You issue the bill, not just the booking
An NVOCC is a carrier on paper and a customer of a carrier in practice. The ocean line issues you a master bill; you issue a house bill in your own name to the shipper. That one difference changes who is liable, whose name appears where, and which document a bank will accept — and it is why a forwarder's paperwork and an NVOCC's paperwork are not the same job.
The house bill you issue to your shipper. Fill it in here, and the consolidated packing list for the same box is already populated.
| Marks and Numbers | Container / Seal No. | No. of Pkgs | Kind of Packages | Description of Goods | Gross Weight (KG) | Measurement (CBM) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RECEIVED by the Carrier the goods described above in apparent good order and condition unless otherwise stated, to be transported to such place as agreed, authorised or permitted herein and subject to all the terms and conditions appearing on the front and reverse of this Bill of Lading. In accepting this Bill of Lading the Merchant agrees to be bound by all such terms and conditions as if each had individually signed it.
Your entries are kept as you move between documents: the parties, ports, container and line items all carry across.
The carrier's receipt for the goods, evidence of the contract of carriage, and a document of title the consignee must surrender to collect the cargo.
One packing list covering several orders or invoices consolidated into a single shipment.
Tells the carrier exactly how the bill of lading should read: parties, routing, cargo description and freight terms.
Books a consignment with a freight forwarder: collection details, routing, cargo particulars and who pays which charges.
House and master have to agree, except where they must not
The master bill names you as shipper and the ocean carrier as carrier. The house bill names your customer as shipper and you as carrier. Container and seal numbers, weights, vessel and voyage have to be identical across both — those are physical facts. The parties deliberately differ, and that is the whole mechanism. Where the two disagree on a physical fact, destination customs treats it as a misdeclaration rather than as a clerical error.
Banks reject house bills unless the credit allows them
Under UCP 600 a bank examines whether the transport document was issued by a carrier or its named agent. A house bill issued by an NVOCC is routinely refused where the letter of credit does not expressly permit a forwarder's or NVOCC's bill. Check the credit before you issue, not after presentation, because the fix afterwards is an amendment your customer has to request from their buyer.
Switch bills: what may change and what may not
A switch set is legitimate and common, usually to conceal the original supplier from the ultimate buyer in a triangular sale. Shipper, consignee, notify party, port of loading and goods description can be reissued. Container number, seal number, weight and vessel cannot — those describe the box, and altering them is not a switch but a false document. Never let two full sets circulate at once; that is how the same cargo gets claimed twice.
One box, several shippers
Consolidating means several house bills sit under one master. Each shipper needs their own house bill and their own line on a packing list that still totals to what the carrier weighed. The consolidated packing list exists for exactly this: per-shipper detail that reconciles to one container's gross weight and one verified gross mass.
Field-by-field walkthroughs of the documents above.
+What makes an NVOCC different from a freight forwarder?
A forwarder arranges carriage as your agent. An NVOCC contracts as the carrier itself, issues its own bill of lading, and takes on carrier liability for the leg it covers. Many companies do both, on different shipments.
+Do I need to issue three originals of a house bill?
Only if it is negotiable. A house bill made out to a named consignee needs no original surrendered; one made out to order behaves like any negotiable bill and is usually issued in a set of three.
+Can I issue a telex release on a house bill?
Yes, once all originals are surrendered to you and freight is settled. You then have to obtain the equivalent release on the master bill from the ocean carrier, and the sequence matters: releasing the house before you hold the master leaves you exposed.
+Whose weight goes on the VGM?
The shipper named on the bill of lading certifies it. On a consolidated box that is a question worth settling in writing before loading, because the master bill names you.
Exporters
Issue the invoice, packing list and origin paperwork for a shipment in one sitting, without re-keying the consignee address four times.
Freight forwarders
Produce a clean set of documents for a client who sent you a spreadsheet, and hand back PDFs that a customs broker will accept.
Customs brokers
Rebuild a missing or unusable document from the particulars you already hold, without waiting on the shipper's software licence.
Judge it by the document, not the feature list.
The generator on this page is the product, prefilled and editable. Fill it in and download the finished PDF — then decide.
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