In addition to these formal bills of lading, in order to facilitate trade operations, there are now some variations of bills of lading that are similar in appearance and can also be used as a basis for picking up goods, but do not have proof of property rights. For example, FCR (FORWARDERS CERTIFICAtE OF RECEIPT), FTBL (FORWARDERS THROGH BILLS OF LADING), etc. Strictly speaking, these documents are only “carrier receipts” in daily life, that is, the freight forwarder proves that the goods have been received from the shipper. In terms of operation, they are no different from freight forwarder bills of lading, but they are essentially different.
The reason for this kind of document is that when the buyer purchases a large quantity at the exporting place, or when there is an agent to purchase on his behalf, or when there is a branch company that places an order directly, the goods are transported in a centralized manner, which can not only save transportation time, but also save freight. Therefore, the agent or branch company often instructs the exporter (or supplier) to hand over the goods to the carrier, and the carrier pre-books a number of containers from the shipping company, and then the carrier is responsible for loading the containers. When the goods arrive at the unloading port or destination, the carrier will be responsible for collecting the containers or distributing them to consignees in different regions, which will save a lot of time and money. In this way, it is the carrier rather than the shipper (SHIPPER) who signs the transportation contract with the shipping company. Therefore, after the shipper hands over the goods to the carrier, the document he gets is the carrier’s receipt rather than the ocean bill of lading. At present, many international supermarket buyers such as WALL-MART, K- MARK, etc., mostly adopt this method.
Therefore, several characteristics of FCR/FTBL can be seen:
1. FCR/FTBL generally only appears under FOB terms.
2. FCR/FTBL is just a receipt, not a proof of property rights such as bill of lading.
3. FCR/FTBL is like a cargo receipt (Cargo Receipt), there is no strict restriction on the qualifications for issuing.
4. Imports require CR/T to pick up the goods.
5. The apparent risk bearer is the carrier.
In this way, the risks of FCR/FTBL are obvious. However, because most importers who adopt this method are well-known international supermarket buyers with good reputation, export manufacturers and banks generally accept this clause. In addition, since the carriers selected by buyers are all powerful and well-connected shipping agents, there will generally be no problems.
In addition, under FCR/FTBL conditions, for manufacturers, FOB is often more cost-effective than CNF. After all, the freight rates that shipping companies pay to large buyers are much lower than those to ordinary manufacturers (almost 1/3 lower at European ports and not affected by seasonal fluctuations), which is attractive to manufacturers.
However, in actual operation, the exporters still bear the risk. Because supermarket buyers’ orders are generally large in quantity and long in cycle, one order may be shipped in many times, and it is common to take more than a year to complete. In this process, once there is a problem (in many cases, it is not an obvious question of who is right or wrong, but a disagreement), the buyer will take the initiative and take advantage of the characteristics of FCR/FTBL to pick up the goods first, so as not to affect their own sales. At the same time, they will find some reason (it is too easy to find faults) to temporarily not redeem the order or pay, which will bring capital turnover pressure to the exporters and force them to comply. Unless the exporters and buyers tear each other apart and sue each other, but this situation is obviously unlikely. Not to mention the trouble and money, should they deliver the remaining goods? In particular, some products are highly seasonal and require a lot of funds. Goods produced for a certain buyer often suffer heavy losses when resold to others. Taking all factors into consideration, exporters will most likely choose to suffer a loss and keep things quiet.
Therefore, be very cautious about FCR/FTBL. Especially for those orders that are prone to problems, such as shortage of raw materials, large price fluctuations, orders placed too late, etc., we would rather bear the risk of freight fluctuations and insist on CNF/CIF.