Types of bill of lading
- 1. Types of Bill of Lading BY Manish Manghnani
- 2. What is Bill of Lading? • A bill of lading (sometimes abbreviated as B/L or BoL) is a document issued by a carrier (or his agent) to acknowledge receipt of cargo for shipment. In British English, the term relates to ship transport only, and in American English, to any type of transportation of goods. • Bills of lading are one of three crucial documents used in international trade to ensure that exporters receive payment and importers receive the merchandise. The other two documents are a policy of insurance and an invoice. Whereas a bill of lading is negotiable, both a policy and an invoice are assignable.
- 3. A bill of lading must be transferable and serves three main functions • it is a conclusive receipt, i.e. an acknowledgement that the goods have been loaded • it contains or evidences the terms of the contract of carriage • it serves as a document of title to the goods
- 4. Types of Bill of Lading • Straight Bill of Lading • To Order Bill of Lading • Clean Bill of Lading • Inland Bill of Lading • Ocean Bill of Lading • Through Bill of Lading • Multimodal/Combined Transport Bill of Lading • Direct Bill of Lading • Stale Bill of Lading • Shipped On Board Bill of Lading • Received Bill of Lading • Claused Bill of Lading
- 5. Straight Bill of Lading • This is typically used when shipping to a customer. The “Straight Bill of Lading” is for shipping items that have already been paid for. • The straight bill of lading is specified to the particular party and the specified party cannot re-assign it to anyone else. The party only has to take the delivery of the cargo and the cargo cannot be sold by transferring the bill of lading to another party’s name.
- 6. To Order Bill of Lading • Used for shipments when payment is not made in advance. This can be shipping to one of your distributors or a customer on terms. • This is the bill of lading that one would mostly come across onboard. The bill of lading is to the consignee or to his order. That is the named consignee will be the owner of the cargo or he can order the shipment to be delivered to another party by endorsing the bill of lading to that party.
- 7. Clean Bill of Lading • A Clean Bill of Lading is simply a BOL that the shipping carrier has to sign off on saying that when the packages were loaded they were in good condition. If the packages are damaged or the cargo is marred in some way (rusted metal, stained paper, etc.), they will need to issue a “Soiled Bill of Lading” or a “Foul Bill of Lading.”
- 8. Inland Bill of Lading • This allows the shipping carrier to ship cargo, by road or rail, across domestic land, but not over seas.
- 9. Ocean Bill of Lading • Ocean Bills of Lading allows the shipper to transport the cargo over seas, nationally or internationally. • In this kind of bill of ladings, Carriers responsibility starts at port of loading and ends at port of discharge
- 10. Through Bill of Lading • Through Bills of Lading are a little more complex than most BOLs. It allows for the shipping carrier to pass the cargo through several different modes of transportation and/or several different distribution centres. This Bill of Lading needs to include an Inland Bill of Lading and/or an Ocean Bill of Lading depending on its final destination. • The main difference between multimodal and through bill of lading is that in through bill of lading there is only one mode of cargo movement but has different legs, like sea and inland waterways. Whereas in multimodal bill of lading there has to be at least two modes of cargo movement (like sea and land). With respect to carrier’s responsibility, In through bill of lading, carrier is responsible only for their leg of sea transport.
- 11. Multimodal/Combined Transport Bill of Lading • This is a type of Through Bill of Lading that involves a minimum of two different modes of transport, land or ocean. The modes of transportation can be anything from freight boat to air. • This kind of bill of lading cover more than one mode of transfers (for example, Ocean and rail or Ocean and road) and covers all the mode of transfers. Carrier has the responsibility from place of receipt to place of delivery of the cargo. Carrier can hire/sub contract to carry the cargo in one or more mode of transfers.
- 12. Direct Bill of Lading • Use a Direct Bill of Lading when you know the same vessel that picked up the cargo will deliver it to its final destination.
- 13. Stale Bill of Lading • Occasionally in cases of short-over-seas cargo transportation, the cargo arrives to port before the Bill of Lading. When that happens, the Bill of Lading is then “stale.”
- 14. Shipped On Board Bill of Lading • A Shipped On Board Bill of Lading is issued when the cargo arrives at the port in good, expected condition from the shipping carrier and is then loaded onto the cargo ship for transport over seas.
- 15. Received Bill of Lading • It is simply a Bill of Lading stating that the cargo has arrived at the port and is cleared to be loaded on the ship, but does not necessary mean it has been loaded. Used as a temporary BOL when a ship is late and will be replaced by a Shipped On Board Bill of Lading when the ship arrives and the cargo is loaded.
- 16. Claused Bill of Lading • If the cargo is damaged or there are missing quantities, a Claused Bill of Lading is issued
- 17. Transhipment Bill of Lading • This type is issued usually by shipping companies when there is no direct service between two ports, but when the ship owner is prepared to tranship the cargo at an intermediate port at his expense
- 18. Groupage Bill of Lading • Forwarding agents are permitted to "group" together particular compatible consignments from individual consignors to various consignees, situated usually in the same destination country/area, and despatch them as one consignment. The ship owner will issue a groupage bill of lading, whilst the forwarding agent, who cannot hand to his principals the ship owners bill of lading, will issue to the individual shippers a Certificate of Shipment sometimes called "house bills of lading". At the destination, another agent working in close liaison with the agent forwarding the cargo will break bulk the consignment and distribute the goods to the various consignees. This practice is on the increase, usually involving the use of containers and particularly evident in the continental trade and deep sea container services. It will doubtless increase with containerisation development and is ideal to the shipper who has small quantities of goods available for export. Advantages of groupage include less packing: lower insurance premiums; usually quicker transits; less risk of damage and pilferage; and lower rates when compared with such cargo being despatched as an individual parcel/consignment.
- 19. Bearer bill of lading • The bearer bill of lading is the one in which the bearer of the bill of lading is the owner of the cargo and their is no consignee named in the bill of lading. This kind of bill of lading is very seldom found as there are huge risks involved in the misuse of this kind of bill of ladings.
- 20. Switch bill of lading • This can said to be the duplicate bill of lading for a cargo of which the bill of lading was already issued. Switch bill of lading is generally requested by the consignee from the owner of the vessel when the consignee do not wish to reveal to the new buyer the identity of the shipper of the cargo.
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