INFORMATION SOURCES

INFORMATION SOURCE

Today many these transactions have not become the useful though the use of electronic data interchange (EDI) of Intranets among carriers, shippers and receivers. This eliminated many of problems associated with manually generated documents and improved transportation service for shippers and receivers as well as cash flow for carrier. This discussion is not focus on the legal requirements of the various sources of transportation information bur will pay attention to role of these various documents and the information they convey. This information sources will be including from the bill of lading until freight bill.

Bill of Lading

·         The bill of lading (BOL) is the document used to initiate the request for a transportation movement.

·          This is probably the most important transportation document because ir provides information necessary for carrier to plan for and perform the transportation service. The federal government requires common carriers to generate a BOL for every shipment , most BOLs are customized and generated by shipper.

·          BOL also usually customized to fit a shipper’s needs, certain basic types of information are included at a minimum on all BOLs.

·         The BOL serves five legal purpose it is a receipt for a goods, contains a description of a shipment , evidence of a title , operating document and the terms of the contract between a shipper and seller.

The requirements for BOL information:

1.       Origin/destination of shipment.

·         This information is used by the carrier to identify the freight lane that will be used for the shipment.

·         It also allows the carrier to identify the availability of equipment and personnel to provide the transportation or to begin to position capacity to move the shipment .

·         Not be same as the billing location and can also be used by the carrier to determine pickup and delivery times.

2.       Carrier designation

·         Shippers will generally integrate their BOL-generation process with their carrier-routing process.

·         This allows the shipping location to comply with its contracts or routing guides and helps identity the initial contract with pickup carrier.

3.       Special operating instructions

·         This information allows the carriers to perform the transportation service in compliance with the needs of the shipper.

·         Special instructions might include temperature control, load or unloading requirements , blocking or bracing , pickup or delivery requirement.

·         The point of information is to make the carrier fully aware of the nature of the shipment and what might be neccessary , above and beyond normal transportation service , to deliver the shipment in compliance with the demands of the shipper.

4.       Shipment description

·         This information includes not only a description of the commodity but also the quantity and weight of the commodity or commodities.

·         The carrier will use this for equipment selection , pickup , and rating or billing decisions.

·         The section can also alert the carrier of any hazardous materials that might be in the shipment.

5.       Billing instructions

· If not the same as the origin identified above, this provides the carrier the information concerning the identity of the party responsible for paying for the transportation service.

The BL serves three roles:

·    A contract of carriage

It is signed by the shipper and thus becomes a contract between the shipper and carrier for the voyage.

·      Documentary evidence of title

When a shipment is spending large amount of the time in between buyers and sellers , it may not be clear who owns the cargo at any one time. Whoever is tated on the BL owns the cargo.

·      Receipt of goods

This is the receipt given by the carrier to the shipper to show that they received the goods.

Types of Bill of Lading:

·         Clean Bill of Lading

No notations by the carrier of problems , otherwise it is foul.

·         Onboard Bill of Lading

Signed by the carrier that it is loaded

·         Received-for-shipment Bill of Lading

Means only that it was received by the carrier

·         Straight Bill of Lading

Nonnegotiable , cargo delivers only to the consignee.

·         Forwerder’s Bill of Lading

Created by a forwarder , who is acting as an intermediary.

 Waybills

·  It is the operating document that governs the movement of the car as well as the descriptive document of the car’s content.

·  The waybill assigns a car to a trains , designates shipments , switching points , identifies routes , specifies trailer numbers for TOFC or COFC shipments , and contains billing information. Trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC) the combination uses the popular “piggyback” arrangement, in which the conventional highway trailers are placed on rail flatcars. Container-on-flatcar (COFC) the method , intermodal containers are detached from the highway trailer chassis and placed on rail flatcars.

·  A waybill is similar to  BL in that it acts as a cargo receipt and contract of carriage. The different between BL is that it does not convey title.

·  Use mostly for air cargo that moves so fast that a document conveying title is not practical or needed and ocean shippers are finding that waybills make the documentation process much easier.

Manifest

·      Used as the operating and descriptive document for motor-carrier trailers.

·      Specific difference is the manifest documents the weight loaded each quartile of the trailer.

·         This is done specifically to address axle weight restrictions on the highway system.

·         The shipment manifests list individual stops or consignees when multiple shipments are placed on a single vehicle and also each shipment requires a bill of lading.

·         The objective of the manifest is to provide a single document that defines the overall contents of the load without requiring review of individual bills of lading.

·         For single-stop shipments , the manifest is the same as the bill of lading.

Freight Bill

·         A freight bill is the carrier’s invoice for transportation and related charges.

·         The freight bill has some of the same of the same information as the BOL , such as origin or destination and commodity description.

·         The freight bill also serves the purpose of notifying the buyer of the charges and how they were assessed.

·         Method of charging for transportation services perfomed and using information contained in the bill of lading.

·         The freight bill mat be either prepaid or collect.

·         A prepaid means that transport cost must be paid to performance , whereas a collect shipments shift payment responsibility to the consignee.