What is a clean bill of lading? What is the issuance process of a clean bill of lading?

What is a Clean Bill of Lading?

Clean bill of lading is the opposite of "dirty bill of lading". It refers to a bill of lading that does not make any negative comments on the surface condition of the goods. According to the law, the carrier should conduct a reasonable appearance inspection of the appearance of the goods and record the appearance of the goods on the bill of lading.

The bills of lading used by some carriers have already stated the terms in the form of printed terms on the bills of lading. If there is no annotation, it is a clean bill of lading. According to the provisions of China's Maritime Code, if there is no annotation on the appearance of the goods on the bill of lading, it is considered that the goods have been received in good appearance.

What is the process for issuing a clean bill of lading?

Usually, if there is no negative comment on the bill of lading of the shipping company, it means that the bill of lading is a clean and loaded bill of lading. Generally, the customer's letter of credit will require a full set of clean bills of lading. As for whether CLEAN ON BOARD is displayed on the bill of lading, the shipping company basically will not display these words. However, different banks have different practices on this point. Most banks do not require the words CLEAN ON BOARD to be displayed on the bill of lading. In other words, they will not regard the absence of CLEAN ON BOARD as a discrepancy in the document, but some banks must have it. For example, this problem will occur in some regions of the Bank of China. Generally, after receiving the letter of credit application, they will confirm with the bank whether they require the bill of lading to be displayed according to the item on the letter of credit. If required, then quickly notify the customer not to display this item in the document requirements and tell the customer the reason.

The issuance of a clean bill of lading depends on the requirements of the LC. Most of them are FULL SET SO F MA RINE C LEAN ON BOARD B/L. The bill of lading does not need to state the words clean on board. However, some customers' LCs require B/L MA R KED C LEAN ON BOARD, which means that the words clean on board must appear on the bill of lading. Of course, not all comments on the goods constitute a dirty bill of lading. For example, the carrier is not responsible for the quantity, quality, value or characteristics of the goods listed on the bill of lading. Even if the shipper declares the content, value, weight, size, mark, quality, quantity, etc. on the bill of lading, the carrier will regard it as unknown.

These statements in a clean bill of lading do not make the bill of lading "unclean". The carrier's clauses that reserve the right to be exempted from liability for loss or damage caused by the nature of the packaging (such as goods packed in paper bags or plastic bags) do not serve as a declaration that the goods are defective and do not constitute an "unclean bill of lading". If the goods mark, number of pieces, weight, etc. listed in the mate's receipt are inconsistent with those declared in the bill of lading, the bill of lading should be corrected according to the mate's receipt. This corrected bill of lading should not constitute an unclean bill of lading, but it may encounter difficult and picky customers who will refuse to pay on the grounds of unclean bills of lading.

In the practice of shipping, some customers' letters of credit require the words "CLEAN ON BOARD" to be displayed on the ocean bill of lading. In fact, as long as there is no special annotation on the bill of lading, it is a clean bill of lading and does not affect the bank's foreign exchange settlement. Generally, shipping companies will not display "CLEAN ON BOARD" on the bill of lading, such as MSC/NORASIA, etc. If HAPAG-LLOYD shipping company requires it, it can be displayed on the bill of lading, but a copy of the original L/C must be faxed to the shipping company. In addition, the following must be added to the cargo description of the bill of lading: CLEAN ON BOARD: WEIGHT, MEASURE, MARKS, NUMBER, QUALITY, CONDITION, CONTENTS, VALUE, QUANTITY, IFMENTIONED INTO HIS B/L FINISHEDBY THE SHIPPERSAND COULD NOTBECHECKED BY THE MASTER/CARRIER.

This is the end of the knowledge about clean bills of lading in this issue. If you want to get more information about clean bills of lading, please pay attention and we will continue to answer your questions~