CLASSIFICATION

1. Based on whether the cargo is shipped on board or not (thời gian cấp BL và thời
gian xếp hàng lên tàu)
- Shipped on Board B/L:
 B/L is issued after the cargo has been shipped on board a ship.
 This is the most used type of bill of lading as an importer will make payment
only after the goods are loaded on board and requires shipped on board B/L
for payment.
 Under FOB, CIF, and CFR terms, the shipper would be denied payment if
he did not obtain a shipped-on-board B/L. Because the shipper is liable for
cargo until the cargo is loaded onboard the ship. But he won’t obtain a shipped
on board BL means that the goods are still not loaded on board, and the
shipper/exporter/seller does not fulfill his responsibility.
 A shipped on board B/L is indicated by:
+ The wording ‘Shipped in apparent good order and condition” is pre-
printed
+ Or “shipped” / “On board” / “Shipped on board”/ “Laden on board”/
“laden” is marked with the date
- Received for shipment B/L:
 B/L is issued after the carrier has received cargo for shipment
 The cargo has not been loaded on board of the ship yet
 Indicated by:
+ On the front of the bill of lading, there is usually a pre-printed sentence:
“Received for shipment…” or “Received for carriage…” or “Taken in
charge...”.
+ Or without the word “shipped”
 A received for shipment B/L can be converted into a shipped on board B/L
by the master adding “Shipped on board” or “Onboard” to the bill with a
specific date when the goods are actually loaded on the ship.
2. Based on the negotiability of the bill of lading (tính chất chuyển nhượng)
- Bearer bill of lading:
 The one with no information about the consignee (the consignee box is left
blank).
 Whoever holds the bill is the owner of the goods and entitled to receive
them at the destination.
 This B/L is negotiable and transferable; can be transferred without
endorsement, just by physically delivering it or hand over. (theo điều 162 bộ
luật Hàng hải VN)
- Straight bill of lading:
 A bill with a named consignee.
 ONLY named consignee has the right to receive cargo.
 So, the bill is non-negotiable and could not be transferable to another
party by endorsement and. Under this B/L the shipping company will
deliver the shipment to the named consignee upon presentation of
identification.
- Order bill of lading:
 A bill where the wording "to order" or "to order of" is added before any
consignee names.
 In this case, delivery of cargo is made to the order of any party named in
the consignee box.
 It can be transferred to another party by endorsement.
There are different ways to make an order B/L:
 To order +......[blank]:
o In the consignee box, the consignee’s name is left blank after the wording
"to order".
o In this case, the cargo is under the order of the shipper, The shipper should
stamp and sign this B/L before it is transferred to the consignee.
  To order of + consignee:
o A consignee is named after the wording "to order".
o In this case, the delivery is to be made to the order of the consignee. He/she
has the right to receive cargo or transfer the bill to any third party by
endorsement.
 To order of + bank:
o No real consignee, coming after consignee is the wording “order of Bank
A".
o This B/L is commonly used when a bank wants to control the delivery of
cargo in order to secure payment from the consignee. It only endorses the
B/L to the consignee against receipt of payment or promise of payment.
Ways to endorse a bill:
 Blank endorsement:
o The endorser only signs on the back of the bill and does not specify who is
the new endorsee.
o Thus an order bill of lading => (becomes) a bearer bill of lading. (nên có
thể tiếp tục được chuyển nhượng mà không cần thông qua thủ tục ký hậu, chỉ
cần trao tay là được.
 Named endorsement:
o The endorser signs and states a named party to be a new endorsee.
o Thus an order bill (becomes) => a straight bill of lading and non-
negotiable. For example "Please deliver to Company A"
 To order endorsement:
o The endorser states the named party to be a new endorsee after wording
"to order of...". For example "Please deliver to order of Company A".
o Order endorsement does not change the nature of an order B/L
o Endorsementsnt can be made as many times as new endorsers like.
3. Based remarks/notation/clause of ship’s master or carriers on B/L (ghi chú trên
vận đơn)
 - Clean Bill of lading:
 No adverse/ bad remarks or notations made by the shipping company
about the condition and packaging of the goods being shipped.
 Wording such as "said to contain...", "used package" or "quantity and
quality is unknown" does not make a B/L unclean.
 Importers and their banks usually insist on a clean B/L for payment because
clean B/L is the prima facie evidence that goods have been shipped on
board in apparent good order and conditions.
- Unclean Bill of lading (Claused bill of lading):
 A bill is unclean if it contains clear adverse/bad remarks or notations by
the carrier about the goods received for shipping or their packaging
conditions.
 Examples of such adverse remarks include: Ex: cargo looks wet; damaged
or improper packaging; packing may not be sufficient for the sea
journey…
 Payment against an unclean bill of lading is usually rejected.
 Insurance companies also do not cover for an unclean bill of lading
A shipper should check the mate's receipt to be sure if there are no bad remarks about
goods' conditions being shipped on board. If there are any bad remarks about them, the
shipper should: take actions to rectify the situation for a clean B/L to be issued, for
example,
 (1) replacing goods in bad condition with new lot cargo;
 (2) taking out of account goods with bad remarks;
 (3) offering a letter of indemnity (LOI).
Taking a LOI means that the shipper commits to reimburse the carrier
for any claims made against him due to the fact that a clean B/L is issued despite
improper conditions of the goods or packaging => Consequently, LOI is a fraud and it
is unenforceable because it has been issued in pursuit of an illegal act.
 4. Based on the consolidation of cargo (tập kết hàng hóa)

