A bill of lading does three jobs at once: it's a receipt for the cargo, a contract of carriage, and — for the negotiable kind — a document of title. When a shipment goes wrong, the question of who pays for what tends to come back to six specific fields. Get them right at the booking stage and the document protects you. Get them wrong and the same document becomes the evidence used against you.
1. Shipper and consignee
Obvious, but constantly mis-keyed. The shipper field must match the seller of record on the commercial invoice — not the third-party logistics provider, not the export warehouse. The consignee field, if "to order," determines who can endorse the B/L and take delivery. We see misalignment between consignee and notify party constantly; if the consignee is "to order of XYZ Bank" and the cargo arrives before XYZ Bank releases the endorsed B/L, the consignee can't take delivery without paying demurrage.
2. Notify party
The notify party gets the arrival notification, not necessarily the cargo. On letter-of-credit shipments this is usually the buyer; on consignment shipments it's typically the importer's broker. The single most common failure is putting the wrong notify address on the B/L and discovering at arrival that the arrival notification never reached anyone empowered to act on it. Cost: 3–5 days of demurrage at minimum.
3. Description of goods, marks & numbers
This is the field that shipping lines are most rigid about. The description of goods on the B/L must match the commercial invoice and the packing list — and the customs declaration. Discrepancies trigger amendments, and amendments after sailing are expensive (USD 80–250 per change) and slow. The "marks & numbers" section needs to match what's physically painted on the cartons or containers; if a container is sealed at origin and the seal number on the B/L doesn't match the seal at destination, the carrier is off the hook for any in-transit loss.
4. Number of originals
An ocean B/L is typically issued in three originals — and any one of them can be used to claim the cargo at destination. If you're the seller and you've issued all three originals to the buyer, you've lost your security. If you're the buyer and you've received only two of three, ask where the third one is. The shipping line will release cargo against the first original presented; the other two become legally void at that point.
5. Freight and charges
"Freight prepaid" means the freight is paid at origin and the cargo can be released at destination without payment of freight. "Freight collect" means freight is paid by the consignee at destination, and the line will not release the cargo until it's paid. If your incoterm is CIF, CFR, or DAP — the B/L should say "freight prepaid." If it's FOB or EXW, "freight collect." A mismatch between incoterm and B/L freight terms causes a delivery hold while the discrepancy is reconciled. It happens more often than you'd think.
6. On-board notation and date
The on-board notation — the stamp and date confirming the cargo was actually loaded onto the named vessel — is what makes the B/L "shipped on board." Without it, you have a "received for shipment" B/L, which is not the same thing under most letters of credit. Banks reject received-for-shipment B/Ls on the basis of LC discrepancy. The date stamped on the on-board notation also fixes the shipment date for the purposes of LC presentation periods and CIF risk transfer.
The Bill of Lading is read three times: once by the buyer, once by the bank, and once by the customs broker at destination. All three readings have to agree, or somebody pays.
Practical workflow
- Always proof the draft B/L within 24 hours of issuance. Amendments before sailing are free; amendments after are not.
- Reconcile the B/L description against the invoice, packing list, and customs declaration in a single sitting. The four documents should read identically on goods description, weight, and packaging.
- If you're on letter-of-credit terms, send the draft B/L to your bank for review before requesting originals. Banks find LC discrepancies that nobody else will.
- For high-value cargo, request a telex release or sea waybill instead of an ocean B/L — this eliminates the original-document handling risk entirely.
If you'd like a walk-through of a recent B/L that didn't go to plan — yours or someone else's — our brokers will happily look at it. There's no charge for a single-document review.
Want a Bill of Lading reviewed before it sails?
Send a draft and we'll come back inside 24 hours with the issues to flag.