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..
A manifest is one of the key documents in the process of shipping..
A manifest lists all bills of lading issued for cargo loaded on a specific ship.. Kind of a summary if you wish..
A manifest lists the details of the cargo, the shipper, consignee, weight, measurement, packing.. There are different types of manifests:
So what is a manifest correct and why is it required..??
This article explains what is a manifest corrector, its uses, where it can and cannot be used and how the process works..
Cargo covered by a bill of lading may only be released to the entity to whom it is consigned..
The shipping line and/or their agents at the destination must take cognisance of the type of bill of lading issued, the endorsements required on the bill of lading for the type of bill of lading before releasing the cargo..
Some lines are releasing cargo without the endorsement , some are strictly following above, some are content with releasing cargo to whoever is in possession of the bill of lading and are not seeking any endorsement or authorisation letter (in the case of release to an agent)..
What is your viewpoint on this issue and let us take a vote to see how strictly these endorsement requirements are followed..
Is there a connection between Incoterms and the shipping line..?? Are Shipping Lines concerned with Incoterms®..??
Shippers load, stow and count or Shippers load and count or SLAC is a term that you would have seen in the description of the bill of lading for all shipments.. What does it mean to the line and to the shipper..??
The difference between pre-carriage and on-carriage needs to be understood very clearly by the exporter, importer, shipping line, forwarder, clearing agent, insurance and everyone else involved in order to ensure that the relevant roles, responsibilities, costs and risks are clearly defined..
Riaz had this question about Note of Sea Protest
Does the production of a Note of Sea Protest absolve the shipping line of all the claim for damages the cargo may have purportedly suffered due to the rough seas recorded in the Note of Sea Protest and vetted by the port authorities, based on the log book, but not notarised?
How does one differentiate between such incidental damage and damage which may have been caused by negligent handling?