Kapoklog Logistics Explain the details of telegraphic release of bills of lading

Explain the details of telegraphic release of bills of lading

Telex release means that the shipper (consignor) returns the full set of original bill of lading issued by the carrier (or its agent) to the carrier (or its agent) after loading the goods, and designates the consignee (in the case of bearer bill of lading); The carrier authorizes (usually notified by telex, telegram and other means of communication) its agent at the port of discharge to deliver the goods without the consignee issuing the original bill of lading (which has been taken back).

1. The goods arrive at the port of discharge before the bill of lading

With the continuous progress and development of shipping technology, especially the popularization of container transportation, the working efficiency of loading and unloading ports has been greatly improved, so it is very common for goods to arrive at the unloading port before their documents.

This situation is more prominent in ocean transportation. For example, when China exports goods to countries or regions in East and Southeast Asia, due to the short voyage and the relatively slow speed of bank document review and processing, it often occurs that the goods arrive and the bill of lading lags behind.

In addition, in the case of ocean freight transportation, accidents may also occur in the process of mailing the original documents, such as the delay and error of sending documents, or the delay caused by clarifying the doubts of documents, and the documents arrive at the consignee later than the scheduled time.

In this case, if the consignee still insists on taking delivery of the goods with the original bill of lading, it may cause the goods to be pressed at the unloading port, resulting in the blockage of the unloading port, a substantial increase in port charges and storage costs, and an increase in the cost burden of the carrier or the consignee and consignor; Similarly, it may also cause the consignee to lose the good opportunity to sell the goods and other consequences.

2. Avoid the risk of document loss

According to the Convention on the international carriage of goods, international trade practices and the laws of most countries, in the international carriage of goods, as long as the carrier issues the bill of lading, the consignee must take delivery of the goods at the port of discharge with the original bill of lading (but according to the relevant laws of the United States, the consignee of the straight bill of lading does not need to submit the original bill of lading when taking delivery).

Therefore, kapoklog Logistics reminds you that no matter what settlement method is adopted, the bill of lading will always be transferred from the shipper to the consignee. In the process of bill of lading circulation, you may encounter the risk of mail loss. As for the risk of losing shipping documents by post, the bank is not responsible for this according to Article 35 of UCP600 and Article 14 of URC522.

Once the shipping documents including the bill of lading are lost, the trader may request the carrier to reissue the bill of lading. In order to prevent the holder of the lost bill of lading from falsely claiming the goods, the carrier is very cautious about this and puts forward very strict requirements for the applicant.

For example, make a statement in the newspaper in advance, or deposit cash or bank promissory notes several times the total value of the goods into the carrier's company account without interest, or the bank provides relevant guarantees, etc., and the bank providing the guarantee often requires the trader to provide counter guarantees such as cash.

In this way, not only do traders need to occupy a large amount of funds, and the transaction costs rise sharply, but also the time for handling the reissue procedures of the bill of lading is at least a few months, or more than a year.

Therefore, for the consignee or importer with good credit standing, in order to avoid risks and increased costs caused by the loss of the bill of lading to the consignee or importer, sometimes the exporter takes the initiative to propose to the carrier to deliver the goods by "telex release".

3. The freight forwarder bill of lading cannot be picked up

With the opening of China's shipping market and the fierce competition between domestic international transportation business and freight forwarding business, foreign freight forwarders (hereinafter referred to as foreign freight forwarders or freight forwarders) in China began to issue their own freight forwarder bill of lading (house b/l) to form a transportation contract relationship with shippers.

At the same time, the foreign freight forwarder must find an actual carrier to carry the export goods, that is, the foreign freight forwarder, as the shipper, will be issued with the owner's bill of lading by the owner, or instruct the owner to issue the bill of lading according to the shipper (usually the importer) required by the owner.

When the goods arrive at the unloading port, the holder of the foreign freight forwarder's bill of lading shall take delivery of the goods from the owner or his agent after exchanging the bill of lading with the freight forwarder for the freight forwarder or his agent at the unloading port; Or after the freight forwarder or his agent picks up the goods with the owner's bill of lading, the holder of the freight forwarder's bill of lading will pick up the goods with the freight forwarder or his agent.

It can be seen that this freight forwarder actually has a dual identity: for the ship owner (actual carrier), this freight forwarder is equivalent to the shipper, who arranges the shipment of goods, concludes a transportation contract with the actual carrier, and obtains the ship owner's bill of lading issued by the ship owner.

At the same time, for the cargo owner, this freight forwarder is equivalent to the carrier and issues its own freight forwarder bill of lading to the cargo owner. Only when the owner's bill of lading (MBL) and freight forwarder's bill of lading (HBL) are used together, the whole cargo transportation can be completed smoothly.

Although UCP600 recognizes the freight forwarder's bill of lading, that is, as a carrier, the freight forwarder can issue its own bill of lading. However, in practice, not all countries or regions recognize and accept freight forwarder bills of lading, such as some countries in South America do not accept freight forwarder bills of lading at present.

If only the owner's bill of lading is accepted at the port of discharge, and the freight forwarder's bill of lading is not accepted, the consignee may not be able to replace the bill of lading at the port of discharge even if he holds the original freight forwarder's bill of lading. In this case, the consignee may require "telex release" to release the goods. (some countries do not accept telegraphic release of bills of lading, and the original bill of lading is required)

4. Error correction: Bill of lading operation error

In trade practice, operational errors in the circulation of the bill of lading may also lead to the consignee holding the original bill of lading and unable to pick up the goods.

For example, after the carrier issued the to order bill of lading, or the shipper instructed the bill of lading, and the traders agreed to use the method of remittance or collection settlement, the shipper did not properly endorse the bill of lading when sending the shipping document to the consignee for various reasons.

When the importer receives this original bill of lading, due to the lack of continuity in the endorsement of the bill of lading, it does not meet the basic requirements of the bill of lading operating procedures, that is, the importer cannot prove that he is the legal holder of the bill of lading. In this case, the shipping company or its agent at the port of discharge will not release the goods to the holder of the bill of lading.

At this time, if the bill of lading is sent back to the shipper for endorsement, it may cause delay. Therefore, importers holding bills of lading without shipper endorsement usually require "telex release" of goods in order to pick up the goods as soon as possible.

5. Guaranteed = telex release?

The telex release bill of lading usually displays the words "surrendered" or "telex release". Therefore, the telex release bill of lading is expressed in English as the issued BL or telex release BL, while the original BL is the original bill of lading.

According to the Oxford Dictionary of modern legal terms, in legal terms, "surender" means "giving up something". Therefore, the telex release bill of lading is marked with the words "surrendered", indicating that the issuer does not want to give the document the function of document of title it should have. The telex release bill of lading marked with "telex release" indicates that the delivery of goods under the document is different from the original bill of lading. Most people will think that "surrendered" and "telex release" are the same, or they don't know whether there is a difference between the two. Strictly speaking, there are still differences.

(1) The telex release bill of lading with the words "surrendered" indicates that the consignee designated by the shipper should pick up the goods by identity at the port of destination.

(2) The telex release bill of lading with the words "telex release" indicates that the consignee should pick up the goods by fax at the port of destination.