Bill of Lading

London, Hong Kong, Singapore & Tokyo, 29 March 2022 – Bolero International, the leading provider of cloud-based trade finance digitisation solutions, announced today a collaboration with TradeLens, the blockchain-based global trade...

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..??

A Bill of Lading (B/L) is one of the most commonly used commercial documents in the history of shipping and freight.. This document is issued in one form or the other for all shipments whether container, bulk, break bulk, RoRo or in other forms of carriage..

A Bill of Lading has 3 basic functions.. But which is the most important function of the bill of lading..??

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..

If you are in the shipping and freight industry, you would have no doubt heard about a Delivery Order.. This article explains in detail all about a Delivery Order - what is it, who issues it, who should it be issued to and its importance..

In cases where an original bill of lading is lost, there are several steps that need to be taken to carry on business and secure release without an original.. I previously wrote about What to do when an Original Bill of lading is lost so I am not discussing it again here..

One of the solutions for release without original bill of lading is a Bank Guarantee..

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...

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..

Executive Insights is a series by Shipping and Freight Resource that provides insights and thoughtful analysis about the industry..

This series features selected individuals from the industry and is aimed at enriching the knowledge of the readers with what is happening in the shipping, freight, maritime, logistics, and supply chain industry..

Executive Insights also gives you a chance to pick the brains of these industry veterans, leaders, and enablers..

In this edition of Executive Insights, we caught up with Philip Teoh - Lawyer and Maritime Arbitrator, on aspects of International Convention of Carriages and other maritime matters..

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..??

Many of you might have heard the term Letter of Indemnity (LOI) in day to day shipping practice..

There have been several arguments, discussions, commercial threats, litigation etc surrounding this LOI..

But many still have doubts on what an LOI is, when it can and should be used, whether it is legally enforceable and whether it is worth the paper it is written on..

I will try to answer these questions in this article..

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..?? 

This definition of the term "Merchant" has caught the attention of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) who is soliciting public comment as to

1. How VOCCs apply the term “Merchant” in their bills of lading;
2. Whether the definition, as applied, subjects third parties who are not in contractual privity with the carrier to joint or several liability; and
3. Whether carriers have enforced the definition of merchant against third parties that have not consented to be bound by, or otherwise accept, the terms and conditions of the bill of lading.

I have shared my personal opinion on this.. Have a read and share yours..

"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..

The Electronic version of the most powerful document in shipping - the Bill of Lading has been making news for quite a while..

I wrote earlier that 2020 will be remembered as 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..

Carriers are pushing more and more for the adoption of the eBL in various regions of the world with the aim to improve documentation flow and avoid costly delays to customers..

MSC has just released a statement confirming that they will be accelerating the adoption of their eBL with the WAVE platform in India..