Shipping documentation

The main documents used in shipping are described below:

A FREIGHT ACCOUNT is an invoice sent by the shipping company to the exporter stating their charges.

A STANDARD SHIPPING NOTE is a document completed by the exporter. It is sent to the forwarding agent, an INLAND CLEARANCE DEPOT (ICD), or the docks. It is used as a delivery note or receipt and gives information about the goods. When the goods are delivered to the docks, the driver hands over copies to the shipping company. One copy goes with the goods to the consignee; two are for customs; one remains at the dock office of the carrier; and one is used by the shipping company to prepare the bill of lading.

A BILL OF LADING, often abbreviated to B/L, is the most important document in shipping and describes the consignment, its destination, and who it is for. It can be a document of title, i.e. it gives ownership of the goods to the person named on it. If the words to order are written in the consignee box, it means that it is a NEGOTIABLE DOCUMENT and can be traded. In this case it will be ENDORSED (i.e. the exporter will sign it on the back). If it is not endorsed, there are no restrictions on ownership. In a letter of credit transaction the advising/confirming bank will usually ask for the bill of lading to be made out to them when they pay the exporter, and then transfer it to the customer when the customer pays them.

Bills of lading can be made out singly or in signed sets of two, three, or more original (negotiable) copies, with further unsigned copies kept for records. As soon as one of the originals is used as a document of title, the other original copies become void.

A SHIPPED BILL OF LADING is signed when the goods have been loaded onto the ship. Sometimes the words shipped on board are used to mean the same thing.

Bills of lading are marked CLEAN to indicate that the consignment was taken on board in good condition, or CLAUSED to indicate that on inspection there was something wrong with it, e.g. the goods were damaged, or there were some missing. The statement claused protects the shipping company from claims that they were responsible for any damage or loss.

Bills of lading can be made port to port, i.e. from the exporting port to the importing port. When containers are used and are transshipped from one mode of transport to another, e.g. truck to ship and then to train, a multimodal bill of lading is used. This is also known as a THROUGH or COMBINED TRANSPORT BILL.

The Bolero Project is developing full computer-to-computer shipping and bank documents, making paperless documentation available. In this case a bill of lading is referred to as a Bolero bill of lading.

A LETTER OF INDEMNITY is used if the bill of lading is lost or missing. The importer gives details of the consignment on company headed paper, and confirms that they will be responsible for the debts to the carrier against their assets.

In addition to the bill of lading, a PACKING LIST may be required. Like a bill of lading, this gives details of the consignment. Banks use them in letter of credit transactions and the customs in some countries insist on them.