Bank Guarantee for Lost Bills of Lading
Banks may provide their own wordings and you are under no obligation to accept unless you are entirely satisfied. This should be provided on a bank's letterhead and signed with the same being provided by the consignee as well. Below is what a bank guarantee wording might look like, but this is something you should have agreed by your insurers/lawyers before accepting.
TO : (to carrier/forwarder/NVOCC) Total Amount of Bank Guarantee - (200% of CIF)
Name of Vessel .....................................
Port of Origin .......................................
Port of Discharge .................................
Bill of Lading No. ................................
Containers No. .....................................
Commercial Invoice Value ...................
The above cargo was shipped under bill of lading [insert bill of lading number] cannot be collected because the bill of lading has been lost. In order to comply with your request to issue a new set of bills of lading and deliver the cargo to (name of consignee), we hereby agree as follows:
-
To indemnify you, your servants and agents and to hold all of you harmless in respect of any liability, loss, damage or expense of whatsoever nature which you may sustain by reason of delivering the cargo in accordance with our request.
-
In the event of any proceedings being commenced against you or any of your servants or agents in connection with the delivery of the cargo as aforesaid, to provide you or them on demand with sufficient funds to defend the same.
-
If, in connection with the delivery of the cargo as aforesaid, the ship, or any other ship or property in the same or associated ownership, management or control, should be arrested or detained or should the arrest or detention thereof be threatened, or should there be any interference in the use or trading of the vessel to provide on demand such bail or other security as may be required to prevent such arrest or detention or to secure the release of such ship or property or to remove such interference and to indemnify you in respect of any liability, loss, damage or expense caused by such arrest or detention or threatened arrest or detention or such interference, whether or not such arrest or detention or threatened arrest or detention or such interference may be justified.
-
As soon as all original bills of lading for the above cargo shall have come into our possession, to deliver the same to you, or otherwise to cause all original bills of lading to be delivered to you, whereupon our liability hereunder shall cease.
-
The liability of each and every person under this indemnity shall be joint and several and shall not be conditional upon your proceeding first against any person, whether or not such person is party to or liable under this indemnity.
-
This indemnity shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law and each and every person liable under this indemnity shall at your request submit to the jurisdiction of the High Court of Justice of England.
-
This Bank guarantee shall be valid for up to 2 years from the date provided or 2.5 years if Hamburg Rules are applicable.
Company Company
Position Position
Signature Signature
Date Date
Discharge / Form of Release - LOI
Whenever you settle a claim or any causes of action against from your clients then you should always request a Form of Discharge to be signed before settling. This will avoid disputes or duplicate claims. This is a document your insurance company or lawyer should draft and this is an example what one might look like.
Bill of Lading/Transit Document :
To :
From :
Description of Cargo :
Nature of Loss :
We, ... (Claimant Company Name) …, agree to accept the sum of … (Amount) … in full and final settlement and satisfaction of all claims and causes of action which we may otherwise have against … (Your Company Name).
It is understood upon said payment that all claims have become fully and finally settled and that no further claims whatsoever will be raised, in connection with this matter.
This Form of Discharge shall absolve (Your Company Name) from any liability and future claims from any of our affiliated companies, agents, contractors and sub-contractors.
Signed ……………………………………
for and on behalf of [company name or stamp] …………………………………………
General Average Bond
A General Average Bond is normally provided by the merchant and never the forwarder or agent. The Average adjuster will guide the merchant, but some cargo insurance policies may also agree to provide/sign. Wordings can vary between adjusters and normally the bond and guarantee are similar. Below is sample of a typical version:
To Owner(s) of the : ..............................................................................................
Voyage and Date : ..................................................................................................
Casualty : ...............................................................................................................
Port of Shipment : .................................................................................................
Port of Destination : .............................................................................................
B/L No(s). Voyage Fol. No(s).
Marks and Nos. Container Nos.
Description of Cargo and Weight
CIF - Value
In Consideration of the delivery to us or to our order, on payment of the freight due, of the goods noted above, we agree to pay the proper proportion of any salvage and / or general average and / or special charges which may hereafter be ascertained to be due from the goods or the shippers or owners thereof under an adjustment prepared in accordance with the provisions of the contract of affreightment governing the carriage of the goods or, failing any such provision, in accordance with the law and practice of the place where the common maritime adventure ended and which is payable in respect of the goods by the shippers or owners thereof.
