Bill of Lading (B/L) plays a vital role in sea freight shipping and international trade. Basically it executes 3 functions:

• Evidence of a contract of carriage. Despite in most cases terms of carriage are listed on the other side of the document it is not a contract. Why? Because in certain conditions liabilities arising from such contract may emerge before the Bill of Lading is even issued. E.g. in container shipping it is not a rare case when the documents is issued few days after loading or even vessel’s departure.
• Document of a title. Bill of Lading is a document certifying an ownership of the goods. In case of negotiable status ownership can be endorsed (transferred) to another owner.
• Carrier’s receipt. Issuing a B/L automatically means a Carrier received your cargo for shipment.