How many original bills of lading must I surrender to get release of cargo..??
This question popped up on my comments and emails quite a few times since the beginning of this year and therefore I decided to write this short note to answer it..
There have been several questions about the “liability of a shipper on a bill of lading”.. As we have discussed, any one can be a shipper on the bill of lading and may not necessarily be the actual exporter or seller of the goods that are covered in the bill of lading..
It is not uncommon for a Seller to be pursued by the Carrier for unpaid charges incurred in relation to the cargo, say, due to the Consignee failing to come forth and take delivery.
More often, this comes as a shock to the Seller given that they may have received payment under their contract for sale of goods and subsequently transferred the negotiable Bill of Lading by endorsement (either to a named party or in blank).
The Seller generally presumes that they do not bear any liability and instead believe that the Carrier only has a right to pursue the Consignee.
The below article by Muthu Jagannath explains the liability of the entity who is listed as a Shipper in the Bill of Lading (“BL”)..
A case study on the obligations of a shipping line in terms of clauses/notations to be mentioned in a bill of lading.. Based on a real life question from a reader..
Why does a shipping line or agent check or have to check a Bill of Lading against customs documents.. What are they checking for and what should they be checking for..??
In one my previous articles, I explained the Difference between Demurrage and Detention..
After reading this, a few of my readers have asked me to explain the causes of demurrage and detention..
There are several reasons a container(s) can incur demurrage and/or detention or combined demurrage and detention.. Here are some of the major reasons..
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..
By definition, “A Delivery Order is a release document issued by the carrier releasing the cargo to the consignee mentioned in the bill of lading” It is issued by the carrier … Read more here..
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..
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..
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..??
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.
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..??
“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..
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..
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
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..
Carrier refuses to show commercial and sales information relating to the cargo on the bill of lading.. Are they being pedantic or are they right..??