ICC Digital Library Forum

We received a BL which has a paragraph on the top right hand side that read as follows:-

'In witness whereof the undersigned on behalf of ABC Shipping Line Ltd the Master has signed the …'

I would like to pose this query i.e. could a company signed as the Master….I was under the impression that the Master is the Captain of the vessel.

'In witness whereof, the undersigned, (on behalf of ABC Shipping Line Ltd.) the Master, has signed the …'

Singed

Master
M/V Toronto

We interpret this message to mean that the master signs on behalf of the ABC Shipping Line Ltd., which may not be the shipowners.

In practice it should be the local agent nominated by the shipowners at the port of loading to take care of the on-shore duties, such as providing refueling (bunker), provisions for the crew, fresh water replenishment, minor repairs and maintenance, performing port authority formalities, administratrive work, which, in the maritime world, are known as "husbanding" the ship (a "she" - a wife that needs a husband to take good care of her).

A MASTER IS AN AGENT OF THE SHIPOWNERS

From our understanding, a master is the agent of the shipowners, such as in German martime law. That is why most charter party bills of lading are signed by the master, as a legal representative of the shipowners. There should be only a few such charter party bills of lading to be signed for a charter party shipment where there are one main and a few sub charterers.

DISTRIBUTION OF WORK BETWEEN AGENT ON SHORE AND MASTER AT SEA

We do not see the reason why a company on shore at the port of loading should ask a busy master at sea to sign for the bills of lading. For one shipment, ther may be 3,000 bills of lading to be signed! A master has a lot of more important things to care about, such as seaworthiness and cargoworthiness than spending his valuable time in signing the 3,000 bills of lading which the agent on shore can do it more economically and efficiently.
From a shipping management point of view, we do not see the logic of such arrangement.

There are other reasons why the agent on shore should be the one to sign such bills of lading. However, we do realise that this is not a maritime discussion forum and it is more appropriate for us to stop right here.

http://www.tolee.com

[edited 10/23/01 6:08:43 PM]

I would like to say a big Thank you to Mr T.O Lee , AbdulkaderB, Jsmith P Gauntlett & the rest of the regular contirbutors for your highly enlightening & useful comments not just on my queries. I would like to add to my previous posting that in addition to the belowmentioned paragraph,i.e.

'In witness whereof the undersigned, on behalf of ABC Shipping Line Ltd the Master has signed the …the others to stand void'


the BL was actually signed as follows:-


As Agent only for the Master(Preprinted)

Signature

Company chop/stamp bearing the name ABC Indonesia


We initially interpreted the BL to have been signed by an agent for the Master but since the master's name was not indicated our boys treated it as a discrepancy.

The presenting bank in Indonesia has reverted to challenge our alleged discrepancy by saying that the name of the master is ABC Shipping Line as found in the said paragraph. Hence leading to our earlier enquiry as to whether the master could be a company.

In the said BL where there is a preprinted clause 'As agent only for the Master', could the same BL be used & issued by an agent of the carrier?

Thank you for your comments.

Dear Jenny,

Thanks for your kind words that make the DC Pro tick. We are glad that you as a member are actually benefitted by our exchange of opinions.

We have a couple of points to make here:

(1) As whether a master can be a company, you should be able to answer this question yourself. A master is a person that can nevigate a ship but a company is only a legal person that cannot nevigate. However a robot or a computer can also nevigate a ship but they are not human being which a "master" (the academic term should be "master mariner" as written in a master's certificate hanging on the wall of a master's office) is meant to be, at least up to today 24th October 2001.

(2) The master may appoint an agent to sign for him but, as your boys consider, the name of the master has to be given (although we hold reservation for such requirements in the UCP 500).

(3) Any pre-printed wordings in a bill of lading may be overridden by hand writing or a stamp for such purpose, e.g. in an insurance policy. To avoid ambiguity or confusions, it is recommended that those pre-printed wordings should be deleted or crossed.

(4) "ABC Shipping Line Ltd as master" is OK if it is only an agent of the master. If "ABC Shipping Line Ltd." IS the "master" himslef, then the nick name of the master should be David Copperfield too.

(5) A banker should consider his bank's image and not to act like "Mr. Bean" (Mr. Rowan Atkinson of UK) in all his out going SWIFT messages when involved in heated arguments with another bank on discrepancies.

http://www.tolee.com

[edited 10/24/01 9:25:32 PM]