The key documents required for transportation of goods are airway bills, bills of lading, mate's receipts, shipping bills, and cart tickets. An airway bill is a receipt issued by an airline for carriage of goods by air. A bill of lading is a document issued by a shipping company acknowledging receipt of goods and agreeing to deliver them. A mate's receipt is issued when cargo is loaded and provides details of the shipment. A shipping bill contains export documentation required by customs authorities. A cart ticket provides cargo details for entry into a port.

2. TRANSPORT DOCUMENTS
The documents required for transportation of goods are:
1. Airway bill or air consignment note
2. Bill of lading
3. Mate receipt
4. Shipping bill
5. Cart ticket

3. 1. Airway bill or air consignment note
 In air carriage, the transport document is known as the airway bill. It is a
receipt issued by an airline for the carriage of goods. Every airline issues its
own bill for receiving the goods. Airway bill is non transferable so it does
not carry the same validity as a bill of lading in sea transport.
 This document performs three functions – act as forwarding note for the
goods, receipt for the goods rendered, and authority to obtain delivery of
goods.
 The receipt issued by an airline company or its agent for carriage of goods, is
called airway bill (AWB) or air-consignment note.
 The goods are delivered to the consignee mentioned in the AWB, after
identifying himself as the party named in the AWB as the consignee/receiver,
against payment of charges if any.

4. 2. Mate’s receipt
 When the cargo is loaded on the ship, the commanding officer of the ship
issues a receipt known as mate’s receipt. The mate’s receipt indicates the
following:
 Name of the vessel
 Date of shipment
 Description of packages
 Marks and numbers
 The port of loading and discharge
 Condition of the cargo at the time of its receipt
The mate’s receipt is first handed over to port trust authorities for payment of dues by
the exporter. After paying the dues the exporter or his agent will collect this receipt
from the port authorities. The shipping agent prepares bill of lading on the basis of
mate’s receipt.

5.  Features of mate’s receipt
 Mate’s receipt is a receipt issued by the commanding officer of the ship when
the cargo is loaded on the ship. This receipt is a prima facie evidence that
goods are loaded in the vessel.
 Mate’s receipt is first handed over to the port trust authorities & in receipt of
port dues, the port trust authorities, hand the mate’s receipt to the exporter or
his agent.
 The mate’s receipt has to be handed over shipping company for obtaining the
bill of lading.
The mate’s receipt is a transferable document and can be of 2 types:
1. Clean Mate’s receipt
2. Qualified mate’s receipt

6.  Clean mate’s receipt: This signifies that the goods have been received well
in order, properly packed and without any defect or damages
 Qualified mate’s receipt: This signifies goods have not been packed
properly or received damaged. In this case the shipping company does not
take any responsibility for damage in transit.
Types of
Mate’s
receipt
Qualified
mate’s
receipt
Clean
mate’s
receipt

7. 3. Bill of lading
 A bill of lading is a document issued by the shipping company acknowledging the
receipt of goods mentioned therein and undertaking to deliver them in the like
order and condition, as received, to the consignee or his order.
 A bill of lading serves the following purposes:
 It is a document of title to the goods
 It is a receipt from the shipping company, receiving the goods.
 It is a contract for the transportation of goods
Each shipping company has its own bill of lading. These forms can be had from shipping
companies or their agents. A bill of lading contains information about date and place of
shipment, port of loading and port of destination, marks and numbers, kind of packages,
description of goods, gross weight and measurement, freight etc. If the exporter has paid
the freight then it is marked ‘freight paid’, of on the other hand the freight is to be
collected from the consignee then bill of lading is marked ‘freight collect’.

8.  Parties to bill of lading:
1. Consignor
2. Carrier
3. Consignee
The party delivering goods to the carrier is called the consignor. The consignor is
usually the seller but can also be any one of a variety of agents, brokers,
forwarders or others.
The party accepting legal responsibility to provide transportation is the carrier. The
carrier may be the transportation company itself but it also may be an entity
assuming the legal responsibility of a carrier but arranging actual transportation
by another company.
The third party to a bill of lading is the party entitled to receive the cargo, called
the consignee.

9.  Features of bill of lading
 A bill of lading is freely transferable by practice and custom.
 The bill requires that goods should be delivered toa particular named person
and does not include reference to his assignees, the bill of lading is not
transferable.
 The consignor or consignee can make the bill of lading transferable either by a
special endorsement or by blank endorsement. In blank endorsement the
goods are delivered to the bearer. The holder may, however, convert the blank
endorsement to special endorsement by inserting the name of a person to
whom delivery is to be made. It is then called endorsement in full.
 The bill of lading is issued in exchange for mate’s receipt.

