Internaiton Cargo Transport-Major Shipping Documents

*Bill of Lading
A bill of lading is a receipt for goods shipped on board of the nominated vessel,signed by the person (or his agent) who contracts to carry them, and stating the conditions in which the goods were delivered to (received by) the ship.It is not the actual contract,but forms excellent evidenct of the terms of the contract.It is a document of title to the goods,enabling the shipper or owner of the goods to endorse title to the others,sell goods in transmit,present to banks with other documents in seeking payment under documentary credits (跟单信用证).Abbreviated generally as B/L,it is the most important document for sea transport.
There are different types of bill of lading.
1.shipped (on board) B/L and received for Payment B/L
1.1.Shipped B/L is issued by the shipping company after the goods are actually shipped on the board of the designated vessel.Sine shipped Bill of Lading provide better guarantee for consignee to receive the cargoes at the destination,the importer will normally require the exporter to produce shipped B/L and most bill of lading forms are preprinted as "Shipped Bill".
1.2.Received for payment bill of lading ariese where the word "shipped" does not appear on the bill of lading.It merely confirm that the goods have been handed over to, and are in the custody of the shipowner.The buyer under a CIF contract will not accept such a B/L because,in the obsence of the date of shipment, her is in no position to anticipate the arrival of the consignment.

2.Clean B/L and Unclean B/L
2.1. A clean bill of lading is tha one that states that the goods have been "shipped in apparent good order and condition".It is issued when the goods do not show any defects on their exteriors at the time of loading at the port of shipment.This type is favored by the buyer and the banks for financial settlement purpose.
2.2.If defects are sound on the exteriors of the goods, or the shipping company does not agree to any of the statement in the bill of lading,the bill will be marked with (as) "unclean","foul" or"...package in damaged condition".Unclean B/L is usually unacceptable to the buyer and banks.

3.Straight,blank and order B/L
*Straight billof lading has a designated consignee.Under this bill,only the named consignee at the destination is entitled to take delivery of the cargo.As it is not transferable,it is not commonly used in international trade and normally applies to high-value shipment or goods for special purchases.
*Blank B/L aslo called Open B/L or Bearer B/L,means that there is no definite consignee of the goods.There usually appear in the box of consignee words like " To bearer".Anyone who holds the bill is entitled to the goods the bill presents.No endorsement is needed for the transfer of the bank bill. Due to the exceedingly high risk involved,this bill is rarely used.
*Order B/L is widely used in international trade.It means that the goods are consigned or destined to the order of a named person.In the box of consignee,"To order","To order of the shipper",or "To order of the consignee" is marked.It can be transferred only after endorsement is made.If the B/L is made out " To order of the shipper",the shipper will endorse the bill. If is made out " To order of the consignee",the consignee will endorse the bill to transfer it.A blank endorsement is usually required for a "To order" bill.

4.Direct,transshipment,through bill of lading
*Direct B/L means that the goods are shipped from the port of loading directly to the port of destination without involving transshipment.
*Transshipment B/L means the goods need to be transshipped at an intermediate port as there is no direct service between the shipment port and the destination port.
*It is sometimes necessary to employ two or more carriers to get the goods to their final destination.In this case,usually the first carrier will sign and issue a through bill of lading. The on-carriage may be either by a second vessel or by a different form of transport.

5.Liner B/L,container B/L and combined transport B/L
*Liner bill of lading is issued by a liner company for shipment on scheduled port calls through scheduled routes.
*Container B/L is becoming more common in use with the development of containerization. It covers the goods from pot to port or from inland point to of departure to inland point of destination.
*Combined transport B/L is issued by combined transport operator that covers the multi-modal transport on a door to door basis in one contract of carriage. It is ideal for container movements. It differs from "through B/L" in that combined transport is operated by only one carrier.

6.Long form B/L and shor form B/L
*Long form B/L is more detailed with shipping contract clause printed on the back of the page.
*Short form B/L, as the same implies,is an abbreviated type of document,smaller and not containing the long list of detailed clauses that generally appear on bills of lading.In certain circumstance it may not,therefore,be considered a suitable form of evidence of contract or affreightment.

7.On Deck B/L,stale B/L,ante-dated B/L and advanced B/L
*On Deck B/L is issued only when the cargo is loading on ship's deck. It applies to goods like livestock,plants,dangerous cargo, or awkwardly-shaped goods that can not fit into the ship's holds. In this case,the goods are exposed to greater risks and therefore usually specific insurance must be taken out against addtional risks.
*It is important that the bill of lading is available at the port of destination before the goods arrive or,failing this,at the same time.Bills presented to the consignee or buyer or his bank after the goods are due at the port of destination is called (described as )"Stale B/L". As a cargo cannot be collected by the buyer without the bill of lading,the late arrival of this all-important document may have undesirable consequence such as warehouse rent,etc. and therefore should be avoided.Sometimes especially in the case of short sea voyages,it is necessary to add a clause of "Stale B/L is acceptable".

*Ante-dated B/L means when the actual shipment date is later than that stipulated in the L/C,the carrier sometimes,at the shipper's request,issues a B/L with a date of signature that suits the requirement so as to avoid non-acceptance by the bank.Due to the risk of the goods being rejected by the buyer arising from the issuance of such a bill,it is advisable to avoid this malpractice even when it seems necessary in certain circumstances.

*Advanced B/L is issued when the expiry date of the L/C is due but the exporter hasn't ye got the goods ready for shipment. The purpose of issuing such a bill is to negotiate payment with the bank in time whthin the validity of the L/C. It is also regarded as unlawful and risky and should be avoided.

Still there are some other types of B/L such as Groupage B/L which covers a number of consignments from different shippers,and House B/L issued by a freight forwarder to each individual shipper,and so on.House B/L is issued by the freight forwarder before he gets on groupage B/L from the shipowner.

All the above mentioned bills are not independent of each other.Sever types may be combined into one like "Clean on board,to order,blank endorsed B/L".A received form of shipment bill may also be a straight and clean bill.Bills of lading are made out in sets,consisting of a number of originals (usually three) and a number of copies and marked "original" and "copy" respectively.Only the originals signed by the carrier enable the consignee to take delivery of the goods.The copies are just for reference.