In case the goods are on carried by another vessel and / or conveyances the following Non-Separation-Agreement shall apply. It is agreed that in the event of the vessel's cargo or part thereof being forwarded to original destination by other vessel, vessels or conveyances, right and liabilities in General Average shall not be affected by such forwarding, it being the intention to place the parties concerned as nearly as possible in the same position in this respect as they would have been in the absence of such forwarding and with the adventure continuing by the original vessel for so long as justifiable under law applicable or under the Contract of Affreightment.
We also agree to:
(i) furnish particulars of the value of the goods, supported by a copy of the commercial invoice rendered to us, if there is no such invoice, details of the shipped value.
(ii) make a prompt payment on account of such sum as is duly certified by the average adjusters to be due from the goods and which is payable in respect of the goods by the shippers or owners thereof.
Date ...............................
Signature of Receiver of goods .....................................................................
Full Name .....................................................................................................
Express / Seaway Bill - LOI
Express / Seaways Bills are not a formal release so unless you are entirely comfortable you should consult your lawyer or insurance company.
LETTER OF INDEMNITY FOR EXPRESS / SEAWAY BILL (Shipper Letterhead)
To : Your Company Address Date :
Vessel/Voyage : ____________________________________________________________
Name of Shipper : __________________________________________________________
Name of Consignee : ________________________________________________________
Bill of Lading : ______________________________________________________________
Load Port : __________________________ Place of Delivery : ______________________
Containers No. : _____________________________________________________________
We hereby instruct you to release the cargo to the consignee, ______________________.
This is to confirm we have been paid in full for the cargo and hold you and your servants completely harmless in accordance to these instructions.
Signed ……………………………………
for and on behalf of [company name or stamp] ………………………………………………..
LETTER OF INDEMNITY FOR EXPRESS / SEAWAY BILL (Consignee Letterhead)
To : Your Company Address Date :
Vessel/Voyage : ____________________________________________________________
Name of Shipper : __________________________________________________________
Name of Consignee : ________________________________________________________
Bill of Lading : ______________________________________________________________
Load Port : __________________________ Place of Delivery : ______________________
Containers No. : _____________________________________________________________
This is to confirm we are the party named as consignee on the bill of lading and sole party entitled to take delivery of the subject cargo.
We hereby promise to indemnify you and your servants for any costs, expenses, liabilities, loss or damage that may incur by delivering the cargo in accordance to these instructions. We also hold you and your servants harmless and agree to take full responsibility for any outstanding demurrage, storage and detention charges.
We confirm that we have sighted your terms and conditions on the reserve of your bill of lading and agree these shall be subject to this Letter of Indemnity.
Signed ……………………………………
for and on behalf of [company name or stamp] ………………………………………………..
Note: Always consult your local counsel and liability insurers before proceeding with any request.
Letter of Assignment
Document provided when appointing third party handlers to assist with handling and any recovery action of your claim.
From : Your Company
To : Company You Wish to Handle Your Matter
Dear Sirs,
RE: DESCRIPTION OF CASE
We hereby absolutely and irrevocably assign you all rights, remedies and other actions which we may have against any party, including but not limited to the insurance provider, owner of the said vessel, vehicle, craft and/or Carrier under the transport document, arising out of the above mentioned incident.
In addition, we hereby confirm that you have authority to use our name to the full extent necessary to exercise any rights, remedies and other decisions in actions to protect the above mentioned matter and use any document or information furnished to you. We agree to reimburse you for any reasonable cost, charges and other expense arising from excising such rights or protecting any time limits, including proceedings, which may be taken in our name.
Your faithfully,
Notice of Abandonment
A constructive total loss is where the cost to recover and/or repair the vessel of goods will exceed its value (Marine Insurance Act 1906 S60). When the assured wishes to claim a CTL he must issue a Notice of abandonment.
Incident :
Vessel :
Policy No:
As a result of the above mentioned casualty, the costs and repair are likely to exceed the insured value under the policy so we hereby have no alternative but to tender our "Notice of Abandonment".
Yours sincerely,
Letter of Abandonment
Letters of abandonment requirements are different depending from whether you are shipper, forwarder or master carrier. Below are two different examples:
FREIGHT FORWARDING / NVOCC PERSPECTIVE TO MASTER CARRIER
Remember you are not the owners of the cargo so have no authority to destroy the cargo.
Bill of Lading Number :
Container Numbers :
Commodity :
Shipper :
Consignee :
We hereby notified the actual shipper and consignee of these costs escalating and would strongly recommend you pursue these parties directly because we are not the cargo owner.
We do not have any authority over its collection and/or disposal but can confirm we have sent several notices to both the shipper and consignee for urgent collection but they are yet to respond.
We would strongly suggest you unstuff the cargo into a bonded warehouse to stop the demurrage charges immediately and you may wish to take lien of the cargo under your terms and conditions.
