Today we will present you one of the types of securities that is popular in the field of cargo transportation. This is a bill of lading. Consider its definition, functions, content, popular varieties, as well as other information that will help to understand the essence of the issue.
Bill of lading - what is it in simple words?
This is the name of the document that is issued by the carrier to the cargo owner. The main purpose of the bill of lading is to certify ownership of the goods. It may well act as a loan guarantee for goods already shipped.
Initially, only sea bills of lading were used. Today, the document covers a large number of cargo transportation by various means of transport, in addition to sea and river. The bill of lading is then called pass-through.
All requirements for the content and external design of such a security are presented in the Code of Russian Merchant Shipping, the United States Sea Shipping Act, the Convention on the Unification of a number of Bill of Lading Rules (1927), the Hamburg Rules (under the UN Convention on River and Sea Transportation) 1978 edition), The Hague-Visby Rules (under the Brussels Protocol of 1968) and so on.
Document role
Now, regarding the functionality of the security. A bill of lading is a document entrusted with the following:
- The role of the bill of lading.
- Confirmation of the contract for the carriage of goods.
- The receipt of the carrier in the receipt of goods for shipment with a description of the goods.
- Inventory documentation.
Main functions
You can consider samples of the bill of lading throughout the article. All these documents differ in that they have a mandatory number of functions:
- This agreement indicates the right to delivered goods. Only the legal holder of the goods can accept delivery.
- Bill of lading - negotiable document. It can be either sold or simply transferred. The transfer of control over the goods, their resale in transit is achieved by simple delivery of the bill of lading.
- This security indicates the presence of a contract of carriage (for the vast majority of document varieties). International bills of lading include its terms (both by direct reference and by reference).
- This is the receipt that will confirm the fact of delivery of the goods to the carrier. Based on this, the bill of lading must include a description of the product, its quantity, the presence or absence of external defects.
The main varieties of the document
A bill of lading is also a few varieties of a security. Consider the most common of them.
Classical. A warrant document with the obligatory signature "consignee" AAA "or on his order." This means that the person "AAA" can transfer both the bill of lading itself, and with it the right to cargo to another citizen. This happens in the form of delivery with the help of a transfer signature (endorsement). Moreover, the number of endorsements is unlimited. This property discloses a bill of lading as a document of title, which is used in international trade for the resale of cargo during its passage.
Onboard. This is a sea bill of lading issued by a shipowner. The latter acknowledges by this fact that the cargo is on board his ship.
Clean. The bill of lading is a document without reservations or marks on the defective condition of the cargo or its packaging. It should be specified here that the shipped goods are externally in satisfactory condition. Such bills of lading are obligatory for letters of credit in international banking practice.
With a reservation. The document is the opposite of the previous one. The captain of the vessel in this case notes in the bill of lading that the cargo has certain defects. The banking system is accepted for payment only if in the documentary letter of credit (in other words, the terms of payment) these notes are indicated specifically.
Bill of lading for loading on a ship. The document confirms that the goods are accepted for further loading, is under protection. When the cargo is already on the ship, its owner writes out the on-board bill of lading. Alternatively, he can associate the document with the name of the craft and the date of loading. Be sure to indicate that the goods are already on board.
Negotiable. This is a type of document that can be transferred from one side to the other, from owner to owner. Here one of the functions of bills of lading is more widely disclosed - negotiability.
Nominal (non-negotiable). Only the consignee is indicated in the bill of lading agreement. The goods here cannot be transferred by his decree.
Bearer. Such a document will be transmitted by simple delivery. Of the entire list, this bill of lading is used less often.
Steamboat linear. But this type of security contains a detailed description of the terms of the contract of carriage. The holder of the bill of lading, acting here as a third party, learns about them directly from the document itself.
Freight (charter). The conditions from the contract of carriage - charter are moved here by reference. However, it is different from the linear shipping one - such a bill of lading can not be considered a document that draws up an agreement (contract) for transportation.
Through. This type of bill of lading is convenient if transportation by sea is only a part of the entire freight route. Or if the latter will be transported using the services of several shipping corporations. The consignor who issues this bill of lading will only deal with the carrier who is the first to certify this document. The rest of the chain of transfer of goods is organized by the already mentioned shipowner. For such additional liability, the consignor pays him an additional fee - freight.
Now let's look at the main classifications of this type of document.