10.  Types of bill of lading
1. Straight bill of lading
2. Order bill of lading
3. Bearer bill of lading
4. Through bill of lading
1) Straight bill of lading
 The bill of lading, which names one specific consignee to whom delivery must be
made, is the straight bill of lading.

11.  The carrier is responsible for making certain that it delivers the goods to the
right consignee named on the straight bill of lading and should obtain proof in
the form of a delivery receipt signed by the consignee or its agent.
 A straight bill of lading is also called a direct consignment because shipment
must be delivered directly to the named consignee.
2) Order bill of lading
 Order bill of lading is negotiable. It enables a shipper to collect for a shipment
before it reaches its destination.
 When the consignee receives the lading indicating that payment has been
made, the lading will be surrendered to the carrier’s agent, and the carrier will
then ship the goods to the consignee, and the bill of lading will be surrendered
to the carrier.

12. 3) Bearer bill of lading
 If the original consignee endorses the B/L over to a 3rd party and gives the
original to the 3rd party, the 3rd party and no other may claim the cargo upon
presentation of the endorsed order bill of lading to the carrier.
 If the original consignee merely endorses the order bill of lading without
naming the consignee, the bill of lading becomes a bearer bill of lading and
anyone who presents the original to the carrier may claim the cargo.
4) Through Bill of Lading
Often a number of carriers are involved, each providing transport for one leg of a
journey. These carriers may have an agreement between themselves or there may
be an agreement made by a freight forwarder, for a single B/L to contract for all
transportation. Such a B/L will cover the journey from the port of origin to each
intermediate carrier in turn, all the way to the destination. The B/L is called a
Through bill of lading.
A through bill of lading can be either a straight or order bill of lading.

13. 5. Shipping bill
 It is a document on the basis of which customs permission for exports is given
by the custom authorities. The shipping bill contains contents such as name
and address of the exporter and consignee, invoice number and date, import
export code number, RBI code number, particulars of goods exported, name of
the vessel, port at which goods are to be discharged, number and kind of
packets, quantity and value of goods.
 The shipping bill is prepared by the clearing and forwarding agent and
presented to the shed superintendent for getting carting order. The preventive
officer of the customs, after being satisfied, endorses the shipping bill with ‘let
ship order’.
 There are 3 types of shipping bills available with the customs authorities
1. Free shipping bill
2. Dutiable shipping bill
3. Drawback shipping bill

14. 1. Free shipping bill
 It is used for export of goods for which there is no export duty.
2. Dutiable shipping bill
 Printed on yellow paper, it is used in case of goods which are subjected to
export duty/cess
3. Drawback shipping bill
 It is usually printed on green paper and is used for export of goods entitled to
duty drawback

15. Mechanism of shipping bill
 Once after preparing commercial invoice, packing list and other documents for
export documentation for customs clearance procedures, the shipper either
files documents directly with customs department or appoint a customs broker
to file export documents on behalf of the shipper.
 Any goods moving out of country need to be approved by customs by
mandatory filing of a legal document called shipping bill.
 Shipping bill contains all required details about the goods planed to export.
Some of the details are: Order or LC number and date, shipper’s invoice
number and date, name of shipper, consignee, notify party if any, buyer other
than consignee, place of receipt of cargo, port of loading and port of
discharge, final destination place, terms of payment, terms of delivery of cargo,
marks and number of packages, unit price, FOB value of goods, total value of
goods in local currency of country

16.  The shipper or his customs broker signs with rubber stamp below the
declaration of shipping bill as specified by customs authorities. If the cargo us
filed at a customs location where in electronic data interchange facility is
available, such shipping bill is filed by electronic means as per the specified
format of software.
 After filing of such shipping bill, the customs authorities admit shipping bill
and necessary assessment and examination procedure are carried out.
 After completion of all export procedures and formalities a ‘let export order’ is
issued in shipping bill duly signed and sealed by customs officials.
 Under EDI system of filing export customs clearance procedures, the required
assessment procedures are being done electronically and after physical
verification where ever applicable, copies of ‘let export order’ is released as
hard copies after signing and sealing by proper officer of customs.

17. 6. Cart Ticket
 Cart ticket is prepared by the exporter giving details of the cargo to be
exported. It has the name of the ship, number of packages, shipping bill
number, port of destination and the number of vehicle carrying the cargo.
The cart ticket is handed over by the driver of the vehicle at the entry of
the port. The gate keeper will check the cargo as shown in the ticket. If
satisfied, the gate keeper will allow the vehicle to enter.