Surrendered BL

[EMILYTRAN]

Hi Mr.N.H.Duc

I think the way you aproached the process of surrendered B/L is perfect. It proves that you have been long time experienced in the industry. We appreciate your sharing us your knowledge as well as what you have seen in your time of working.

However, let's come back to look at the LC terms, we think the issuing can not reject the documents due to the fact that the B/L shows the number of original issued as "Zero", I am not a person working at a ahipping company nor good at their terms of carriage but as a banker, I think the issuing bank who allows ""surrendered B/L acceptable" in their LC issuance must accept any B/L presented whether original or copy ( in case the original B/L has been released to the shipping company as said by Mr.Duc) provided that it is stamped with "Surrendered" on it face and it does not matter it is stating the number of original issued as "Zero" (as goods will be released without the production of original BL). It is the same as when the LC with terms "forwarder BL acceptable" for which banks will normally accept the B/L signed by the forwarder as the forwarder without neccessary to show it is an agent for the carrier or it is the carrier as the case may be.

Please tell us If I am wrong.
Thanks.

[HOANGTHIANHTHU_invalid]

Dear KHANHLETU,

Interesting indeed.
As far as I know a surrendered BL not signed and stamped by the carrier are accepted by the customs authorities, at least in Vietnam, for clearance of the cargo as it is a normal practice that the surrendered BL and telex release may not be signed by the carrier.
It is also a normal practice that the shipping company may collect the original BL and return to the shipper only copies of surrendered BLs.

Notwithstanding with such a practice, I think whereas neither UCP 600 nor ICC opinions deal with this type of BL, a prudent bank would choose to be on the safe side to reject the an original surrendered BL that indicates the number of originals as zero .

Dear Jim Barnes,

You seem to be very familiar with this type of BL, in stead of raising questions, please share with us your knowledge about it.

Regards,
N.H.Duc


[edited 1/26/2010 11:01:02 PM]

[DanielD]

N.H. Duc,

the fact that the goods will be released to the consignee without the production of the straight B/L is not true everywhere. Now I think that a surrendered B/L seems to make things a bit complicated and I am not in a hurry to see one.
Daniel

[JimBarnes]

Sorry, but I am not familiar with "surrendered" BLs. I assume a banker examining one could rely on the LC language that the "surrendered" stamp is OK without needing to know what it signifies. (I make no assumptions about the effect of that stamp on a banker intending to have a useful lien on the BL and goods covered by the BL).

Regards, Jim Barnes

[PhanThanhNhan]

Hi all

I think we can raise the discrepancy "surrendered B/L presented evidencing that the goods were released without original B/L". As transportation practices, when the consignee can not obtain original B/L at the same time as the arrival of the goods, the shipper may allow the shipping company to release the goods to the consignee by surrendering original B/L at port of loading and informing the shipping agent at the discharging port that the goods can be released to the consignee without original B/L presented by the consignee. At the same time, the consignee will have a fax copy of the original/copy B/L and the shipping will stamp "Surrendered" on the face of both original B/L and copy B/L at both loading port and discharging port. Therefore, we can see that a surrendered B/L can not presented in exchange for goods release or delivery order, because the goods have been released before. As my experience, almost surrendered B/L presented is a copy set, I think the shipping agent often recalls the original B/L which have been stamped "surrendered", or if not, they will immediately become null and void once being stamped.

[RobReissner]

Dear all,

In my opinion a "Surrendered B/L" is not a document addressed in the UCP600. I am not familiar with the type of document nor with the purpose it serves. However, if required under a letter of credit, I would look at it in terms of UCP600 Article 14 f.

Kind regards,

Rob Reissner

[JLee]

Unless there term "Surrendered BL" is clearly defined in the LC, what we can do is to guess its effect and function. There will be more than 1 effect and function guessed by us. This causes ambiguity which leads to dispute and perhaps ligitation too. Anyway, as per ISBP2, it's the applicant (and thus the issuing bank) that bears the risk of ambiguity. Regards/Jack Chan

[EMILYTRAN]

Hi Mr. Jack Chan,

Many thanks for your comment.
My fondest regards,
ThuyPTB