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dear friends,

under which article should we review a bill of lading if it is signed at the capacity of the freight forwarder? can a freight forwarder bl negotiable?

regd

shahriar

dear shahriar

the freight forwarder BL will be reviewed under the respective transport articles. Whether it will be negotiable or not is a difficult question for me. I think It will depend on the applicable rules. freight forwarder BL can not be governed by the Hague rules. In fact there is hardly any rule to govern. So higher possibility is that they wont be negotiable. However I would appreciate other comments

Dear Shahriar,
Please note the following from which you can drawn the conclusion by yourself:
The art. 91 of ISBP states : If a credit requires presentation of a bill of lading ("marine", "ocean" or "port-to-port" or similar) covering sea shipment only, UCP 600 article 20 is applicable.

Art.95 of ISBP states . If a credit states "Freight Forwarder's Bill of Lading is acceptable" or uses a similar phrase, then the bill of lading may be signed by a freight forwarder in the capacity of a freight forwarder, without the need to identify itself as carrier or agent for the named carrier. In this event, it is not necessary to show the name of the carrier.
Art. 101 of ISBP states : If a credit requires a bill of lading to show that the goods are consigned to a named party, e.g., "consigned to Bank X" (a "straight" bill of lading), rather than "to order" or "to order of Bank X", the bill of lading must not contain words such as "to order" or "to order of" that precede the name of that named party, whether typed or pre-printed. Likewise, if a credit requires the goods to be consigned "to order" or "to order of" a named party, the bill of lading must not show that the goods are consigned straight to the named party.

im not sure whether the governing law actually has something to do with the negotiability of a document as far as sea transport is concern. here is a opinion from a court case

" . . . . the general view of the mercantile world has been for some time that, in order to make bills of lading negotiable, some such words as 'or order or assigns' ought to be in them. . . . [the words] 'unto the above-mentioned consignee or to his of their assigns' . . . [did] not have the impact of rendering the box for inserting the name of the consignee as if the words 'order' had been added. . . . the form [of the bill of lading] contemplates that it may be used both as a straight consigned bill and as a negotiable bill as might be required by the shipper."