What is the difference between insurance policy and insurance certificate?

There are 3 types of cargo insurance documents available in international marine cargo insurance market.

These are insurance policy, insurance certificate and declaration under an open cover.

Declaration under an open cover is not used so frequently in daily practice comparing to remaining two insurance document types. 

For this reason knowing details of insurance policy and insurance certificate is very important not only for exporters and importers but also other foreign trade participants.

Today I would like to clarify the differences between an insurance policy and insurance certificate on this article.

Mixed Payments in International Trade

Mixed payments work as a kind of financial security tool for exporters in international trade transactions.

Exporters demand a portion of the transaction amount from importers in advance of the shipments, such as 30% of the total amount. 

Remaining amount could be paid against CAD, letter of credit or sending copies of shipping documents by fax or e-mail to the importer.

Today I would like to explain mixed payments as used in international trade transactions.

What does "as per beneficiary's proforma invoice" mean in a letter of credit?

Almost all letters of credit, at least the ones that I have encountered with, contain a phrase under field 45-A Description of Goods, giving express reference to a proforma invoice.

Some examples are:

• Commercial invoice must bear beneficiary's certification that goods shipped are in accordance with proforma invoice nr. 1910201100
• Commercial invoice must be bearing this clause: ''We certify that invoices are in all respects correct and true both with regard  to the price and description of goods referred to therein and as per proforma invoice no.011 dated 09/06/2014."
• Commercial invoice must state that as per beneficiary's proforma invoice ref no:AA130522 dd:04.07.2014.
• As per applicant's purchase order no. d14080 dtd 17.12.14.

But what does an express reference to a proforma invoice mean in a letter of credit? 

How to present a correct invoice in such a situation?

Shipped on board and clean on board bill of lading

I would like to explain the difference between shipped on board bill of lading and clean on board bill of lading on this page. 

The reason I would like to write about this topic is that some issuing banks demand "shipped on board" bills of lading, whereas others demand "clean on board" bills of lading under "letters of credit" payments.

Exporters are getting confused, when carriers issue a "shipped on board" bill of lading where the letter of credit requires a "clean on board" bill of lading or vice versa.