Bill of Lading

What a bill of lading does

A BOL does three jobs.

It's the contract with the carrier. The bill sets the terms the carrier hauls your freight on, including who pays the freight charge: prepaid by the shipper, collect from the consignee, or billed to a third party. It's also where you write a declared value. Federal law lets motor carriers limit their liability to a value the shipper declares or agrees to in writing, so the value and terms on the BOL affect what you can recover if a pallet is lost or damaged. Read them before you sign. The federal statute on carrier liability has the details.

It's the receipt for your freight. When the driver signs, the carrier is acknowledging it took the pieces listed. NMFTA, the group that publishes the freight classification LTL carriers use, calls it undisputed proof of shipment once the goods are loaded. The form also records who loaded the trailer and whether the shipper or the driver counted the freight, which matters if the count is disputed later.

It's also a document of title. That's how NMFTA describes it, and whether the bill can be transferred depends on how it names the consignee. Under the Federal Bills of Lading Act, a bill that says the goods go "to the order of" a consignee is negotiable, which means it can be endorsed over to another party. A bill that simply names the consignee is nonnegotiable: signing it over to someone else doesn't make it negotiable or give the new holder any extra rights, and the carrier has to mark it "nonnegotiable" or "not negotiable". The straight bill, the most common type for truck freight, is that second kind.

Who prepares and signs it

The shipper usually fills out the BOL, or a 3PL does it on the shipper's behalf. The carrier can also issue it. The shipper and the carrier sign at pickup, and the consignee signs at delivery.

The BOL number is any unique reference the shipper assigns, often the date plus a sequence. The carrier may add its own PRO number to track the shipment, and a buyer's PO number can go on the bill too, which helps the receiving dock match the freight to an order.

Types of bills of lading

• Straight bill of lading: the standard non-negotiable BOL for LTL and truckload freight. It names the consignee, and the goods go only to them.
• VICS bill of lading: a standard layout used for shipments to retailers, with separate columns for handling units and packages and a block for the retailer's order information. Retailer routing guides often require it.
• Order (negotiable) bill of lading: consigns the goods "to the order of" a party, so the bill can be endorsed over to someone else.
• Master bill of lading: one bill that covers several underlying BOLs shipping together.

You'll also see bills named for the route they cover. Inland bills cover road, rail or inland waterway, ocean bills cover cargo crossing international waters, and through bills cover a move that crosses international borders.

What goes on a bill of lading

At minimum: the shipper and consignee with addresses, the carrier, the BOL number (plus the carrier's PRO number once one is assigned), the number and type of pieces, a description and weight, and the freight charge terms. LTL freight also needs a freight class and an NMFC item number, which tell the carrier how to price it. Our freight class calculator estimates a pallet's density-based freight class from its dimensions and weight (the final class still depends on the commodity's NMFC item and your carrier), and LTL vs FTL explains when a partial truckload makes sense.

To make one, our free bill of lading generator builds a straight or VICS-style BOL you can download as a PDF, with a field-by-field guide to filling it out.