Whilst we have no authority over the cargo but we have no objections if you wish to proceed with your abandoned cargo procedures.
Yours faithfully,
MERCHANT OR FREIGHT FORWARDER / NVOCC/ MASTER CARRIER PERSPECTIVE
A deposit for costs may also be requested.
Bill of Lading Number :
Container Numbers :
Commodity :
Shipper :
Consignee :
We hereby confirm that we are the cargo owners but unable to find a buyer.
Therefore, we instruct you to initiate the abandoned cargo procedure immediately and look to sell/salvage/dispose of the cargo to avoid further escalation of costs.
In doing so we hereby agree to indemnity you for all costs, including demurrage, storage, destruction and any other related costs less the proceeds from any sell or salvage of the cargo.
In carrying out this request we hereby hold you harmless for any responsibility and liability.
Yours faithfully,
Subrogation Form
Entitlement of insurers to take over the rights and/or insured goods upon payment of claim. Often insurers insist receipt of signed copy before payment is made although not technically correct. A typical type of wording but each insurer has their own form.
To :
From :
Payment Amount :
Description:
We hereby agree, by virtue of such payment, Insurers became subrogated to all our rights, remedies and actions in respect of the subject matter insured above.
We also agree that Insurers have authority to use our name and any document or information to exercise any of such rights, remedies and actions as required.
Lastly, we shall furnish you with any assistance you may reasonably require and agree insurers have the right to negotiate, collect monies and execute and/or sign any documents. Insurers will indemnify us against any liability for costs, charges and expenses in connection with any proceedings which may be taken under our name in respect to above mentioned matter.
Assured Name Insurer Name
Signature Insurer Signature
Company Stamp and Date Insurer Stamp and Date
Time Extension
Bill of Lading :
Container Numbers :
Description of Cargo :
Type of Loss :
We hereby grant you a three months’ time extension from ………. to ………. This is issued entirely on a without prejudice basis and at no time are we accepting responsibility or any liability for the loss.
Furthermore, this time extension is only valid subject to the claim not already being time barred and provided only to the shipment details shown above. This extension is not valid to any other person other than the addressee.
Kind Regards,
Note: Time extensions are usually three months and never longer than six months. As soon as the expiry date nears, the person is entitled to make the same request to prolong the period and the same must be made from the principle or master carrier to preserve the recovery. Failure to protect the time bar will prejudice any claim with your insurance company as well as providing one without agreement from your liability insurers so it is important this responsibility is given to a senior member of staff.
Telex Release - LOI
Telex Release should only be undertaken upon receipt of the full set of original bills of lading. There is no requirement of the carrier / forwarder / NVOCC to comply with this request unless they are entirely satisfied.
LETTER OF INDEMNITY FOR TELEX RELEASE (Shipper Letterhead)
To : Your Company Address Date :
Vessel/Voyage : ____________________________________________________________
Name of Shipper : __________________________________________________________
Name of Consignee : ________________________________________________________
Bill of Lading : _____________________________________________________________
Load Port : __________________________ Place of Delivery : _______________________
Containers No: ____________________________________________________________
We hereby confirm that we have provided the full set of original bills of lading to the origin agent and hereby instruct you to release the cargo to the consignee, ______________________.
This is to confirm we have been paid in full for the cargo and hold you and your servants completely harmless in accordance to these instructions.
Signed……………………………………
for and on behalf of [Company Name or Stamp] ………………………………………………..
LETTER OF INDEMNITY FOR TELEX RELEASE (Consignee Letterhead)
To : Your Company Address Date :
Vessel/Voyage : ____________________________________________________________
Name of Shipper : __________________________________________________________
Name of Consignee : ________________________________________________________
Bill of Lading : _____________________________________________________________
Load Port : __________________________ Place of Delivery : _______________________
Containers No.: ____________________________________________________________
The originals bills of lading have been surrendered at the loading port agent for telex release. We the undersigned, as the party named as consignee on the bill of lading and sole party entitled to take delivery of the subject cargo, hereby request you to release the delivery order to our specified personnel against this Letter of Indemnity.
We hereby promise to indemnify you and your servants for any costs, expenses, liabilities, loss or damage that may incur by delivering the cargo in accordance to these instructions., We also hold you and your servants harmless and agree to take full responsibility for any outstanding demurrage, storage and detention charges.
We confirm that we have sighted your terms and conditions on the reserve of your bill of lading and agree these shall be subject to this Letter of Indemnity.
Signed……………………………………
for and on behalf of [company name or stamp] ………………………………………………..
Note: Always consult your local counsel and liability insurers before proceeding with any request.