
Bills of Lading
West has assembled a library of resources dedicated to helping Members with matters involving Bills of Lading, including videos, claims guides and articles covering a wide variety of topics.
An introduction to Bills of Lading
Watch our helpful introductory video by Claims Director, Fiona McCoig and Claims Manager, Christina Anderson in which they discus the three functions of a Bill of Lading and common issues which can arise from the perspective of the contractual carrier.
In this video we cover the functions of Bills of Lading including receipt, evidence of the contract of carriage and document of title.
Claims Guides
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Bills of Lading: Functions of a Bill of Lading PDF (152.5 KB)
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Bills of Lading: Quantity and quality issues PDF (215 KB)
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Bills of Lading: Letters of Indemnity PDF (213.5 KB)
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Bills of Lading: Cargo Shortage Claims PDF (389.3 KB)
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Bills of Lading: Rights and Liabilities PDF (235.6 KB)
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Incorporation of Charterparty terms into Bill of Lading PDF (130.4 KB)
Electronic Bills of Lading
The use of electronic Bills of Lading is becoming increasingly common in many shipping trades and the number of system providers continues to grow. West has produced guides and other information to help guide Members in this area.
In this video we cover delivery of cargo without original bills of lading: claims by banks, Letters of Indemnity and Electronic Bills of Lading.
Claims Guides
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Paperless Trading: Electronic Bills of Lading PDF (521.9 KB)
Related links
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Bills Of Lading 27 May, 2021Electronic bills of lading: A good idea on paper?
We consider the advantages of eBills over paper bills, and outline their status as regards Club cover.
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Bills Of Lading 03 Jul, 2019West P&I Bills of Lading Deck Cargo Clause
Members are reminded that in order to ensure that liabilities for the carriage of cargo on deck fall within Club cover, the contract of carriage must contain an appropriate liberty or be endorsed with a suitable clause.
Letters of Indemnity
It is common industry practice for Members to be asked to accept a Letter of Indemnity (LOI) from a charterer or other party in return for the delivery of cargo without presentation of the original Bills of Lading, or for delivery of cargo at a port other than that named in the Bill of Lading, or a combination of the two.
View herePaperless Trading Electronic Trading Systems Update to E-TITLE
Approval of Corda eBL as replacement of E-TITLE. Corda eBL is a software development kit (SDK), that provides a mechanism to facilitate the title transfer and negotiable functionalities of a bill of lading.
View here