International Freight Forwarder Sharing: Differences between Original Bill of Lading and Electronic Release Bill of Lading

2025-12-31 10:20:10

1) The Original OcEAN Bill of Loading refers to a bill of lading signed and stamped by the carrier, captain, or their agent, with the date of issuance indicated. A set of bills of lading is usually "three originals and three copies", and any original can be used as a proof of delivery. Generally, the entire set of original bills of lading is circulated together. After the shipper ships the goods, they usually transfer the full set of original bills of lading to the consignee through a bank (documentary credit or collection). As long as the shipper hands over the documents that meet the requirements of the letter of credit to the bank, the bank will pay the shipper for the goods; As long as the consignee pays the payment to the bank, the bank will hand over the complete set of original bills of lading obtained from the shipper to the consignee, and the consignee can pick up the goods, or transfer them to the consignee through international express delivery (not documentary credit or collection).

2) Telex Release Ocean Bill of Loading refers to the process in which the shipper applies to the carrier (shipping company) and provides an "electronic release guarantee", and the shipping company or its agent at the port of origin notifies the destination port agent via email or other means that the goods under a certain bill of lading do not need to be released with the original bill of lading. The consignee can retrieve the goods with a scanned/faxed copy of the electronic release bill of lading (stamped by the consignee's company) or with identification.

3) The electronic bill of lading eliminates the need for the original bill of lading to be handed over to the consignee through bank or express delivery, thus solving the problem of "goods waiting for the bill of lading", especially in ocean transportation. Due to the short shipping period of offshore transportation, it is easy to encounter problems where the goods have arrived at the destination port but the original bill of lading has not yet arrived, resulting in the consignee being unable to pick up the goods and causing delays, as well as additional costs such as demurrage fees and storage fees.

4) The original bill of lading can be circulated and transferred under certain conditions, while the electronic bill of lading cannot be circulated and transferred. After the original bill of lading is released electronically, it loses the function of a property right certificate, as well as its negotiability and transferability. Therefore, there is a significant difference between the electronic bill of lading and the original bill of lading. However, the function and use of the electronic bill of lading are very similar to those of a sea waybill.

Original bill of lading, electronic bill of lading, Sea Waybill risk factor

The original bill of lading, also known as Original B/L or ill of Lading Original, refers to the bill of lading document issued by the carrier, which has the words "Original" on the bill of lading and is signed and stamped by the carrier with the issuance date indicated. The original bill of lading is generally in triplicate and can be transferred by endorsement;

Electronic bill of lading, also known as telegraphic release of goods, will have the words' Surrender 'and' Telex Release 'on the bill of lading. After the Shipper submits an electronic release application to the shipping company and provides a guarantee, the shipping company will issue an electronic bill of lading to the Shipper. If the shipping company has already issued the original bill of lading, they will generally require the Shipper to do so

Provide a letter of guarantee while returning the original bill of lading, and then issue an electronic release of the bill of lading;

SWB， SEAWAYBILL, SWB does not have a property ownership certificate, so it cannot be transferred. Once SWB is made, the ownership of the goods no longer belongs to the Shipper, so this release method is the most risky.