General Division Classification
A bill of lading is a security that is generally classified into two main groups:
- Negotiable. These are all bills of lading, which testify to the fact that the owner of the goods receives at their complete disposal goods that have not yet been delivered to the port. That is, cargo in transit. A feature of the document will be that it can be sold, mortgaged, or bought. The security is marked as "order" AAA "". Warrant and presentation bills of lading will also be rightly attributed here.
- Non-negotiable. Unlike the first type, the consignee here is already predefined. He can no longer transfer his personal right to receive goods to a third party.
Consignee classification
The bill of lading number can also be determined with respect to who will receive the goods arriving at the port. Three categories of recipients and three types of documents are possible here:
- Named. The addressee here is the legal entity in whose name the bill of lading will be issued.
- Oredernye. Both the recipient and the sender have the right to determine the third party to whom the shipowner will be required to transfer the goods. As we have already said, this transaction is not complete without an endorsement - a transfer signature.
- Bearer. In this case, the cargo must be transferred at the port of destination to the person who presents a certain document.
Classification by type of transport
Here you need to highlight the following types of securities:
- Linear Such bills of lading are issued only when the ship follows a predetermined schedule with calls at specific ports.
- Charter. The second common name is freight, tramp. They are issued if the carrier makes irregular flights. Such a document will be executed under a freight contract. There are two sides - the charterer (shipper) and the carrier (aka freighter). The latter is obliged to provide the customer with a vessel (several vessels) or part thereof for one or a number of irregular cargo deliveries.
Classification of defects on the product or its packaging
Two main types of bills of lading can be distinguished here:
- "Clean." The product itself is apparently not spoiled, and its packaging is apparently not damaged. The actual qualitative and quantitative state of the product directly corresponds to that indicated in the bill of lading.
- "Unclean". These are already documents with a number of reservations. That is, defects were discovered on the cargo itself or its packaging, other remarks on quantity and quality are indicated.
Transportation classification
Here, too, we can identify two main varieties:
- Direct. These are bills of lading for cargo that will be transported from one port to another.
- Cross-cutting. In this case, the transportation scheme of the goods is multimodal. That is, the cargo will follow several vessels, modes of transport, reloaded at ports, points of reception / shipment.
Classification by the period of delivery of goods
And the last relevant common division of such securities:
- Onboard. Such bills of lading are issued only in cases where the goods are already on board the vessel.
- For loading (or unloading) on board a craft. The document is drawn up for goods that are intended for loading on a ship, but are currently under protection at another point.
Mixed Delivery Bill of Lading
As we said at the beginning of the article, a bill of lading can also be issued for goods that will follow more than just one sea route. It is worth mentioning a mixed-type security.
Such a bill of lading is issued when the cargo will go at least two different types of transport. It can also serve as a receipt for the delivery of goods to the carrier. But it no longer indicates the fact of loading on board. A bill of lading can also be drawn up when the goods are received, say, at a container terminal.
Master Data in a Document
According to the Russian Merchant Shipping Code, a bill of lading for goods must necessarily contain the following details:
- The name of the vessel or other vehicle.
- Information about the sender and the carrier.
- The name of the location where the reception is made, loading of goods.
- The place where the cargo will arrive. If there is a charter - destination of the vessel.
- The name of the recipient of the goods for the registered type - when issued by order of the sender. The name of the recipient for the order type - by his own order. Or an indication that the document was issued to bearer.
- Cargo - name, brand (or several names), a measure of weight, volume or the number of seats occupied on a ship.
- Information on freight and other payments due to the carrier.
- Time and place of issue of the document itself, the number of copies of the bill of lading.
- Signature of the representative of the carrier or master of the ship.
Securities Rules
In conclusion, we will introduce you to important recommendations:
- The sender of the goods (or his legal representative) must draw up a loading order. The document shall indicate the name of the product, its brand, quantitative expression, information about the packaging. As well as the details of the recipient and addressee, the name of the port of the sender, specific information on the ship.
- The fact of loading the goods on board will be confirmed by the navigator's receipt.
- After the ship sets sail, instead of the navigational receipt, the sender of the goods draws up a sea bill of lading. He must send the original of this security to the consignee.
- By bill of lading, obviously received from the addressee, the addressee receives delivery at the port.
- In order for the carrier to issue the goods under this document, one copy of the bill of lading is sufficient. All others are declared invalid.
- After the moment of transfer of goods under this document, the carrier no longer bears any responsibility for its quality and safety.
A bill of lading is a document that is moving from the sphere of merchant shipping to ours to the field of freight transportation in general. There are several types of such securities that can be easily classified into groups based on specific characteristics.