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Bill of lading: What it is and what purpose it solves ?

Bill of lading is perhaps the most important document related to the shipping industry as someone can lose money if attention is not given while handling these bills of lading.

To define “bill of lading”

“It is a document issued to the shipper by the Master of the vessel on behalf of the carrier for the goods shipped on board that vessel”

A Bill of lading serves mainly three functions

It acts as the receipt of goods
It is document of title
It is an evidence of contract of agreement or contract of carriage

To proceed further it is expected that one is well versed with the terms like Shipper, consignee, Receiver, carrier.

Very brief introduction about these three functions

1) It acts as the receipt of goods

Receipt of goods is the straightforward thing.

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Comments (5)

Mobasheri November 11, 2022

How can a Charterer be protected from an unreasonable shipowner who baselessly refuses to deliver the cargo at destination? Is that insurance "Institute Theft, Pilferage and Non-Delivery Clause" help?

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Amar Anand June 24, 2020

great explanation...

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Mohammad Berialig January 15, 2019

Hi call me this number 07853640453

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Alexander Milenov January 20, 2018

Dear Cpt. Rajeev, thanks for your posts, quite informative. However I would like to point out that ''Evidence of Contact of Carriage'' is simply Charter Party, and usually nothing else. Also so many people get confused whenever they hear conventional phrase such as: “It is a document issued to the shipper by the Master of the vessel on behalf of the carrier for the goods shipped onboard that vessel”, in fact it is absolutely correct, however the following clarification for such staff should also take place i.e. : 1) B/L almost always is to be prepared by Shipper/s of their Agent at loadport(Local Agent) 2) B/L is considered to be issued by the carrier i.e. Master owing to exactly that person finalize that document(by his signing) which then becomes ''issued'', otherwise by agent on Master's behalf(e.g. as per LoA). Thanks

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Anish August 7, 2022

Had a confusion. Many thanks for clarifying.

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About Capt Rajeev Jassal

Capt. Rajeev Jassal has sailed for over 24 years mainly on crude oil, product and chemical tankers. He holds MBA in shipping & Logistics degree from London. He has done extensive research on quantitatively measuring Safety culture onboard and safety climate ashore which he believes is the most important element for safer shipping.