The Confusion And Solution Of Delivery Of Goods Without Presenting The Original Bill Of Lading

Bill of lading is the document that prove the establishment of the contract of the carriage, and it is the evidence that the goods have been loaded by the carrier who would guarantee he would deliver the goods by taking back the bill of lading. This kind of document, since it's born at the first place, is very useful, playing a very important part in the development of the international trade. The concept of "Delivery with the Original Bill of Lading"has become a common habit to all parties with the developing of the trade. However, with the ever-changing world technology and the developing of ship technology, it is always that the ship reaches the destination earlier the document. In this case, it would cause great damage to each party if the carrier made a decision to wait for the document at the port. So there are more and more cases of delivery of goods without presenting the original bill of lading. On the one hand this approach solves the problem of delay of the document, and accelerates the development of trade promotion. But on the other hand, it could bring huge risk to every party, which the holder would loss the cargo and the money under the cases of delivery of goods without original bill of lading. And it would inevitably lead to dispute of all parties. China's State Council Leading Group for Port, the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Foreign Trade issued a file in the form of (83) National Port No. 06 in April 1983, which confirmed the premise that the delivery by the original bill of lading, and permits the interests party to delivery the goods with a copy of the bill of lading and the letter of guarantee. The file did solve the problem of the delay of the document, but also causes more problems of delivery of goods without presenting original bill of lading. And the real holder of the bill of lading would ask for the cargo. It causes more problems to the carrier.In the international maritime trade in goods, the carrier is obliged to delivery the good by the original bill of lading at the agreed discharged port, which is the world's general accepted practice. And it is possible to delivery the goods with the letter of guarantee in order to adapt to the situation in the modern world, which is helpful to cut the cost , to accelerate the circulation of goods, and to improve the efficiency of maritime trade. So it is very important to solve the actual problem of delivery of goods without original bill of lading for the development of international trade. In this paper, the writer base on the judicial cases of delivery of goods without the original bill of lading, and combined with the "Rotterdam rules" in the relevant provisions on electronic bills of lading, and make analysis on the current confusion and solution of the problem, and give his own opinion to different interests parties, Looking forward to make useful advice to the shipping practice.This article is divided into four parts, the first part make an analysis on the content and history of the delivery without the original bills of lading, and try to find the reason of it.The second part is mainly about the analysis of the judicial cases by the Shanghai Maritime Court from the past five years. The writer did in-depth analysis on the liability and defenses of each case.The third part is the key to this article. The writer tried to suggest his own views of the confusion and solution of the problems according to the research did before and the latest legislation of the international environment. The last part is about legal advices. For different parties, such as sellers, holders, shippers, carriers, agents, and the performing party, the writer make different legal advices to them, in the hope that it would be helpful for the prevention of the risks and the efficiency of the international trade.