Bill of Lading
What is a Bill of Lading?
Bills of Lading are solely a Sea Freight Document. They are a title deed to the goods and original Bills Of Lading are the only document that allows the customer to release the goods.
The freight forwarder or the shipping line completes Bills of Lading, but the export administrator must ensure the information is correct.
Overview of Bill of Lading:
First box (left hand side) - The Shippers details
Second Box - Consignee or Customer
OR for Letters of Credit - this would show the bank details
Third Box - Notify Party
If the Notify box shows ‘to order’ this does not hand ownership to the customer so these would need to be stamped and signed on the back to pass ownership from seller to buyer.
This stamp is simply a Company stamp ‘ For and on behalf of’. Once this is signed it has passed ownership from the shipper to the buyer.
Unit Number - container number
Place of receipt - the forwarders warehouse
Vessel - Vessel name
Port of departure e.g. Liverpool, Southampton
Where the place of receipt and port of departure differs the main part of the Bill of Lading must bear ‘Shipped on Board’ with a date and signature.
Place of Delivery -is port of discharge e.g. Mina Qaboos, Dubai, New York.
Date of shipment - sailing date
Arrival - estimated time of arrival.
Terms: Shipment terms - FCA, DDU etc as explained in Incoterms
Top right boxes:
Bill of Lading number
Shipper reference
Date of document
(Clearing agent details will show also possible under company logo)
Centre of Bill:
Marks & Numbers - number and kind of packages Gross weight (in kgs)
Measurement (cube) of goods being exported
E.g. Books, Paper, baby products
I.e. Container No:12345678 Seal No: ABCD14 cartons of Educational Books350kgs
N.B:
1. The originals or copies will be signed and dated at the bottom and will show how many originals have been issued usually 2 or 3.
2. It is only necessary to have one original to release the documents.
Additions for letters of Credit:
Letter of Credit number – must be included in the main body of the Bill of Lading
Exact description of goods – must follow exactly what is written on the Letter of Credit, including spelling/grammatical mistakes (e.g. School books instead of books)