Conventional shipping documents

Conventional shipping documents

The identity and characteristics of the traded goods are determined by the shipping documents. These documents are one of the most important securities in the collection of foreign purchases.

Importance of shipping documents for the buyer: By fulfilling its financial obligations and settling accounts with the credit issuing bank or the seller, the buyer can submit the original shipping documents to the relevant customs to perform customs formalities and clear his goods.

Shipping documents are divided into two groups: conventional and special (Conventional) and special (Special).

Conventional shipping documents include:

1) Bill of Lading (Bill of Lading-B / L)

2) Commercial Invoice

3) Certificate of Origin

4) Packing List

5) Test or Inspection Certificate

6) Insurance policy

Special shipping documents: refer to documents that, depending on the case and based on the specific characteristics of the ordered goods, in addition to the standard documents in the contract and the parties to the transaction are required to prepare them in accordance with the specified conditions. Such as: Islamic slaughter certificate.

Note: Both types of shipping documents are so-called valid, and defects or defects or lack of confirmation of each can lead to non-payment to the seller and failure to clear and receive the goods by the buyer.

1) Bill of lading:

This document is issued by the carrier or forwarder. Issuing a bill of lading means concluding a contract of carriage and loading the goods on the vehicle (On Board). Also, with its issuance, the ownership is taken away from the seller and transferred to the carrier or forwarder. The bill of lading can be by sea, air, land or rail.

Note: The bill of lading is a title deed and can be transferred.

Unconditional bill of lading or Clean:

A bill of lading that does not have a condition. For example, statements such as “some boxes are broken”, “containers are leaking” or “some items appear to be second-hand” are not included in the bill of lading.

Dirty or Claused bill of lading:

A bill of lading that, unlike the Clean bill of lading, has a condition, which is itself a factor of discrepancy.

Third Party bill of lading (Third Party B / L):

A bill of lading is a person who delivers goods whose name is not mentioned in the letter of credit or sales contract. In other words, in this type of bill of lading, the sender of the goods (Shipper) is a person or institution other than the beneficiary of the letter of credit or the first seller.

Groupage bill of lading (Groupage B / L):

In a group bill of lading, the forwarder or carrier places several companies in one ship or container to get a discount and make the most of the space of the ship or container, and issues only one group bill of lading for all the goods.

Dedicated bill of lading (House B / L):

This bill of lading is a branch of the group bill of lading and is issued separately for each person or company, although there may be cargo in a container for several people.

Global bill of lading (Through B / L):

This bill of lading is issued by carriers for the use of several vehicles. In other words, despite the use of several vehicles, only one bill of lading is issued.

Composite bill of lading (Multimodal B / L):

This bill of lading is issued by the forwarder for the use of several vehicles, and the forwarder accepts all responsibilities from the time of receipt of the goods by the first means of transport to delivery at the destination.

Difference between global bill of lading and composite bill of lading:

1) The national bill of lading is issued by the carrier and the combined bill of lading is issued by the forwarder.

2) In the national bill of lading, the carrier is liable only as long as the goods are at his disposal, while the fare and shipping costs to the destination have been paid, but in the combined bill of lading, the forwarder is responsible until the goods are delivered to the destination.

FIATA bill of lading (FIATA B / L):

This bill of lading is issued by the forwarder after the shipment of the goods and has all the acceptable conditions.

Carrier and Forwarder:

Carriers are usually referred to as freight companies, such as shipping companies, freight companies, airlines, etc.

Forwards have much more responsibilities. These companies have many powers from the beginning of the registration of the goods order to its delivery. They have a global federation called Fiata.

FIATA: Internal Federation of Transit and Assimilation Associations

Some of their services are: choosing the best shipping route, providing packaging and warehousing services, insuring goods, doing customs and domestic shipping, making payments, making the necessary guarantees, announcing the position of goods on the shipping route, choosing a carrier and The best method of transportation and ….

Different types of sea transportation:

Use of regular route ships (Liner):

These ships are safer and have valid certificates in terms of standard and inspection, which are regularly received from reputable inspection companies with a registration number (Register Number).

Use of Tramp Ships:

In this type of ships, there are usually no annual visits and periodic inspection and standard certificates, and such ships are usually rented on a closed basis and the goods carried with them have a closed bill of lading (Charter Party B / L). And these bills of lading are not approved by the central bank.

FCL (Full Container Load: Containers whose goods are subject to only one customs license).

LCL (Less than Container Load): Containers whose goods are subject to multiple customs licenses. In other words, the goods of different people are placed together in one container.

