The English name of ocean bill of lading is B/L, which generally refers to the original bill of lading. The bill of lading is marked with the word "original", which is officially signed and sealed by the carrier and marked with the date of issue.

The ocean bill of lading is a receipt issued by the carrier or freight forwarder according to the shipper's requirements, which is issued after the goods are handed over to him for safekeeping to prove that the goods listed in the bill of lading have been received; The bill of lading also represents the ownership of the goods contained, which is a kind of goods ownership certificate, and the holder of the bill of lading can take delivery of the goods accordingly; Bill of lading is also one of the main documents for the shipper to settle the payment with the bank.

The original bill of lading must be signed by the carrier or his freight forwarder personally or issued by legal means such as signature and seal. In order to prevent the bank or consignee from receiving the bill of lading in time due to loss or delay in circulation, the original bill of lading is usually made in triplicate, each of which has the same legal effect. One copy will automatically become invalid after the delivery formalities are completed at the port of discharge.

Classification of bills of lading, according to different classification standards, bills of lading can be divided into many categories.

According to whether the goods are shipped or not, they can be divided into "on board bill of lading" and "ready bill of lading".

The on-board bill of lading (or on-board bill of lading) refers to the bill of lading issued by the shipping company after loading the goods on the designated ship;

The bill of lading received for shipment refers to the bill of lading issued when the shipping company receives the specified goods and waits for shipment.

2. According to whether the bill of lading has bad reviews, it can be divided into "clean bill of lading" and "unclean bill of lading".

A clean bill of lading refers to a bill of lading that does not comment on damaged or poorly packaged goods;

An unclean bill of lading or a soiled bill of lading refers to a bill of lading that indicates that the surface condition of the goods is damaged or the packaging is poor. In international trade settlement, banks only accept "clean bills of lading", that is, the carrier has not endorsed any bad appearance of the goods on the bill of lading.

3. According to whether the bill of lading can be circulated, that is, according to the contents written in the "consignee" column of the bill of lading, it can be divided into "straight bill of lading" and "indicated bill of lading".

A registered bill of lading indicates the designated consignee on the bill of lading, which is non-transferable and can only be picked up by the consignee indicated on the bill of lading;

Order bills of lading are divided into bearer orders and registered orders:

The holder indicates that the bill of lading is only marked "to order" and must be endorsed by the shipper before it can be transferred, which is also called "blank payable".

A registered instruction bill of lading should be filled with "to the order of …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

There are two forms of endorsement: one is simply signed by an authorized endorser, which is called blank endorsement; The other is called registered endorsement, which indicates the name of the endorsee (transferee) in addition to the endorser's signature. In international trade, "blank endorsed bill of lading" is usually used, which is customarily called "blank endorsed".

4. According to the mode of transportation, it is divided into "direct bill of lading", "transhipment bill of lading" and "through bill of lading".

Direct bill of lading refers to the bill of lading that reaches the designated port directly without transshipment;

Transhipment bill of lading is a freight bill of lading transported by at least two ships in the process of cargo transportation. That is, the ship at the port of shipment fails to reach the designated port of delivery, and the goods are unloaded midway and delivered to another ship for further transportation;

The whole bill of lading is a waybill for transporting goods by two or more modes of transportation, which is issued by the first carrier, including the whole journey, and can be picked up at the destination port. The issuer of the whole bill of lading is only responsible for the first trip.

Multimodal transport bill of lading (multimodal transport b/l) or multimodal transport bill of lading (multimodal transport b/l) refers to the bill of lading issued by the carrier. The carrier is responsible for the whole transportation of a batch of goods through more than two different modes of transportation, one of which is sea transportation, which transports the goods from the place of receipt to the destination and delivers them to the consignee, and charges all the freight.

5. According to the complexity and simplicity of the bill of lading, it can be divided into "full bill of lading" and "simple bill of lading".

Long bill of lading, also known as traditional bill of lading, is a bill of lading that specifies the rights and obligations between the carrier and the shipper in detail on the back of the bill of lading.

Abbreviated bill of lading (or bill of lading for short) is a bill of lading that only indicates the basic information of the goods shipped and the name, address and consignee of the shipper.

6. According to the time when the bill of lading is issued, it can be divided into reverse bill of lading, normal bill of lading and expired bill of lading.

Counter-signed bill of lading refers to the bill of lading issued before the actual date of shipment after the goods are loaded.

