Switch bills of lading: which fields may change, and which may not
A switch bill is a second set of originals, issued by the carrier to replace the first, usually at a different port. It has a bad reputation it mostly does not deserve. The legitimate use is ordinary triangular trade, and the illegitimate use is easy to describe precisely.
Why anyone does this
A trader in Singapore buys from a factory in Vietnam and sells to a buyer in Rotterdam. The first bill names the Vietnamese factory as shipper. Hand that to the Rotterdam buyer and you have handed them your supplier, and they will go direct next time.
So the trader surrenders the first set and asks the carrier to issue a second naming the trader as shipper. Same cargo, same box, same voyage. The buyer gets a document that works and does not name the factory.
What may change
Shipper. The point of the exercise.
Consignee and notify party. The onward sale is to a different party.
Port of loading, where a genuine transhipment means the second leg starts elsewhere.
Goods description, within limits — usually to remove a supplier's part numbers or branding, not to redescribe what the cargo is.
Freight terms, since the trader's arrangement with the buyer differs from the factory's with the trader.
What may not
Container number and seal number. These identify a physical box that was sealed once.
Gross weight. It was weighed. Under SOLAS it was also certified.
Vessel and voyage. The ship sailed when it sailed.
Quantity and package count. Whatever went in is what is in there.
Changing any of these is not a switch. It is a document describing a shipment that did not happen, and a carrier asked to issue one should and generally will refuse.
The rule the carrier enforces
The first set comes back before the second goes out. All originals, surrendered, before anything is issued.
This matters more than it sounds. If both sets are in circulation, two different people are holding documents of title to one container. One of them collects the cargo and the other has a claim, and the carrier — who released against a valid original — is caught in the middle. That is why carriers require a letter of indemnity for a switch even when the request is entirely proper, and why some refuse them on cargo under a letter of credit.
Before you ask for one
Check the credit, if there is one. Many letters of credit require the bill to show a specific port of loading or shipper, and a switch set that no longer matches makes the presentation discrepant.
Check the origin documents too. A certificate of origin naming the factory, presented with a switch bill naming the trader, invites exactly the question the switch existed to avoid.
And ask early. A switch is arranged with the carrier at the port where the first set is surrendered, and arranging it while the vessel is discharging is not a conversation that goes quickly.