House Bill of Lading (HBL) meaning in ocean freight.

The NVOCC's promise to its customer

By issuing an HBL, the NVOCC or forwarder takes on a carrier's responsibilities toward its customer under its own terms, even though it runs no ships. Its customer's claims, questions and charges go to the NVOCC, not to the vessel operator. In US trades, a company that issues its own house bills this way operates as an NVOCC under Federal Maritime Commission rules.

Many house bills in one box

In LCL, one container can carry cargo for many customers, each on its own HBL, all under a single MBL. After the box is unpacked at a container freight station, each house bill is released on its own, so one importer's cargo can leave while another's waits on paperwork. On an NVOCC full-container shipment, there is usually one HBL per MBL.

The container behind a house bill

The carrier's systems usually do not hold the HBL number, so ask the forwarder for the MBL and container numbers once the cargo loads. For full containers, saving the container number in CargoScope lets an importer follow the carrier's milestones even when the paperwork in hand is a house bill. For LCL, the container's events describe the consolidated box only until it is unpacked.

Example

An importer's HBL shows its supplier as shipper and the importer as consignee, while the carrier's MBL for the same container, TCNU8173559, lists the forwarder's origin and destination offices.

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