House Bill of Lading – The Safest Type of Bill of Lading for Importers or Exporters
What’s a Bill of Lading?
The Bill of Lading is a document that shows the agreement between businesses, groups or individuals and contains specific information such as:
Who owns the goods
The shipper
Who will receive the goods
Three Bill of Lading copies are issued: one for the shipper, one for the consignee and one for the banker, broker or third party. The consignee is the party financially responsible for the shipment and is usually the buyer. Generally, but not always, the consignee is the same as the receiver.
Losing a Bill of Lading is a nightmare
If one of the Bill of Lading copies is lost, stolen or destroyed during the shipping then things can become very difficult and complex. It can add considerable expense and time to complete the shipment. A new Bill of Lading cannot be created without an original copy. If an original copy cannot be obtained then a letter of indemnity for special cases might be able to be organised with the help of a freight forwarder. The letter of indemnity makes the shipper liable for all aspects of the shipment. If this is not possible then a court order must be obtained to direct the carrier to deliver the goods. Hefty storage costs at the port are incurred for each passing day. It’s a nightmare. The costs from such a delay often exceed the value of the cargo.
So why is a House Bill of Lading the safest type?
The best way to explain this point is by example. Tony (buyer) in Australia wants to import products from a supplier (seller) in China. Let’s look at one case where Tony acts as the consignee and organises the shipment himself, then another case where Tony instructs Franklin Customs and Freight Forwarding to act as consignee to handle the shipping.
Tony as consignee (Bill of Lading)
Say Tony is to organise the international freight for these products. He has to coordinate the transport of goods from the supplier to a port in China and have the goods clear customs. He also needs to make the payments for transport and clearance in China. Only then is the cargo ready to be freighted by a shipper via plane or ship. The shipper needs to organise a Bill of Lading and courier a copy from the port in China to Tony in Australia. Tony needs the Bill of Lading in order to organise customs clearance and pickup in Australia. If his Bill of Lading gets lost, it’s a nightmare. Not only that – if anything goes wrong or he has trouble with any of the other parts of the international freight process, it’s difficult to get help and resolve issues, as he has no physical representation in the port of China.
Franklin’s as consignee (House Bill of Lading)
The best way to handle a Bill of Lading is organise your shipping so you don’t even need it! You can make the whole international freight process so much simpler by instructing a freight forwarder like Franklin Customs and Freight Forwarding to take care of it for you. To do that, Franklin’s uses a House Bill of Lading to execute shipment.
While a Bill of Lading is used is where the consignee is the buyer, a House Bill of Lading is the instrument where the consignee is the freight forwarder appointed by the buyer. The House Bill of Lading is issued by the Franklin’s office in China and couriered to the Franklin’s office in Australia. Tony never needs a copy of the bill, as the international freight process is managed completely by Franklin’s. The international freight process is easier for Franklin’s to control. Issues can be resolved easily as they have physical representation in the Chinese port or origin.
(https://www.franklincustomsbrokersandfreightforwarding.com.au/news-freight-forwarding-custom-broker-clearance/house-bill-of-lading-the-safest-type-of-bill-importers-or-exporters/)