Bill of
lading is a legal document which serve as Receipt of goods, Contract of
carriage and Document of title.
There are separate articles on Bill of Lading
& types of Bill of Lading in this website.
In this article, I shall explain the differences
between two types of Bill of Lading, House Bill of Lading (HBL) and Master Bill
of Lading (MBL).
House Bill of Lading (HBL): Freight forwarders or NVOCC operators issue the HBL to the actual consignee. There are two cases in HBL, which are mentioned below:
A. HBL issued for FCL cargo: If a
shipper has the one or more full container cargo, and the trade is being
executed under FOB or EXW incoterms, buyer/importer needs to take care of ocean
freight/main carrier. Buyer will appoint a freight forwarder at buyer's country
and that freight forwarder will have a counterpart/agent at the origin country.
The agent will arrange all required operations at origin including arranging
containers. Once cargo is handed over to the terminal, the agent at country of
origin will issue a House Bill of Lading (HBL) to the seller/exporter/shipper
for entire cargo (all FCLs).
In this case, the shipping line/main carrier will
issue one Master Bill of Lading (MBL) simultaneously to the agent (counterpart
of buyer’s freight forwarder). The HBL is the replica of the MBL; all details
in the HBL are same as the details of MBL except shipper, Consignee &
Notify party.
B. HBL issued for LCL cargo: If a
shipper has only few boxes to ship, which is too small for a full container,
then the shipper can go ahead with LCL mode. A freight forwarder or NVOCC
operator consolidate the cargoes of different shippers in a single container
and ship together. In this case, the freight forwarder or NVOCC operator will
issue separate HBL to all the shippers.
Master Bill of Lading (MBL): A
carrier/ shipping line issues Master Bill of Lading to the shipper or the
freight forwarder or NVOCC operator. If the shipper books the containers
directly, MBL will be issued to the sipper directly by the carrier. If containers
are booked by freight forwarder or NVOCC operator, MBL will be issued to the freight
forwarder or NVOCC operator.
Differences between HBL and MBL:
1. HBL is issued by the freight forwarder or NVOCC
operator to their customers. The shipping line (main carrier) issues MBL to
freight forwarder or NVOCC operator.
2. In HBL shipper is the exporter of goods (actual
shipper). In MBL shipper is the freight forwarder or NVOCC operator.
3. In HBL consignee is the importer of the goods
(actual consignee). In MBL consignee is the counterpart or overseas agent of
freight forwarder or NVOCC operator.
4. Receiver of goods at destination surrenders the
HBL to the overseas agent or counterpart of the NVOCC operator or the freight
forwarder and receive the NOC. Freight forwarder or NVOCC operator usually
surrender the MBL to the shipping line at origin.
We have already written various articles on Export and Import; click on below links if you want to read.
How to book containers and bulk vessels
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