A forward bill of lading refers to the bill of lading issued by the carrier or its agent at the request of the shipper after the goods are loaded.

Advance bill of lading refers to the clean on-board bill of lading that the shipper requires the carrier or its agent to issue in advance in order to settle foreign exchange in time, that is, the clean on-board bill of lading that the shipper borrows from the carrier in order to settle foreign exchange in time when the goods have not been shipped or have not been fully shipped.

The function of bill of lading has the following three main functions.

1. The bill of lading is a product receipt, which confirms that the carrier has received the product and the product has been shipped. Regarding the shipper who delivers the product to the carrier for transportation, the bill of lading has the function of receiving the product.

The carrier has the obligation to issue bills of lading not only for the products that have been shipped, but also for the products that are still under the control of the carrier even if they have not been shipped.

Therefore, once the carrier issues the bill of lading, it indicates that the carrier has loaded the product or confirmed the receipt. As a product receipt, the bill of lading not only proves the variety, quantity, logo and appearance of the product received, but also proves the time of receipt of the product, that is, the shipment time of the product. Originally, when issuing the bill of lading, as long as it can prove that the products and the conditions of the products have been received, it is not necessary to require that the products have been shipped.

However, delivery means that the seller delivers the product to the buyer, so the delivery time also means the seller's delivery time. Timely delivery is a necessary prerequisite for the performance of the contract, so it is very important to confirm the shipment time of the product with the bill of lading.

2. The bill of lading is the ownership certificate that the carrier guarantees to deliver the products and can transfer them.

The legal holder of the bill of lading has the right to exchange it for delivery at the port of destination, while the carrier only needs to deliver the goods by bill of lading in good faith, even if the holder is not the real owner, the carrier will not be responsible. Moreover, unless it is clearly stipulated in the bill of lading, the bill of lading can be transferred to others without the consent of the carrier. The transfer of the bill of lading means the transfer of property rights, and continuous endorsement can be continuously transferred.

The legal transferee or holder of the bill of lading is the legal holder of the products recorded in the bill of lading. The real right represented by the bill of lading can be transferred with the transfer of the bill of lading, and so can the rights and obligations stipulated in the bill of lading.

Even if the product is damaged or destroyed during transportation, the risk of the product has been transferred from the seller to the buyer with the transfer of the bill of lading, and only the buyer can claim compensation from the carrier.

3. The bill of lading is the proof of the establishment of the contract of carriage of marine products. The printed items on the bill of lading stipulate the rights and obligations between the carrier and the shipper, and the bill of lading is also the legally recognized basis for handling the transportation of related products. Therefore, people often think that the bill of lading itself is a contract of carriage.

However, according to the strict legal concept, the bill of lading does not have the basic conditions that an economic contract should have: it is not the product of the same expression of will by both parties, and the terms of the binding support of both bills of lading are independently drafted by the carrier; It was implemented in front, but released later. Long before the issuance of the bill of lading, the carrier began to undertake the task of consigning and shipping products by the shipper.

Therefore, the bill of lading is not so much the contract of carriage itself as the proof of the contract of carriage. If there is a transport contract between the supporting parties before the issuance of the bill of lading, both parties shall act according to the original contract, regardless of the provisions of the bill of lading; However, if there is no prior agreement and the shipper does not raise any objection when accepting the bill of lading, then the bill of lading is regarded as the contract itself. Although due to the characteristics of maritime transport, the shipper did not sign the bill of lading, but the bill of lading is different from ordinary contracts, so whether the holder of the bill of lading can sign or not, the bill of lading matters are binding on him.

Special Tips for Ocean Bill of Lading

A set of bills of lading may have more than 1 originals, generally 1-3 originals. Any original can be used as proof of delivery. Therefore, the buyer should ask the seller for a full set of original bills of lading.

After delivery, the shipper can deliver the bill of lading to the consignee through the bank (documentary credit or collection settlement), or directly mail or deliver it by hand.

The consignee should pay attention to the notifying party on the bill of lading. After the goods listed in the bill of lading arrive in Hong Kong, the ship shall notify the notifying party, and then the notifying party shall notify the consignee to take the bill of lading to pick up the goods at the port. The time for the shipper to collect the money depends on the settlement method agreed by you. If it is an irrevocable letter of credit at sight, after the bill of lading and other negotiation documents are delivered to the bank, the bank can negotiate and pay the consignor the payment. If it is a usance letter of credit or other settlement methods, it will be analyzed in detail.