T.O.’s Responses to “The Unwarranted Comeback of the FIATA Bill of Lading” by Boris Kozolchyk ICC “Documentary Credits Insight” Magazine, Volume 11 No. 3, July - Sept 2005 Issue.

Need to differentiate the “...” and the “...” carrier.

I am grateful to Professor Boris Kozolchyk for pointing out the dichotomy in the UCP 500 concerning a freight forwarder’s bill of lading (FBL). To understand my views, it is necessary to look at the nature of these different marine transport documents and the market environment today.

In UCP 500, there are five kinds of marine transport documents: charter party bills of lading (CPBL), port-to-port bills of lading (B/L), sea waybills (SWB), freight forwarder’s bills of lading (FBL) and multimodal transport bills of lading (MMTBL).

Charter party bills of lading

The contract of carriage does not depend on the CPBL, but on the ... Therefore, the CPBL is used only for ...

Port-to-port bills of lading

For the port-to-port shipment, the contract of carriage is ... There are two kinds of carriers: ...

UCP 500 should be interpreted to ... ... However, as Professor Kozolchyk has rightly pointed out, UCP 500 makes no distinction between ... To differentiate a B/L from an FBL, the future UCP 600 should stipulate that ...

Sea waybills

SWBs are similar to B/Ls except that, ... Similarly, in UCP 600, SWBs should be issued only by ...

Freight forwarder B/Ls

FBLs are issued by a freight forwarder as a ... When several LCL (less than container load) cargoes from several shippers are consolidated into one FCL (full container load) container by a freight forwarder, ...

Hence for a shipper, the contract of carriage is with the freight forwarder as a ...

I would recommend that the future UCP 600 use the term ... in the article equivalent to Article 30 in UCP 500. If the applicant is not comfortable with the FBL, he can prohibit the use of such a document in the letter of credit.

FIATA members are also freight forwarders. To qualify as a FIATA member, a freight forwarder must ...

Multimodal transport B/Ls

The MMTBL concerns the role of a carrier (...) for all modes of transport. Subject to the applicable limitations on liability, the issuer of a MMTBL is responsible to the shipper for claims arising at any point during the transport operation. It is therefore important to ensure ...

At the same time, it is also important to ensure that ...

Conclusions

...

 

T. O. Lee, FAE, MCIArb, MITD, is an expert witness, consultant and trainer in letters of credit, bills of lading, charter parties, and trade frauds, representing Canada in various ICC Commissions, such as Banking, Commercial Law and Practice and Arbitration. His e-mail is experts@tolee.com and his website is http://www.tolee.com.

 

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