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A Bill of Lading (B/L or BoL) document is an extremely important document that the Carrier (the company responsible for the transport of goods) issues to the Shipper (the Consignor). It serves a few critical roles within an export shipment: Evidence of contract of carriage A Bill of Lading is essentially a contract of carriage between the Shipper, Consignee, and Carrier stating the terms and conditions of carriage. Receipt of goods It acts as proof of delivery, confirming that the goods were received in an acceptable condition and are ready to be shipped. Document of title to the goods A Bill of Lading also serves as proof of ownership over the goods being carried. The owner of the cargo (the holder of the B/L) has the legal rights to claim the goods or arrange transfer ownership of the cargo to another party in the supply chain. In some cases, the Shipper can withhold the Bill of Lading until having received payment from the Consignee. Doing this prevents the Consignee from accessing their goods until payment has been made and the Bill of Lading has been released. *Only the consignee listed on the Bill of Lading has contractual rights to request the release of the cargo.
Open IncoDocs in your browser and navigate to the “Export Docs” section.
Click on 'New document set' and select the Bill of Lading template along with any other export documents you wish to create.
Fill out the document, customize template fields to your needs and add your company letterhead. To save time and prevent re-entry errors, enter key shipment data into the Master File to have it sync across all other documents in your set automatically.
Click on the signature box at the bottom of your document to create and place a digital signature then hit “Save & Quit”. On the document preview screen, click on the ‘More’ dropdown button and select “Add company seal” to place a digital stamp.
Download or share documents from IncoDocs in 1-click. Documents can be downloaded as PDF or CSV which can be imported into other systems without manual re-entry.
There are many types of Bill of Lading documents and formats that carriers can issue along the supply chain. Below are a few examples of B/L types:
House Bill of Lading
Surrender Bill of Lading
Straight Bill of Lading
Master Bill of Lading
Blank Bill of Lading
The B/L will state that the shipment has been sent on ‘Freight Collect’ or ‘Freight Pre-Paid’ terms. These terms relate to which party will be paying for the International Freight costs.
If the shipment is sent Freight Collect – the freight charges will be ‘collected’ by the Consignee. If the shipment has been sent on Freight Pre-Paid terms, the shipper will be billed for the freight charges.
It’s important to note that the carrier must receive payment of the shipping charges (by either party) BEFORE they will release the cargo to the Consignee.