Airway Bill / Air Consignment Note / Air Freight Note:

This bill of lading is usually issued in 12 copies, three of which are commercially important and the rest of the copies are used for the airline interior. These three versions are:

1) The first version for the carrier or exporter (For Carrier)

2) The second version for the recipient (For Consignee)

3) The third version for the sender (For Shipper)

The air waybill is only a receipt and is not a negotiable document or a document of ownership of the goods, and therefore the beneficiary, after receiving the bill of lading, refers to the airline and after presenting it, receives the delivery note (Delivery Note). .

In documentary credits, the air bill of lading is issued to the remittance bank of To the Order of Bank or for delivery to the broker bank (consigned to). In such a case, the goods will be delivered to the buyer when he has fulfilled his obligations.

Truck Manual (CMR):

The truck manual is a non-tradable document that is used to transport goods by truck. This document is usually issued in 6 to 14 copies, the three main copies of which are signed by the exporter, carrier and recipient of the goods, and the rest. Its copy is used for the customs of entry and exit of the countries in between.

The information contained in the truck guidebook is: name and address of the sender, carrier and recipient of the goods, date of issue and date of shipment, date and place of loading at the place of origin and place of delivery at the destination, specifications of the goods, net and gross weight, type of packaging and …

Manifesto: A general form of a number of bills of lading containing a brief description of them. In other words, the manifesto is almost like a cover letter and contains information about the shipments of a vehicle and a summary of its bill of lading. In addition to the load, the manifest is also used for humans, such as the flight manifest, which contains the names of the passengers, the origin and destination of the flight, the pilot, and so on.

2) Proforma Invoice / (Proforma Invoice) Invoice (Commercial Invoice):

It is a document that the seller of goods sends to the buyer in order to announce the price and conditions of sale of his goods.

If the conditions of the pre-invoice are accepted by the buyer, the buyer submits it to the authorities of his country to allow the import of the goods, and after accepting it, he can receive the license to import the goods as well as pay the value of the goods. (Order registration process)

P / I includes information such as unit price, product price, Incoterm term, shipping type, shipping origin name, delivery time, payment terms, payment type, seller details, buyer details, net and gross weight of goods, packing type, standard number Goods, tariff of goods, amount of goods, expiration date, date of issue, pre-invoice number, destination name, stamp and signature of the seller, etc.

The only difference between the invoice and the commercial inventory is in writing the phrase Proforma Invoice instead of Commercial Invoive. Also, obtaining a pre-invoice is not a guarantee for the transaction, but the invoice indicates the transaction.

3) Certificate of Origin:

This document shows in which country the goods subject to the purchase or sale contract were produced and manufactured. Because this issue usually plays an important role in buyers ‘inquiries as well as the final evaluation of sellers’ proposals and in the final decision.

This document is completed by the manufacturer or his authorized representative and certifies that the goods are made in their own country and by themselves or in another third country.

In this document, the description of the goods and the country of manufacture are clearly stated and signed and sealed by the Chamber of Commerce of the country of manufacture and finally, in some cases, the buyer requests its approval by the embassy or consulate of his country in the country of manufacture. .

This document usually contains information such as the seller’s details, the buyer’s details, details and shipping methods, description of the goods, place of manufacture of the goods, quantity of the goods and the mark of the goods.

4) Packing List or Packing List:

This document shows the details of the packaged goods and fully specifies the number, weight, dimensions and contents of each package. The price of the goods is not included in this document.

This document can be used in at least two of the following cases:

1) Customs officials and assessors who need it to check the contents of the box or cartons.

2) Warehousers use it to issue a warehouse receipt and to check the quality and quantity of items imported to customs.

Also, this document usually includes other information such as seller details, buyer details, place of loading the goods, place of unloading, net and gross weight, type of packaging, total dimensions of the shipment, date and invoice number, etc.

5) Test or Inspection Certificate:

This certificate is issued by inspection companies or the buyer’s representative (s) in order to ensure the accuracy of the quantity and quality of the purchased goods, the novelty of the goods, the origin of the goods, the size and dimensions of the goods, proper packaging of goods in part and in general, correct marking On the packages, the correct way of loading and unloading, choosing the appropriate means of transportation, etc. will be issued at the time of delivery to the carrier in the country of manufacture (Pre shipment) or at the customs or port of unloading in the buyer’s country.

At present, a number of banks oblige the inspector to make a formal comment on the price of the purchased goods in the text of the issued documentary credit, either in the form of Preliminary Price Verification or Final Price Verification.

In the inspection of compliance of the purchased goods with the requirements of the mandatory standard, the standard institute determines the inspection limits and in other cases, the agreement between the buyer and the seller is sufficient.