In international trade, we may encounter buyers requesting the exporter to provide a sea bill of lading or a loan agent bill of lading. What is the difference between the two?
Marine Bill of Lading (MARINE/OCEAN B/L)
It has three functions:
One is a cargo receipt issued by the carrier or its agent to the consignor upon receipt of the goods.
The second is the proof of the establishment of the transportation contract between the two parties.
The third is the property right certificate for the consignee to retrieve the goods at the place of arrival.
Corresponding to the ocean bill of lading are the Charter Party B/L and the Multimodal Transport Document
The freight forwarder bill of lading (HOUSE B/L) corresponds to the shipowner bill of lading (MASTER B/L)
The difference between these two types of bills of lading is not significant, only the qualifications of the issuer are different. HB/L may incur additional exchange fees at the destination port (sometimes there may be more than one exchange fee)
If there are no specific requirements in the L/C, both have the same legal effect, are valuable documents, and can be endorsed and transferred.
The difference between two types of bills of lading:
1. A bill of lading is a bill of lading issued by a shipping company. As long as there is a sea bill of lading, anyone can directly pick up the goods from the shipping company at the destination port. A bill of lading issued by a freight forwarder based on a sea bill of lading, which needs to be exchanged by a designated agent or branch at the destination port.
2. If you want to prepay the shipping fee and pick up the goods quickly, you can issue a sea freight bill, which can save you more than ten dollars in exchange fees. If you want to control the ownership of goods, freight collect, etc., you need to issue a loan bill of lading, and the freight forwarder can help you achieve these, of course, it is not free.
3. If your goods are not full container load, but scattered goods, you can only issue a bill of lading, because the shipping company will not help you consolidate the container and will not help you distribute the goods at the destination port.
4. If you are doing L/C, but you cannot produce it within the specified delivery time and cannot board the ship, then you can choose to issue a loan bill of lading and request the freight forwarder to help you reverse sign the bill of lading. Of course, this is also an irregular practice, so usually you need to provide a guarantee letter.
5. The ocean bill of lading is the most basic document of property rights, and many of its terms are beyond your control.
6. The general freight forwarder's bill of lading number does not enter the customs manifest management system and is different from the bill of lading number on the import declaration form;
7. The freight forwarder's bill of lading includes the name and contact information of the exchange company, but the contact company is not a port shipping agency such as an outsourcing or shipping agent.
8. Freight forwarder bills of lading usually display the words' asagentofcarrier 'on the page, while ocean bills of lading display' ascarrier '
Note: If the payment is not prepaid, special attention should be paid to whether it is a sea bill of lading or a freight bill of lading. Generally, a sea bill of lading is required, otherwise there may be a risk of the goods being taken away by the freight forwarder
