In international trade, we will encounter buyers asking the exporter to provide a sea bill of lading or a credit bill of lading, so what is the difference between the two?

SEA BILL OF LADING (MARINE/OCEAN B/L)

Has three functions:

One is a cargo receipt issued to the shipper upon receipt of the goods by the carrier or its agent.

The second is the certificate of the establishment of the transportation contract between the two parties.

The third is the property certificate of the consignee to pick up the goods at the place of arrival of the goods.

THE CORRESPONDING MARITIME BILL OF LADING IS THE CHARTER PARTY B/L AND THE MULTIMODAL TRANSPORT DOCUMENT

FORWARDER'S BILL OF LADING (HOUSE B/L), and its counterpart is the shipowner's bill of lading (MASTER B/L)

There is not much difference between these two types of bills of lading, but the qualifications of the issuers are different H B/L will have more exchange fees in the destination port (sometimes more than one exchange fee)

If there is no specific requirement in the L/C, both have the same effect, are valuable documents, and both can be endorsed and transferred.

Differences between the two types of bills of lading:

1. The bill of lading is a bill of lading issued by the shipping company, as long as there is a sea bill of lading, anyone can directly pick up the goods from the shipping company at the port of destination. A credit bill of lading is a bill of lading issued by a freight forwarder based on a sea bill of lading, which requires a designated agent or branch at the port of destination to exchange for a sea bill of lading.

2. If you want to prepay freight and pick up the goods quickly, you can also save more than a dozen US dollars in exchange fees. If you want to control the right to goods, freight collect, etc., you have to lend the bill of lading, and the freight forwarder can help you do this, of course, not for free.

3. If your goods are not FCL, but scattered goods, you must only be able to lend the bill of lading, because the shipping company will not help you LCL, and will not help you distribute the goods when you reach the destination port.

4. If you are doing L/C, but you can't produce it within the specified delivery time and can't get on the ship, then you can choose to lend the bill of lading and ask the freight forwarder to help you reverse the bill of lading. Of course, this is also an irregular practice, so you are generally required to issue a guarantee letter.

5. The sea bill of lading is the most basic property certificate, and many terms in it cannot be influenced.

6. The general freight forwarding bill number does not enter the customs manifest management system, which is different from the bill of lading number on the import declaration form;

7. The freight forwarding bill of lading has the name and contact method of the exchange company, and the contact company is not a port shipping agency company such as foreign agency or foreign transportation.

8. The freight forwarding bill of lading generally displays asagentofcarrier on the page, and the sea bill of lading displays ascarrier

Note: If it is not paid in advance, you must pay special attention to whether it is a sea bill of lading or a freight bill of lading, which is generally required to be issued by sea bill, otherwise the goods may be in danger of being taken by the freight forwarder