An important part of any shipment is the Bill of Lading (B/L or BOL).
What is a Bill Of Lading?
A Bill of Lading is a legal document issued by a carrier to a shipper which determines the type, quantity and destination of the good being carried from one destination to another.
The bill of lading can be used as a traded object and has a number of purposes:
- It is evidence of the valid contract of carriage, or a chartering contract. It may incorporate the full terms of the contract between the consignor and the carrier by reference.
- A receipt signed by the carrier confirming whether goods matching the contract description have been received in good condition (B/L is described as clean if the products have been received on board in apparent good condition and stowed ready for transport).
- A document of transfer, being freely transferable but not a negotiable instrument in the legal sense.
- Acknowledgement that specified goods have been received on board as cargo for conveyance to a named place for delivery to the consignee.
Furthermore, this document needs to be signed by an authorised representative from the carrier, shipper and the receiver.
The bill of lading must contain the following information:
- Name of the shipping company;
- Flag of nationality;
- Shipper’s name ;
- Order and notify party;
- Consignee;
- Description of Goods;
- Gross/net/tare weight; &
- Freight rate/Measurements and weighment of goods/Total freight.
So, how does a bill of lading look like?
What is a bill of lading?
What is a bill of lading?
Freight involves the use of many documents to ensure a smooth process. Therefore, sharing process from sourcing and production, including the Quality control and freight is extremely important for our readers.
Here are a few related blogs regarding shipping and freight that you may be interested in.
- Incoterms 2010
- Hazardous Goods
- When is Chinese New Year 2011?
- Calculating Import Duty to USA.
- Finding HS codes for calculating import
- Calculating Container Shipping Time
- Calculating shipping costs by Volume or Weight?
- How many products fit in a container
- Sending Samples to China
- Storage & Consolidation in China
How can ODM Group help?
ODM Group has years of experience as a promotional marketing agency and we have been assisting our clients in providing quality promotional products. Hence, if you are interested in producing your own promotional products for your next marketing campaign, ODM Group is here to help! Let us make your shipping process hassle free as we have the expertise in producing such legal documents. So, contact our staff if you have any queries, and we would definitely be happy to assist you. Additionally, if you are looking to produce your own promotional products, ODM Group has a wide network of factories across countries like China and Vietnam. Thus, we can provide product sourcing at high quality and lower costs. However, if you are not looking for such services at the moment, you can read our blogs to gain inspiration for your next marketing/promotional campaign.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
What benefits can a bill of lading bring?
Being an extremely crucial piece of document, it can prevent asset theft if reviewed and assessed properly.
Must this document be used wherever the shipping goods go?
Yes, no matter the mode of transportation, the document must follow the shipment at every point of time. This is because the B/L is a contract of two parties and omission of the B/L could cause the receiver to reject the good if not in proper condition.
Are original copies of the document required when shipping is done?
The carrier need not require all originals to be submitted before delivery. It is therefore essential that the exporter retains control over the full set of the originals until payment is effected or a bill of exchange is accepted or some other assurance for payment has been made to him.
