the industry to face the unknown.. One such issue that is affecting business is the transmission and handling of Original Bills of Lading..

There are a few options that customers can exercise to secure release of cargo without Original Bill of Lading..

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Pitfalls of digitalisation in shipping and freight

by Categories Bill of Lading, Blockchain, Digitalisation, Documentation, Freight Container, Freight Forwarding, Hazardous Goods, Maritime, Opinion, Shipping, Technology Tags , , , , , 4 Comments Estimated reading time = 10 minutes
Opinion Piece

Digitisation, Digitalisation, Digital Transformation are some buzz words that have recently taken the shipping and freight industry by storm..

Let’s take a quick look at what these terms mean and what it is all about..

While Digitalisation is inevitable in the industry, there are also some pitfalls and you can read about the pitfalls and how to avoid it here..

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