The difference between shipowner bill of lading and forwarder bill of lading

The owner’s bill of lading refers to the ocean bill of lading (Master B/L, also called master bill, sea bill, or M bill for short) issued by the shipping company, which can be issued to the direct shipper (at this time, the freight forwarder does not issue the bill of lading), or it can be issued to the forwarder ( At this time, the forwarder will ship the bill of lading to the direct shipper).
Freight forwarding bill of lading (House B/L, also called house bill of lading, or H for short) should be called a non-vessel carrier in the strict sense (first-level freight forwarding, China began relevant qualification certification in 2002, and the freight forwarding must be at a bank designated by the Ministry of Communications) The bill of lading is approved by the Ministry of Communications and is issued by a freight forwarder who has obtained NVOCC (Non-vessel operating common carrier) qualifications. It is generally issued to the direct shipper; sometimes there is also a counterparty bill of lading, at which time the bill of lading is issued. To the counterparty, and the counterparty will issue its own bill of lading to the direct consignor. Nowadays, there are more house orders, especially to European and American places.
For exporters, both types of bills of lading can be used as negotiation documents, and banks will accept them.

The difference between the two
1. The contents of the SHIPPER and CONSIGNEE columns on the bill of lading are different. The SHIPPER shipper of the forwarder bill of lading is the actual exporter (direct owner), and the CONSIGNEE consignee generally fills in the same column of the consignment note in accordance with the provisions of the letter of credit, usually TO order; and when the M form is issued to the actual exporter, SHIPPER The shipper fills in the exporter, and the CONSIGNEE consignee fills in according to the contents of the consignment note; when issuing to the freight forwarder, the SHIPPER shipper fills in the freight forwarder, and the CONSIGNEE consignee fills in the forwarder’s agent at the port of destination.

2. The procedures for changing orders at the destination port are different. As long as you have the M form, you can directly go to the destination port shipping agency to exchange for the import bill of lading. The procedure is simple and fast, and the cost is relatively fixed and cheap; and the holder of the H form must go to the destination port forwarding office to exchange for the M bill before they can get the delivery. The order and the customs declaration and delivery procedures, and the exchange order fee is more expensive and not fixed, and it is all determined by the freight forwarder at the destination port.

3. As the ocean bill of lading, M bill is the most basic and true proof of property right. The shipping company will deliver the goods to the consignee indicated on the M bill at the port of destination. If the exporter gets the H form, it means that the actual control of the shipped goods is in the hands of the freight forwarder (the consignee of the M form at this time is the agent of the freight forwarder at the port of destination). If the freight forwarding company goes bankrupt, the exporter (import Business) cannot pick up the goods to the shipping company with H one-way.

4. For FCL cargo, both M and H orders can be issued. For LCL cargo, only H order can be issued, because the shipping company will not help the cargo owner to consolidate the cargo, nor will it help the cargo owner to distribute the cargo when it arrives at the destination port.

5. The B/L number of the general freight forwarding form does not enter the customs manifest management system, which is different from the bill of lading number on the import declaration form; the freight forwarding form B/L has the name and contact method of the replacement company, and the contact company It is not a port shipping agency company such as foreign agency or foreign shipping.

H orders also have the following benefits
1. For the business of FOB clause and freight collect, usually the freight forwarder needs to call the consignee of the master order to the agent at the port of destination, and then the freight forwarder issues the sub-order to the customer, and the agent at the port of destination will receive it from the consignee in the future Shipping charges are collected there. On the one hand, shipping companies have certain restrictions on freight collect. On the other hand, the difference between the shipping company’s price and the price quoted to the customer is not easy to handle if only the master order is issued. But the agent can deal with this problem very aspect.

2. For DDU and DDP business, the shipping company will only be responsible for shipping the goods to the destination port. If the shipper requires the freight forwarder to provide one-stop service, then the forwarder needs to issue a separate order, and the master order will be issued to its own agent in the destination port. , The agent is responsible for customs clearance, delivery and even tax advance at the destination port. This is the current popular door-to-door service. The freight forwarder is responsible for picking up the goods from the consignor’s door to the consignee’s door.

