Bill of lading: what it is, what has to be on it, and who signs

A bill of lading is the document a carrier issues to a shipper when it takes goods for carriage. It does three separate jobs simultaneously: it is a receipt confirming what was handed over and in what apparent condition, it is evidence of the contract of carriage, and — in its negotiable form — it is a document of title, meaning whoever holds the original can claim the goods. That third job is why it is treated with a care no delivery note ever gets: the paper is worth the cargo.

It is issued by the carrier or its agent, not by the seller. The shipper supplies the details, checks them and lives with the consequences of any that are wrong, because a bill of lading is amended by reissue, not by correction, and reissue needs every original back.

What appears on a bill of lading

• Shipper, consignee and notify party, each with full legal name and address — the consignee line decides who can take delivery.
• Carrier and vessel or conveyance, voyage or flight number, port or place of loading and of discharge, and the place of final delivery if it differs.
• Description of the goods, marks and numbers, number of packages, gross weight and measurement — described as the shipper declares them.
• Container and seal numbers for containerised cargo.
• Freight terms: prepaid or collect, and the Incoterms rule the sale is on.
• Number of original bills issued. Three is the common set, and all of them matter.
• Date of issue, and whether it is a received-for-shipment or a shipped-on-board bill.
• Signature of the carrier, master or agent, stated in that capacity.

Straight, negotiable, and why it matters

A straight or non-negotiable bill names one consignee and only that consignee can collect; it is simple and safe where the goods are already paid for. A negotiable bill, made out to order and endorsed, transfers the right to the goods with the document, which is what lets a bank hold the cargo as security under a letter of credit. The practical rule follows from that: if payment depends on the document, the original travels through the banks, not in the shipping file — and it must arrive before the vessel does, or the buyer pays demurrage while waiting for paper.

A clean bill of lading is one with no clause noting damaged or deficient goods at loading. A claused or foul bill will usually break a letter of credit outright, so the moment a carrier proposes to add a remark is the moment to stop and take advice, not to sign and sort it out later.

The errors that cost money

The recurring ones are small and expensive: a consignee name that does not match the buyer’s registered name, a weight that contradicts the packing documents, a description that does not match the commercial invoice, a port of discharge written as the city rather than the port, and the date of issue preceding the date the goods were actually loaded. Any one of them can hold a container at destination or cause a bank to reject the document set. Check the draft the carrier sends before it is issued; after issue the fix is surrender and reissue.

Keeping the set together

The document only works if the file behind it is intact — which original went where, which invoice and certificate of origin it belongs with, who released it and when. Ettex Records holds that register per shipment, Ettex Docs keeps the drafts and correspondence with the version history, and Ettex PDF turns the signed set into fixed copies for the bank and the customs broker.

Being straightforward about scope: this is document and record keeping. We are not a freight forwarding system — there is no carrier integration, no electronic bill of lading platform and no EDI with shipping lines. Those exist, they are regulated, and for a negotiable bill in electronic form you need one of them.