- Master bill of lading:

 It is a B/L issued by the shipping line (an actual carrier) to freight
forwarder/ consolidator/ NVOCC (Non vessel operating common carrier)
 Information in MBL:
Shipper: Forwarder
Consignee: Forwarder Agent in the destination
 How to identify: On the bill of lading, there will be shipping company logo,
company name, phone number, shipping line office.
 Be affected by the rules of the Hague, Hamburg,…
 The forwarder’s agent uses for taking delivery
(In a Master B/L, if the cargo was sent through forwarder, the shipper is often
NVOCC/ Freight forwarder/ Consolidator and the consignee is its agent at the port of
discharge. But in some cases although cargo was alo sent through forwarder, shipper wants
to recceive master B/L, forwarder can try to arrange with the shipping line to get a master
bill as shipper's requirement.)
- House bill of lading:
 A house B/L is issued by the forwarder to the shippers
 Information in HBL:
Shipper: Real shipper (the exporter)
Consignee: Real consignee (the importer)
 How to identify: On the bill of lading, there will be the Forwarder company
logo, company name, phone number, and office of the Forwarder
company.
 Not be affected by any rules.
 The consignee use for taking delivery with the forwarder’s agent
(a (NVOCC), freight forwarder or consolidator to the actual cargo owner as a
shipper. A NVOCC/consolidator can act as carrier or not. In case it is not an
 actual carrier, it is still contractual carrier. This means that the NVOCC/ Freight
Forwarder/ Consolidator has responsibility as a carrier providing the carriage of
goods to the port of destination. House B/L has 3 functions as a B/L if it is issued
as a negotiable document. This B/L is not approved by International Chamber of
Commerce (ICC). Thus this B/L in many cases is not acceptable under ICC rules
on The Uniform Customs and Practice for DC unless L/C accepts it. To meet
requirements of the cargo owners, NVOCC/ Freight forwarders/ consolidators
tend to replace a House B/L by an FBL.)

5. Based on the method of chartering (phương thức thuê tàu)

- Liner B/L:
 A bill of lading is issued to the shipper when using a ship to transport
goods.
 In addition to its value as a document of ownership of goods, it also has legal
validity as a contract of carriage.
 Back of B/L: Clauses of the contract of carriage -> A liner B/L is called a
long form B/L.
 One of the most widely used standard form of a liner B/L is
CONLINEBILL drafted by Baltic and International Marine Council
(BIMCO).
- A charter party B/L:
 It is issued in cases the goods are transported under a voyaged charter
party.
 On a Charter party B/L is a statement/ wording of "To be used with charter
party
 Unlike a liner B/L, the back page: of a charter party B/L contains only some
clauses as most terms and conditions of the contract of carriage are
included in the charter party. => a charter party B/L is called a short
form B/L.
  For example, CONGENBILL is a standard form of Charter party B/L
developed by BIMCO for using with a standard form of the charter party
GENCON. CONGENBILL contains only some clauses such as Paramount,
General Average and Salvage, both to blame collision.

