Sea Transport
Key documents for transporting goods by sea
As with most aspects of international trade, using ocean shipping to transport your goods involves the completion of specific documents. The list below shows the key documents, but is not comprehensive.
You will need an Export Cargo Shipping Instruction. This is the document by which you provide the shipping company with details of your goods and set out your instructions for the shipment. It follows up on the initial booking, when space will have been confirmed on particular sailings. The process is often concluded by telephone.
You will also need one of the following:
- If the goods are hazardous, a Dangerous Goods Note (DGN). This document details the nature of any dangerous goods in a consignment and the hazards presented by them.
- If the goods are non-hazardous, a Standard Shipping Note. This gives the port of loading the information it needs to handle your goods correctly. It's also used by the shipping company to check the actual information about the goods once they have been loaded into the container with the predicted information supplied beforehand.
In addition, you will also need one of the following:
- A Bill of Lading. Issued by the carrier, this serves three purposes - it shows that the carrier has received the goods, provides evidence of a contract of carriage, and serves as a document of title to the goods.
- A Sea Waybill. This fulfils the same practical functions as the bill of lading, but does not confer title to the goods and is therefore quicker and easier to use. It's often used where there's a well-established trading relationship between buyer and seller or in transactions where ownership doesn't change hands, eg between divisions of a single company.