3. For the business of triangle trade, the domestic freight forwarder will require the shipping company to issue a master order for itself, and then issue a set of sub-orders where the consignor is the supplier and the consignee is the middleman; and then do SWITCH BILL at the middleman’s location OF LADING, that is, the shipper of the bill of lading is an intermediary, and the consignee is the bill of lading of the consignee at the actual port of destination.

4. For the small goods of several customers, put together a container to the same port of destination. At this time, the freight forwarder will adopt the method of one main link and multiple points, that is, the consignee of the main order is given to the agent of the destination port, and then the number of consignees is given to the agent at the destination port. A sub-order is given to each customer, and the sub-order number is 001A, 001B, 001C..., the agent at the port of destination will bring up this container in the future, and the customer will pick up his own part by completing the customs clearance at the port of destination. goods.

5. Under the L/C payment method (the letter of credit also stipulates that the H order is acceptable), if the exporter cannot produce it within the specified delivery date and cannot ship as shipped, you can request the freight forwarder to issue HB/L and sign the bill of lading. Of course The forwarder will request a letter of guarantee.

MBL and HBL process
1. SHIPPER sends the consignment note to FORWARDER, stating whether it is FCL or LCL.

2.FORWARDER booked the cabin with the shipping company, after the ship is ON BOARD. The shipping company issues MBL to FORWARDER. MBL’s SHIPPER is the FORWARDER of the port of departure, and CNEE is generally the branch or agent of FORWARDER’s port of destination.

3. FOWARDER signs HBL to SHIPPER. SHIPPER of HBL is the real shipper. CNEE generally does TO ORDER for letter of credit.

4. CARRIER will deliver the goods to the port of destination after the ship opens.

5. FORWARDER will send MBL to the branch of destination port via DHL/UPS/TNT, etc. (INCLUDING: CUSTOM CLEARANCE DOCS)

6. After SHIPPER obtains the bill of lading, it shall submit the bill to the domestic negotiating bank within the billing period to settle the exchange. If you do T/T SHPPER, send the receipt directly to foreign guests.

7. The negotiating bank settles the foreign exchange with the issuing bank for the full set of documents.

8. CONSIGNEE pays the redemption order to the issuing bank.

9. FORWARDER at the port of destination takes MBL to exchange orders and pick up the goods to the shipping company for customs clearance.

10. CONSIGNEE took HBL to pick up the goods to FORWARDER.

The difference between forwarder's bill of lading and shipowner's bill of lading
The superficial distinction between the forwarder's bill of lading and the owner's bill of lading: from the title, it can be distinguished from the CARRIER or FOWARDER bill of lading. Big shipping companies like EISU, PONL, ZIM, YML, etc. can be seen at a glance.

The main differences between the owner’s bill of lading and the forwarder bill of lading are as follows:
1. If there is no special stipulation in the letter of credit, FREIGHT FORWARDER’S B/L (HB/L) freight forwarding bill of lading is not acceptable.

2. The difference between the forwarder's bill of lading and the owner's bill of lading is mainly in the name and signature.　　
The issuer and signature of the shipowner’s bill of lading, ISBP and UCP600 clearly stipulate that it is signed and issued by the carrier, the captain or their named agent, and its title is the name of the shipping company. Some large shipping companies, such as EISU, PONL, ZIMU, YMLU, etc. The forwarder bill of lading only needs to be issued in the name of the forwarder, without showing the name of the carrier, nor showing that it is the agent of the carrier or the captain.　

Finally, there is a general forwarder bill of lading, that is, a general forwarder bill of lading. As long as they have an agent at the port of destination, or can use an agent, they can sign this type of bill of lading. This type of bill of lading does not have very strict specifications in practice, AS CARRIER or AS AGNET stamps are available. Some freight forwarders are not standardized. Backlogging and pre-borrowing are possible. Data fraud is possible. It is this type of bill of lading that is easily deceived, and there is no evidence to check.