6. Based on transshipment (hành trình chuyên chở)

- Direct bill of lading.
 This is a port - to - port B/L: in which goods are transported directly from
a port of loading to a port of discharge without any transit.
- Through bill of lading (Throughout B/L):
 is issued for transportation of goods from a port of loading to a port of
discharge by two or more ships. In this case goods were transited and
reloaded from one ship to another.
 (Characteristically, a through bill of lading:
+ Contains a clause permitting goods to be transited;
+ Specifies port of loading, port of discharge and carrying ships;
+ Issuer of a through bill of lading takes whole responsibility for loss of or
damage to cargo transported even when cargo is damaged by the fault of
another carrier.)
- Multimodal bill of lading/combined transport bill of lading: (FBL-negotiable
FIATA multimodal transport BL)
 It is a bill of lading used for transporting goods from ports to ports by
different modes of transport, for example sea, air and road.
 Contains information about places of receiving cargo for shipment, places
of delivery, besides the port of loading and port of discharge
 Is issued by a multimodal transport operator who takes full responsibility
from receiving goods for shipment until delivery of to the consignee
7. The ownership of the goods (giá trị sử dụng và khả năng lưu thông)
- Original B/L: A bill of lading with the Original stamp; stamped and signed by
hand.
 Set of bills of lading includes 3 originals that are identical in both form
and content
 “First Original”, “Second Original”, “Third Original”
 “Original”, “Duplicate”, “Triplicate”
- Copy B/L: Same content as the original bill of lading, unmarked and unsigned,
with the word COPY-NON NEGOTIABLE. Means non-transferable.

8. Other types of bill of lading and sea transport documents

- Certificate of Transport (FCT): FCT certificate is a signed declaration of the
freight forwarder, in which he confirms to the consignor that he has taken over
the goods and has assumed responsibility for delivery of the consignment as per
instructions, that he has received from the consignor as indicated on the FCT
document. The FCT can be handed over to the shipper immediately after the
consignment has been handed over to the freight forwarder for shipment. The freight
forwarder is only responsible for the forwarding and delivery of the goods.
- Forwarder Certificate of Receipt (FCR):
 The FCR functions only as a receipt of the shipper delivered to the
Forwarder, it is not negotiable. FCR does not have the function of a
document certifying the title of goods, so it is not transferable.
 Whenever the exporter delivers the goods to fowarder: The exporter
cannot claim the goods – cannot be detained when the goods arrive at the port
of destination; such goods are in the possession of NVOCC; the goods are
immediately transferred to the importer as soon as the goods are
delivered to NVOCC
 The FCR will primarily be used when the supplier sells the goods EXW
and needs to prove that he has complied with his obligations to the buyer by
presenting an FCR.
- Surrendered B/L: To overcome the situation that the bill of lading arrives later than
the goods and save the cost of sending the original bill of lading, people use
Surrended BL.
 The shipper surrender / present the original B/L to the carrier at the port
of loading => The carrier will stamp "SURRENDERED" on the bill
(which means the original B/L has been surrendered and the consignee is not
required to do that at the port of destination.)
 The carrier also faxes the surrendered B/L or sends a message to his
agent at the port of discharge instructing to deliver the cargo to the
consignee without presenting of the original B/Ls.
- Third party B/L: Normally the shipper in a B/L is the beneficiary under a L/C. A
third party B/L is one which the beneficiary of the L/C is other party than the
shipper. It is used in cases where an exporter exports goods via a middleman. The
middleman is the shipper on the B/L but the beneficiary party of the L/C is the
exporting company.
- Sea waybill:
 A sea waybill is a B/L that is similar to a B/L in almost all respects except it
is not negotiable. => It is not a document of title.
 A sea waybill is ideal where a document of title is not required
 Advantages of a sea waybill include: No requirements to send a document of
title to destination to secure delivery because delivery is made to the
nominated consignee against proof of identity;
 A sea waybill can be a paper or an electronic message. Copies can be sent
via an automatic data transmission system. Thus, at the same time as loading
the goods onto the ship, the exporter can send the seaway bill to the consignee
immediately within a few minutes.
 The biggest disadvantage of a sea waybill is the lack of negotiability. So a sea
waybill is a non-negotiable document and cannot be traded as traditional
bills of lading. A seaway bill is not a document of title so that it does not have
 to be presented at discharge port. The shipping line or its agent simply has to
satisfy itself that it has properly identified the consignee and then hand the
cargo over.
- Mate's receipt: A document recording quantity and description of the cargo
during the process of cargo loading on vessels. In theory, the mate's receipt is
handed to the shipper who would exchange it for a signed B/L (under voyage
charter part) but in reality, it happens when shipper delivers the goods to
master/captain under a voyage charter party.
- Swith B/L: Switch B/Ls are B/Ls that allow changing some of the details, such as
those relating to the name and address of the shipper, the date of issue of the bill
or the port of loading. This practice may be adopted for a variety of commercial
reasons. On the other hand, seller may conceal the source of the goods where such
source is politically sensitive.