For the release of cargo at destination and for the purpose of documentary credit negotiations, there are several endorsements required on a bill of lading.. In this article we take a look at who should endorse a bill of lading and what are the endorsements required..
A reader asked below question..
Kindly let me know, In import FCL in which HBL is involved, who will Endorse on HBL and who Will Endorse on MBL – question by reader Wasi Shah
Whether it is HBL or MBL, it must be understood that a bill of lading has to be consigned properly in order that the cargo is released to the correct party..
Below are the permutations that I have seen so far being used in bills of lading in the consignee field and the relevant endorsements required..
| Bill of Lading consigned to | Endorsements Required on the bill of lading |
| A Company | When consigned to a named consignee, the bill of lading is known as a Straight Bill of Lading, and in the case of a Straight Bill of lading, the release maybe given only to the named consignee and this bill of lading is not negotiable or transferable.. |
| Individual’s Name | When consigned to a named consignee, the bill of lading is known as a Straight Bill of Lading, and in the case of a Straight Bill of lading, the release maybe given only to the named consignee and this bill of lading is not negotiable or transferable..Since the consignee is a private individual, release may be effected only after verification of Original ID of the person presenting the OBsL for release.. |
| To Order or To Order of ZYX |
Shipper’s endorsement stating DELIVER TO THE ORDER OF “ZYX Client” and ZYX’s company stamp and sign in case he is taking the final delivery or his endorsement stating, DELIVER TO THE ORDER OF “ABC Client” (if the cargo has been further sold)…. |
| To Order of Bank | Shipper’s endorsement stating DELIVER TO THE ORDER OF “XYZ BANK” and banks’ endorsement stating, DELIVER TO THE ORDER OF “ZYX Client” and ZYX’s company stamp and sign in case he is taking the final delivery or his endorsement stating, DELIVER TO THE ORDER OF “ABC Client” (if the cargo has been further sold).. |
In one of my previous articles we discussed the difference between House Bill of Lading (HBL) and Master Bill of Lading (MBL)..
As outlined in that article a HBL is issued by a forwarder or NVOCC operator to their clients whereas the MBL is issued by a shipping line to a forwarder, NVOCC Operator or Groupage Operator..
So who should endorse a bill of lading for cargo release and how should a HBL and MBL be consigned..??
When there is an involvement of HBL, the MBL can only be a Sea Waybill or a Straight Bill and will invariably be consigned as below
- Shipper will be : Freight Forwarder or NVOCC
- Consignee will be : The agent of the freight forwarder or NVOCC.. But this could vary from country to country as some countries need the actual consignee information on the MBL
- Notify will be : The agent of the freight forwarder or NVOCC
Since a Sea Waybill is neither negotiable nor transferable, there is no need need for any endorsements on the MBL and cargo will be released to the consignee..
If the HBL is used as the transport document, then the HBL should follow the endorsements as shown above..
Hello,
I bought as a company an amount of corn from a shipper with an endorsement of Bill of lading(to order), tendered to me the BOL, invoice and insurance policy (CIF).
The transaction done before the cargo reaches the destination( one day before).
When the cargo arrived (one day after) it was damaged and useless by chemicals by the Shipowner (Cleaning holds).
Who should i claim against ? And what defences may the defendant have to limit or defeat me ?
Thanks in advance!!
Hi, my consignee box has indicated as To Order.
Customer ABC has engaged with their freight forwarder for cargo clearance but was challenged with custom that consignee box needs to indicate as ABC.
Any resolution to ensure clean transaction with custom?
Hi,
We are having an argument between our bank and one of the major shipping company. Each OBL has several pages (because of the large number of containers). The bank endorse the BL by signing and stamping the back of the first page only. The OBL were then sent to the receiver at the final port of destination. Upon presentation of the OBL, the shipping line argued that all the pages should have been endorsed. We were able to solve the situation by switching the BL at destination, but I would like to know if there is a specific rule for all pages of the OBL to be endorsed or if only the first one is enough. Thanks.
Hi Seb, as long as the rider pages of the bill of lading bears the number of the bill of lading and it is signed by the carrier, it is considered to be part of the original bill lading and must be treated as such.. However, as endorsements are generally done on the “back” of the bill of lading which shows the terms and conditions of the bill of lading, that should suffice as the rider pages are normally blank pages.. But I also understand why the shipping line is reluctant because it also depends on the “information” on these rider pages.. Depending on the setup of the bill of lading and how it is printed, some or all of the cargo description could roll over to the rider pages and that is an important factor to consider.. Some lines have security codes on the rider pages so it links these electronically when scanned, others use normal A4 paper with just stamps and sign of the carrier/agent.. As far as I know, there are no specific rules on this..
