The difference between owner's bill of lading and forwarder's bill of lading

The owner's bill of lading refers to the ocean bill of lading (Master B/L) issued by the shipping company. It can be issued to the direct shipper (when the forwarder cannot issue the bill of lading) or to the forwarder (when the forwarder sends the bill of lading to the direct shipper).

Forwarder bill of lading (House B/L, also called the bill of lading, H single), should be called in a strict sense NVOCC (level 1 freight forwarders, China since 2003 the qualification authentication, forwarding to the delivery of the deposit bank can be specified in the department of transportation approved) bill of lading, is approved by the ministry of communications and for the record obtained NVOCC (Non vessel operating common carrier) qualification of bill of lading issued by freight forwarders, general is issued to direct the owner;
Sometimes a bill of lading is used by a peer, in which case a bill of lading is issued to the peer, who in turn issues its own bill of lading to its immediate shipper.
Now the export is usually more House orders, especially to Europe and America.

Both bills of lading are acceptable to the bank as negotiation documents for the exporter.

The difference between the two

1. The contents in the column of SHIPPER and CONSIGNEE on the bill of lading are different.
The SHIPPER of the bill of lading is the actual exporter (direct owner), and the CONSIGNEE usually fills in the contents of the same column of the consignment order according TO the provisions of the letter of credit, usually "TO ORDER";
When the M order is issued to the actual exporter, the SHIPPER shall fill in the exporter, and the CONSIGNEE shall fill in the form according to the contents of the consignment order.
When issued to the forwarder, the SHIPPER shall be the forwarder and the CONSIGNEE shall be the forwarder's agent at the port of destination.

2. Procedures for changing documents at destination port are different.
As long as you hold the M order, you can directly go to the shipping agency of the destination port to exchange the import bill of lading. The procedure is simple and fast, and the cost is relatively fixed and cheap.
The holder of H order must exchange for M order at the forwarder at the port of destination before he can get the bill of lading and go through customs clearance and pick-up procedures. However, the cost of changing the order is expensive and variable, which is decided by the forwarder at the port of destination.

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

4. For FCL goods, both M order and H order can be issued, while for LCL goods, H order can only be issued, because the shipping company will not help the shipper to LCL, nor will it help the shipper to separate the goods at the destination port.

5. The B/L number of the general freight forwarding bill does not enter the customs manifest management system, which is different from the B/L number on the import declaration form;
The name and contact method of the company changing the order are listed on the forwarder B/L, and the contact company is not the foreign agent or the port shipping agent, etc.

H-single also has the following benefits
1. For FOB terms, freight collect business, usually the forwarder needs to send the consignee of the main bill to the agent at the port of destination, and then the forwarder will send the separate bill to the customer, and the destination agent will collect the freight from the consignee in the future.
On the one hand, the shipping company has certain restrictions on freight collect. In addition, the price difference between the shipping company's price and the price quoted to the customer is not easy to deal with if only the main order is issued.
Agents can deal with this problem in a very different way.
2. For DDU, DDP business, the shipping company will only be responsible for the freight to the port of destination, if the shipper requires the forwarder to do a one-stop service, then the forwarder will need to give a single, the main single out to their agent in the port of destination, the agent is responsible for the port of destination customs clearance, delivery and even on behalf of the tax pad.
This is the current popular door to door service, the forwarder is responsible for picking up the goods from the shipper's door to the consignee's door.
3. For the business of triangle trade, the domestic forwarder will require the shipping company to issue the whole main order to them, and then issue a set of separate orders in which the consignor is the supplier and the consignee is the middleman;
Then in the place where the middleman is called Switch Bill OF Lading, which means the shipper OF the BILL OF LADING is the middleman, the consignee is the actual destination port OF the consignee's BILL OF LADING.
4. For the small goods of several customers, put together a container to the same port of destination, then the forwarder will adopt the practice of one main order and multiple distribution, that is, CONSIGN the consignee of the main order to the agent of the port of destination, and then issue several sub-orders to each customer, the sub-order number is 001A, 001B, 001C...
In the future, the agent of the destination port will take out the container, and the customer will pick up his own part of the goods at the destination port by completing the customs clearance of the sub-documents.
5. Under the L/C payment method (the L/C also stipulates that the H order is acceptable), if the exporter fails to produce the goods within the specified delivery period and fails to ship the goods on time, he/she can request the forwarder to deliver the HB/L and reverse issue the B/L. Of course, the forwarder will require the issuance of a letter of guarantee.
The picture

MBL and HBL processes

1. The SHIPPER sends the shipping document to the FORWARDER, indicating FCL or LCL.

2. The FORWARDER booked the cabin with the shipping company and the ship was ON BOARD.
The shipping company issues the MBL to Forwarder.
The SHIPPER of MBL is the FORWARDER of the port of departure, while Cnee is generally the branch or agent of the port of destination of FORWARDER.

3. Fowarder signs HBL to Shipper.
The SHIPPER of HBL is the real SHIPPER.
CNEE Generally, the letter of credit is TO ORDER.

When the ship leaves, the goods arrive at the port of destination.

5. Forwarder will send MBL to the branch at the port of destination via DHL/UPS/TNT, etc.
(Including: Custom Clearance Docs)

6. After getting the B/L, the SHIPPER shall submit the documents to the domestic negotiating bank and settle the exchange within the delivery period.
If we do T/T SHPPER, we will directly send the documents to the foreign customers.

The negotiating bank shall deliver the full set of documents to the opening bank for settlement.

8. Consignee will pay the redeemer to the issuing bank.

9. The FORWARDER at the destination port takes the MBL to the shipping company to change the order, pick up the goods and clear the customs.

10. Consignee takes the HBL to pick up the goods for Forwarder.

Differentiation between freight forwarding bill of lading and owner's bill of lading
The surface distinction between the forwarder bill of lading and the owner's bill of lading: it can be distinguished from the title of CARRIER or FOWARDER's bill of lading.
Like a big shipping company, such as EISU, PONL, ZIM, YML and so on.
The difference between owner's bill of lading and forwarder's bill of lading is mainly from the following aspects:
1. Freight Forwarder's B/L (HB/L) Bill of Lading is not acceptable unless specifically specified in the credit.
2. The forwarder's bill of lading and the owner's bill of lading are mainly divided into order and signature.
Issuer and signature of 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 the title is the name of the shipping company, which can be known by some big shipping companies, such as EISU, PONL, ZIMU, YMLU and so on.
The forwarder bill of lading is only issued in the name of the forwarder, and does not have to show the name of the carrier, nor does it have to show that it is the agent of the carrier or the captain.
Finally, forwarder bill of lading, there was a general freight forwarders bill of lading, namely general freight forwarders bill of lading, AS long AS they have agent at the port of destination, or can lend agent, can sign the bill of lading, the bill of lading is not very strict norms in practice, the AS CARRIER or AS the seal of the AGNET, part of the forwarder is not standard, backdating and advance, false data may be, gullible and such bill of lading, were determined.