Shipped On Board Notation on a Bill of Lading: Why the Date Matters for Your LC

A Chinese supplier finishes production, the container is trucked to Ningbo, and a few days later the shipping line issues a bill of lading. For a buyer paying by cash against documents, one date on that bill rarely matters. For a buyer paying through a letter of credit, it can decide whether the documents are accepted or rejected. That date is the shipment date, and on most bills of lading it comes from a small stamp or typed clause called the on-board notation.

This guide explains what the notation is, why there are two kinds of bills of lading, what UCP 600 actually requires, and how Bangladeshi importers can make sure the notation on their supplier’s bill matches the terms of their LC. It builds on our guides to letters of credit for China imports and LC discrepancies under UCP 600.

Received for shipment versus shipped on board

A carrier can issue a bill of lading at two different moments. A received-for-shipment bill is issued when the carrier, or its terminal, takes the container into its custody. The goods are in the carrier’s care, but they are not yet on a vessel. They may wait in the yard for days, be rolled to a later sailing, or even move to a different ship. A shipped bill, also called a shipped on board bill, records that the goods have actually been loaded on a named vessel at the port of loading.

The difference matters to a buyer and a bank because a received bill does not prove the goods have left. A bank paying under an LC wants to know the goods are on their way, and the LC terms almost always require evidence of loading. That evidence can come in two ways: the bill can use pre-printed wording that it is a shipped bill, or a received-for-shipment bill can be converted by adding an on-board notation once loading happens.

Container lines today often use a pre-printed form that reads as received for shipment, because the container is usually handed over at a terminal before the vessel arrives. On those forms the on-board notation is not optional decoration. It is the part that makes the bill acceptable under most LCs.

What UCP 600 says

Most LCs opened in Bangladesh are subject to UCP 600, the International Chamber of Commerce rules for documentary credits. Article 20, which covers bills of lading, requires the bill to indicate that the goods have been shipped on board a named vessel at the port of loading stated in the credit. It allows this to be shown either by pre-printed wording or by an on-board notation indicating the date on which the goods were shipped on board.

Two further rules follow from that article:

• The date of issuance is treated as the date of shipment unless the bill carries an on-board notation, in which case the date stated in the notation is the date of shipment.
• If the bill says “intended vessel” or similar wording, the on-board notation must indicate the date of shipment and the name of the actual vessel. The same applies to the port of loading: if the port is shown as intended, or the place of receipt is different from the port of loading, the notation must confirm the actual port and vessel.

The date then drives other deadlines. If the LC states a latest shipment date, the on-board date must fall on or before it. If the LC does not specify a presentation period, Article 14 provides that documents must be presented not later than 21 calendar days after the date of shipment, and in any case within the expiry of the credit. A late notation can therefore make a perfectly genuine shipment late under the LC, and an early or missing one can push presentation outside the allowed window.

Anatomy of a valid notation

A typical on-board notation on a container bill of lading is a short clause, sometimes stamped and sometimes printed by the carrier’s system. A bank checker generally looks for these elements:

Element	What to check
Words showing loading	Wording such as “shipped on board” or “laden on board”, not only “received”
Date	A clear date of loading, consistent with the LC latest shipment date
Vessel	The actual vessel, especially if the bill named an intended vessel
Port of loading	The port stated in the LC, especially if the bill showed a different place of receipt
Authority	Issued by the carrier, master or a named agent, consistent with how the bill is signed

A notation that is unclear, partially stamped, or added by hand without any sign of who added it can raise a discrepancy. So can a notation whose vessel name does not match the vessel in the main body of the bill without explanation.

Transshipment and feeder vessels

Most China to Bangladesh containers do not travel on one ship. They often load on a feeder or mainline vessel in China and transship at a hub such as Singapore or Colombo before a feeder carries them to Chattogram, which we explain in our article on transshipment via Singapore and Colombo. The on-board notation relates to the first loading at the port of loading named in the LC, not the later feeder leg.

That creates two practical points. First, the vessel in the notation should be the ship that actually loaded the container at the origin port. Second, if the LC prohibits transshipment, check how UCP 600 Article 20 treats transshipment when goods are in containers covered by the same bill of lading. Banks generally accept such bills even if the credit prohibits transshipment, but the exact wording of your LC still matters, so ask your bank before you open the credit rather than after the documents arrive.

Rollovers and the temptation to backdate

If a container is rolled to a later sailing, the actual loading date moves. A supplier facing an LC deadline may ask the carrier or a forwarder for a bill dated on the original planned date. That is backdating, and it is not a paperwork convenience. A bill of lading that states a false loading date is a false document, and it can expose everyone involved to fraud claims and to the loss of the protection that the LC was supposed to provide.

The honest solution is to amend the LC. If a rollover makes the latest shipment date unachievable, the supplier should tell you, and you can ask your bank to extend the shipment and expiry dates. Amendments cost a fee and take some time, so build realistic dates into the LC from the start. Our guide to vessel rollovers explains why rollovers happen.

Common mistakes and their consequences

• Opening the LC with a tight shipment date that leaves no room for normal rollovers. The result is either an amendment or a discrepant document.
• Not asking for a draft bill of lading before the original is issued. Errors in vessel, port or notation are easy to correct at draft stage and expensive afterwards.
• Accepting a house bill from a forwarder without checking LC wording. If the LC calls for a marine bill of lading, a forwarder’s cargo receipt may not be acceptable. See our comparison of forwarder’s cargo receipts and bills of lading.
• Late presentation because the supplier sent documents by slow courier. The 21-day rule is counted from the on-board date, not from when you receive the papers.
• Assuming the bank will waive a discrepancy. The issuing bank may ask you whether you accept discrepant documents, but it is not obliged to pay, and the supplier is left exposed.

How DE International can help

For clients buying from China on LC terms, we review the LC conditions against the supplier’s planned sailing, request draft bills of lading before issuance, and check the on-board notation, vessel and port details against the credit before documents go to the bank. We cannot guarantee that a bank will accept a given set of documents, because the examination is the bank’s decision, but most discrepancies we see are avoidable with a draft check.

If you have an LC shipment coming up, contact us to have the documents checked against your credit. You can also explore our freight and documentation services, our China sourcing and buying agent service, or browse our shop.