The shipment is on an L/C but for some reason the customer wants the shipment released without the bank endorsed bl. The customer also says they will provide us/freight forwarder with an original LOI from the supplier for the release of cargo. Is this okay and can we as a forwarder release the cargo.
the MBL is consigned to us/freight forwarder the hbl is consigned to the bank and actual customer as notify. Please guide on how this can be handled.
Dear Hariesh,
I got a doubt.
We have a client in India who wants to manage a high sea sales with an air shipment.
My company is established in Spain, our client in India and its client in India too.
How can we arrange the documents to guarantee the operation correctly?
Export from Spain to our client will be with our invoice, then import will be with our client´s invoice.
We should arrange the transport, incoterm CPT Delhi airport.
In terms of BL /AWB, what is necessary to do?
A master BL shipper (us) and consignee our client and then a HBL shipper (our client), consignee its client?
If information is not clear enough and you need to clarify any point let me know.
Looking forward to reading you.
Kind regards,
as pe rthe LC the buyers is going to do payment at the port of destination after the inspection of teh material . Actual supplier is from zambia – India compnay is a merchant exporter- china is the acatual consignee.
China places LC on India, and India merchant exporter places teh LC on zambia exorter. How to prepare th bill of lading for this shipment and how can we safe guard the sfatey of the payment.
Hi sir
In BL Consignee name is ABC and 1 notigy is also ABC and 2nd Notify is XYZ so we need shipper sign stamp on back side of OBL.
Yes there is stamp and notify for shipper
Thank you Hariesh for your message. In practice we endorse a B/L with the bank’s stamp and any authorised signature of the bank. Nevertheless, is it an ICC rule? Where can I find the official rule for B/L endorsement? We had a case where a bank has only stamped a B/L as endorsement and argue that there is no ICC rule with this regards. Please advise.
Hariesh, when a bank is endorsing a B/L under L/C, can the bank’s official stamp only be used as endorsement or should the bank stamp together with its representative signature(s) be considered as endorsement?
Hi Jean, there has to be a signature and stamped..
Does shipper need to blank endorse for straight BL which is consign to a company name.
Please advise what is the process to obtain the release of goods if the shipper misses or forgot to endorse the To Order BL. 3/3 in procession of the Notify Party. Thanks
Original set of bills of lading have been presented, marked/stamped ”Cargo Receipt”.
Will this be an issue when the picking up the merchandise with said bills of lading?
I don’t think so, but wanted others points of view…
Hello Ralph, the stamps or markings on the body of the bill of lading does not dictate who gets the release.. What is mentioned in the consignee field decides that.. However, if a shipment is under Letter of Credit and the LC demands certain clauses, then those must be present before the banks accept the original bills for negotiation..
Hariesh,
these documents are not under a letter of credit, but sent to us on a collection basis (Import Collection).
Then it should be fine as long as all endorsements are present as required..
What are the rights of parties using negotiable bill of lading??
i have a Question.
1. i am shipper(owner of company . to the order is blank and notify party = buyer. i have endorsed the bill of lading on back with my company stamp & signed. then buyer asked to endorsed acc to ucp 600. did i make any mistake??
Hi Muhammad, if there is nothing after the TO ORDER, then it requires your endorsement as the shipper.. Endorsement does not only mean just a stamp and sign, you should also write who you are endorsing it to.. For example in your case, if you just stamped and signed and didn’t put any company details, if in case someone else other than the buyer gets hold of this bill of lading, they can write their company name and take release..
Therefore if it is TO ORDER or TO ORDER OF SHIPPER, it is always best say DELIVER TO THE ORDER OF “XYZ” COMPANY and then stamp and sign it..
Although UCP600 doesn’t mention anything about endorsements or who it must be endorsed to, this could be what the buyer is meaning.. Trust this assists..
Hi,
This may be a bit of a silly question but let’s say you want to issue a B/L to the order of X bank (for a client Y in China). Let’s say the consignor is in the US and the consignee in China. The B/L is sent to the order of the bank so the bank needs to sign it too. Does that mean that the B/L needs to be signed by the shipper in the US and by the bank in China before the carrier can leave? That makes no sense to me so I’m sure I’m not getting it right. Or can the bank endorse the B/L once it’s in China? (Meaning that the shipper in the US endorses it in the US, carrier takes the goods to China, the bank there endorses it?)
Thanks in advance.
Hi Demi, no question is silly.. 🙂 When a bill is consigned to order of XYZ bank, shipper endorses the bill stating deliver to order of XYZ bank.. Once the consignee in China pays XYZ bank, then XYZ bank will endorse the bill of lading stating deliver to consignee.. The consignee then takes that original to the shipping line for release..
