Learn who should be listed as the consignee on Bills of Lading and other transport documents for international shipments.

Introduction

Goods transported across borders must be accompanied by a transport document. This may take the form of a Bill of Lading (BL), Airway bill of lading (AWB), House Bill of Lading (HBL), or a Multimodal transport bill of lading. Land transportation requires a road or rail transport document.

In the event that the destination is not the buyer’s premises, who should be listed as the consignee on the transportation document?

Background

In the event that a customer owns multiple warehouses or subcontracts the services of a third-party warehouse, there may be confusion regarding the consignee on the transport document.

Example 1: Company ABC has multiple production facilities in the United States and a single headquarters location.

Example 2: Company Acme Inc. has operations in different states and contracts DHL for warehousing and distribution.

It is important to determine who the consignee and consignee address is. There are several other considerations to take into account:

• The freight forwarder is only responsible for transporting the goods, not the owner of the goods
• The consignee is typically the end-person responsible for submitting the import customs declaration
• The seller, usually the exporter, must declare the correct consignee
• For imports into the USA, the ISF must be filed with the consignee and the final destination of the goods as the address

Solution

The consignee listed on the transport document is ultimately responsible for clearing customs at the destination. The consignee name must be the legal name of the company and must align with the address as filed in the local government registry (which is usually aligned with the local tax ID).