Question

You work for a shipping line and have been asked to issue a Switch Bill of Lading because the goods covered have been resold on the high-seas and the discharge port has now been changed to another port, at which your ship also calls. Analyze FIVE (5) points you should check to protect the shipping line from any possible claims before issuing the Switch Bill of Lading.

Answer 1

The shipping process is very dynamic and highy uncertain due to which things can change abruptly during the shipment journey due to the destinations may change, cargo route may change ,cargo receiving parties may change and even the documents like Bill of Lading may change . A Bill of Lading has three major functions

a. Evidence of Contract of Shipment

b. Receipt of Goods

c. Document of Goods.

A Switch Bill of Lading can be simply referred to as a second set of bill of lading; which is issued by the agent or the carrier; by substituting or exchanging the original issue of Bill of Lading .This implies Switch Bill of Lading cannot be issued when Bill of Lading is active.

Generally Switch Bill of Lading is issued for some reasons as follows

a. When there is any change in the original trading condition

b. When the Goods have been resold and the original discharge port has changed to a new port

c. The seller doesn’t want to disclose the details of the exporter to the consignee

d. The seller doesn’t want the buyer to know the country of origin of the cargo.

Some of the things that should be guarded while issuing a Switch Bill of Lading is as follows.

a. Place and date of shipment cannot be changed as they will affect the terms of delivery based on the sales contract

b. The number of packages , dimension details , weight and height measurement details should not be changed

c. Hazardous cargo information should never be changed as the cargo is already on board.

d. Reefer cargo information like humidity,temperature, light conditions etc should not be changed

e. The clauses mentioned in the orginal Bill of Lading must be guarded .

Inorder to protect themselves from any possible claims due to issual of Switch Bill of Lading , the agent/shipping line must ensure the following

a. Under any urgent situation of the customer , the shpping agency must never issue a Switch Bill of Lading on their own volition ;without the written consent of the Principal

b. The Switch Bill of Lading should not contain any information which different from the Original Blll of Lading

c. The Swtich Bill of Lading must be issued before the hand over the cargo .

d. The shipping line/agent must ensure they are covered by the insurance for the issuance of Switch Bill of Lading and they must provide the exact reason to the insuarcne company for the switching .

e. The orginal Bill of Lading must be returned to the carrier ,which is free of any endorsement and inc cancelled form before issuing the Swtich Bill fo Lading .