This CANNOT be before the ship leaves because carriers will release bill of lading only once the ship leaves.. So all this will happen after vsl sails..
Trust this clarifies..
Dear All, i dont know if anyone is still checking this blog or not , i am stuck in one transaction and need help.
The scenerio is that i am in UAE and the buyer is in Pakistan the seller is also from UAE.
So buyer issued LC to me ,now i also want to issue lc to the seller but confusion is that who will be the consignee ” To the Order of which bank” IF its my bank then how can i present the BL to the buyers bank… Can any one tell me the way out.
Hi Badar,
if the first L/C specific a consignee you must mention it in the second L/C.
if not “for example” TO ORDER , you have to put it in the second L/C and endorse the B/L.
you have to do exactly according to the first L/C terms and conditions.
please do not hesitate to ask for any clarifications.
Essam Hamed
Export Manager
Egypt
Sir,
i Have 3 questions
1) My freight forwarder says
in case of TO ORDER BL intended consignee to whom we are going to endorse should be notify
2) ref. to the very first comment in this Article, you answered that if it consigned “TO ORDER OF ZYX” even than shipper’s endorsement is required . I mean shipper has alredy made “ZYX” owner of goods so why shipper need to sign.
3) I noticed even in case of Straight BL shipper from China does Blank endorsement—— does it required
Hello Arif, thanks for the interesting questions..
1) My freight forwarder says in case of TO ORDER BL intended consignee to whom we are going to endorse should be notify
(not necessarily although generally in the case of To Order bills, the notify maybe actual receiver)
2) ref. to the very first comment in this Article, you answered that if it consigned “TO ORDER OF ZYX” even than shipper’s endorsement is required . I mean shipper has alredy made “ZYX” owner of goods so why shipper need to sign.
(shipper’s endorsement is to prevent any irregular release (say in case of OBL being lost by the shipper or stolen from shipper and used by someone else for release))
3) I noticed even in case of Straight BL shipper from China does Blank endorsement—— does it required
(in straight bill it is not actually required, but some customers prefer to do it and this is further complicated by the fact that in many countries, straight bill of lading is a bit more complicated..)
Trust this assists..
Hi Friends,
Could you please clear my below doubts?
The above article says if OBL is consigned “to order of ZYX company” or “to order of XYZ Bank”, shipper and entity which takes final delivery also need to endorse on OBL.
Is it that all the three parties, Shipper, ZYX company/XYZ Bank and entity who takes final delivery need to endorse in a single BL? or endorsement of ZYX company/XYZ bank alone is enough???
Hi Joe, if consigned to To Order or To Order of ZYX, then shipper’s endorsement is required if ZYX is taking delivery.. If ZYX is selling to ABC then ZYX must also endorse.. If consigned To Order of Bank, then there must be shipper’s endorsement and also bank’s endorsement delivering to ZYX.. If ZYX is selling to ABC then ZYX must also endorse..
Trust clear..??
Thank you sir,,
The case is that,I have received “To order” BL and the shipper has endorsed it stating “release to order of -my company”, we want take final delivery of goods (not reselling it).Does my company stamp and signature is required??..some saying blank endorsement is required even though i am not reselling it.
Some shipping lines/countries insist on it to prove that you are who you say you are, in case of any claims later..
Hi! Then it is the buyer who is ultimately getting the final discharge being done by producing the original B/L + having the title to the goods/cargo- can endorse the same B/L to a 3rd party.
Sir,
The ‘Maersk’ web pages mention that even for straight consigned (individual/company) Bill of Lading, the consignee’s endorsement is required.
I being an exporter only, am wondering what could be the actual wording of such an endorsement?
Mahesh
Hello Mahesh, can you pls send me the website link where you are seeing this requirement, thanks..
How about if the MBL consigned “TO ORDER” only??
It means that the holder of this MBL is the owner of the shipment, and it doesn’t need any endorsement.
N.B. Should use this model in the minimalistic due to its dangerous , one of the reason to use such MBL when there is no specific importer until the date of shipment
Essam Hamed
Export manager
Egypt
you do need endorsement of shipper, however you have to check your local regulation.
you are right , thank you.
A few who knows that the shipper could endorse the B/L.
HBL is being issued by the forwarding agency with the only purpose to hide the real consignee, their client, in order to avoid some other company offering him better prices or services. In this case MBL is being issued to the name of the forwarding agency and the agency itself issues HBL to the real consignee. So HBL is often used dealing with small, solvent clients who, let’s say, import one container per two-three months.
Dear Ivailo
That is not completly true.
For example we use our own HBL, printed on our own B/L paper, to our customers as it is a insurance issue. This is a demand from our customer: So that if anything should go wrong they can go directly to us for the claim.