Term definitions of shipping business：

BILL OF LADING	B/L refers to a kind of document which certifies that the marine transport contract and goods are taken over to the carrier or goods to be loaded on board as well as a voucher for the carrier to ensure the delivery at the destination port.
SHIPPED OR BOARD B/L	Refers to such a B/L that the carrier issues to the shipper, indicating that the goods have been loaded to the vessel.
RECEIVED FOR SHIPPING B/L	Refers to such a B/L issued by the carrier that although the carrier has received the goods while not load them to the vesicle
DIRECT B/L	Refers to such a B/L that the goods will be shipped to the discharge port directly while not transshipped during the voyage after the goods are loaded to the vessel at the loading port.
THROUGH B/L	Refers to such a B/L that the carrier issues at the loading port allowing the transshipment during the voyage before the vessel arrives at the destination port.
MT B/L	Refers to such a through B/L that the whole voyage is combined with two kind of transport methods or above such as by sea, inland water, railway, road and airway
LINER B/L	Liner refers to such vessel that delivers the goods continually between the specified ports in the regular shipping lines in light of the published schedule. The liner can be classified into regular liner and irregular liner.
CHARTER PARTY B/L	Usually refers to the B/L issued by the shipper owner to the charterer when employing the chartered vessel to ship the goods of party to charter the vessel or the B/L issued by the ship-owner or the charterer when not shipping all the goods of such party.
STRAIGHT B/L	Only the consignee indicated in the B/L could have the right to pick up the delivery of the goods, usually nonnegotiable.
ORDER B/L	Usually not specifying the consignee(just ORDER), or indicating the consignee(ORDER OF SHIIPER of ORDER OF CONSIGNESS**COMPANY ； ORDER OF **BANK). This kind of B/L could be transferable after the endorsement by the instructor.
BLANK B/L OR OPEN B/L	There exist not any consignee or wording ORDER, then the holder of such B/L has the right to pick up the goods.
CLEAN B/L	When the goods are taken over with good apparent conditions, the carrier issues the B/L without bearing any remarks about damage, insufficient packing or other impeding the settlement of exchange.
FOUL B/L	When the goods are taken over, there exist defective packing and improper apparent condition, the shipper will give the notations in this kind of B/L, namely, the Foul B/L.
PARCLE RECEIPT OR NON-NEGOTIABLE RECEIPT	Suitable for small quantities of goods, luggage or samples
MINMUM B/L	The freight can not meet the minimum rate specified in the freight tariff but charged by the specified minimum rate.
OMNIBUS B/L OR COMBINED B/L	When different batches of goods are indicated in the same B/L or different batches of same liquid are loaded into the same cargo oil tank, several Bs/L are issued, the former called the omnibus B/L, the latter called combined B/L.
SAPARATE B/L	One batch of cargo, namely the goods in the same shipping order, could be listed in two sets of Bs/L or more in light of the consignor’s instructions.
STALE B/L	Refers to such kind of B/L that could not be delivered to the consignee at the destination port due to the fact that date of delivering the documents for settlement of exchange by the exporters between the leave date of vessel is too long so that the vessel can not arrive at the destination in time. The bank usually can not accept such kind of B/L.
SWITCH B/L	After the loading port issuing the B/L, another B/L is issued at transshipment port in replace of the former one, acting as the midway transfer or transfer stop for this cargo.
ANTE-DATED B/L	Refers to such kind of B/L that is issued by the carrier in light of requirements of the shipper, asking to issue the B/L after the goods are loaded to the vessel, where the date of issue is earlier than that of actual loading date.
ADVANCED B/L	Refers to such kind of B/L that the sipper issues the letter of guarantee to the carrier to borrow the B/L in advance becasue the time of shipment and date of exchange settlement specified by the L/C have expired, resulting in insufficient time to load the goods in time, while the goods have been under control of the carrier or have been loaded to the vessel.
ON DECK B/L	Refers to such kind of B/L indicating that the cargo is stored on the weather deck of the vessel, noting “shipped on deck”.
HOUSE B/L	Refers to such kind of B/L issued by the forwarding agent. It is usually issued when transport of the cargo isfrom inland to outland. Technically and legally speaking, such kind of B/L lacks of effectiveness.
INTERNATIONAL MULTIMODAL TRANSPORT	It refers to a kind of cargo transport from the place where to pick up the goods in one country to the specified delivery destination in another country with combination of at least two kinds of transport methods by the through voyage operator, among then, one transport is by sea according to the instructions of the consignor.
INTERNATIONAL LOGISTICS	Refers to a kind of logistics activities that the commodities are transported and transferred from one county or region to another country or region between countries or regions because of the international trade practices involved.