What is a straight bill of lading?

You have to be very carefull when completing the consignee field of a bill of lading, because it does not only define to whom the goods should be delivered, but also explains delivery procedures of the consignment.

If the bill of lading issued in a negotiable form, to order (shipper) or to the order of a named party, at least one original bill of lading must be surrendered to the carrier's agent at the port of discharge in order to get the consignment.

But what happens if a bill of lading not issued in negotiable form by simply completing the consignee field writing direct consignee's name and address. 

On this article I will be explaining the straight bill of lading, which is a type of bill of lading that is issued in a non-negotiable form.

What is the function of a "to order" bill of lading?

On my previous article I have explained the differences between a negotiable bill of lading and a non-negotiable bill of lading.

I have also described the importance of negotiable bill of lading in international trade on the same article.

I strongly recommend you to see my previous article titled with "How to complete consignee and notify fields of a bill of lading?" before reading this page in order to better understand today's post.

Today I want to explain the function of a "to order" bill of lading in foreign trade businesses.

How to complete consignee and notify fields of a bill of lading?

Today on this post, I will be explaining with examples one of the key elements of a bill of lading in international trade.

Bill of lading is a negotiable transport document, only when it is issued in a negotiable form.

Negotiable bill of lading plays a key role in international export-import transactions, where the exporter or exporter's bank does not want to release the goods to the importer without surrendering at least one original bill of lading to the carrier's agent at the port of discharge.

Today on this article I will try to answer below questions:

• What is a negotiable transport document? 
• What are the differences between negotiable bill of lading and non-negotiable bill of lading? 
• How does a bill of lading could be issued in a negotiable form? 
• What is a consignee field on the bill of lading? 
• What is a notify field on the bill of lading? 
• How to complete consignee and notify fields of a bill of lading? (explanations with examples)

What is a straight bill of lading? What are the differences between straight bills of lading and bills of lading?

Bill of lading is a traditional transport document. 

It has been in use since the old days when vessels were really slow comparing to modern container carriers.

Even in 19th centuary, especially shipments from South America to Europe or Africa to Europe took quite significant time. 

Long transportation periods create financial problems for both exporters and importers as finance has always been a key issue for international trade.

International traders and banks managed to find a brilliant solution for this problem. 

They started to implement a payment method which is called letter of credit.

Under a letter of credit payment method, an issuing bank notifies its conditional payment undertaking to the seller in a written format which means that issuing bank sends a letter to the exporter which contains the conditions and requirements of the payment.

Seller could get its money only if he can present required documents in an acceptable way to the issuing bank.