Unit Ten Transportation

Learning objectives To describe methods of transportation To grasp clauses of shipment To identify shipping instructing and shipping advice

General View 2 2 Terms of shipment 3 3 Shipping documents 4 4 Shipping instruction 5 5 Shipping advice 1 1 Modes of Transport

General View 1.Modes of Transport The delivery of goods is to be made possible by road, railway, inland waterway, sea or air. When goods are transported by road, rail or air, the contract carriage takes the form of a consignment Note or Airway Bill. In sea transport, chartering of ships or booking shipping space is involved. And the contract entered into between the ship-owner and shipper may take the form of either a Charter Party or a Bill of Lading.

General View  In practice ， shipment involves a lot of complicated procedures. Before the goods are to be dispatched, the following must be seen to: ① send the Shipping Instructions to the seller by the buyer informing in writing of the packing and marks ， mode of transportation ， etc; ② book shipping space or chartering and sign the contract of carriage; ③ register the cargo on shipping note and send the shipping note to a shipping company;

General View ④ register details on customs entry forms and send them to Customs; ⑤ arrange adequate packing, including shipping marks; ⑥ receive the bill of lading from the shipping company; ⑦ send the Shipping documents and Shipping Advice to the buyers immediately after the goods are loaded on board the ship.

General View 2. Terms of shipment Terms of shipment generally contain time of shipment ， ports of shipment and destination ， transshipment and partial shipment ， shipping documents and so on ．  Time of Shipment In the contract ， several ways are used to state the time of delivery ： (1)the shipment with a fixed date, e. g. Shipment on or before June 25 ．

General View (2) the shipment with an indefinite date, usually when the payment is made by L/C e.g. shipment should be made within 30 days after receipt of L/C. (3) the shipment with a date in the near future.. When the shipment can be made soon after the conclusion of the contract ， the parties can adopt such terms ： immediate shipment ， prompt shipment.  Ports of shipment and destination The port of shipment is the port of departure; the port of destination is the destination that the goods are finally designated to.

General View  Means of conveyance Means of conveyance covers direct shipment, transshipment and partial shipment. In case of an export covering a large quantity of goods ， it is necessary to make shipment in several lots by several carriers sailing on different dates. And this is allowable only if the clause “Partial shipment to be allowed’’ is agreed upon in the sales contract. In cases where direct sailing from one port to the other is unavailable, transshipment is necessary. In order to avoid dispute that might arise in future, the stipulation “transshipment is allowed” should be laid down in the L/C as well as in the contract.

General View 3. Shipping documents Shipping documents usually include bill of lading (shortened as B/L), commercial invoice, insurance policy, etc. Bill of lading (shortened as B/L) There are three parties involved in most movements of goods: the consignor---who sends the goods; the carrier—who carries them the consignee --- who receives them at the destination.

General View In sea transport, chartering of ships or booking shipping space is involved. And the contract entered into between the ship-owner and shipper may take the form of either a charter party or a bill of lading (B/L). A charter party is the documents which state the terms and conditions of the contract signed by the ship-owner who provides the ship and the side who charters it. Ship chartering is usually arranged through shipbroker.

General View B/L is issued by the captain or the shipping companies to testify that the goods have been received or shipped on board for delivery to a certain place of destination ． The seller must inform the buyer as soon as shipment is effected so as to get the buyer prepared for taking delivery of the goods. Under FOB and CFR term, it is for the buyer to arrange for insurance upon receipt of shipping advice. If the buyer fails to receive the shipping advice, any damage to or loss of the goods thus sustained will be for the seller’s account.

General View 4. Shipping instruction Before Shipment, the buyers generally send their shipping requirements to the seller, informing them in writing of the packing and mark, mode of transportation, etc., known as the Shipping Instruction.

General View 5. Shipping advice The seller usually send by fax a notice to the buyers immediately after the goods are loaded on board the ship, advising them of the shipment, especially under Fob or CFR terms so that the buyer will effect insurance to the shipment upon receipt of the notice. Such a notice is known as the Shipping Advice.

General View The shipping advice include the following: Contract and or L/C number, name of commodity, number of packages, total quantity shipped, name of vessel and its sailing date and sometimes even the total value of the goods, as the requirements may be.

Guidelines for Writing In letters concerning shipment, writers are advised to comply with the following principles: （ 1 ） Always remember to specify the shipment such as the name of goods, the quantity and value, the packing conditions, the date and number of B/L, the name of the ship used to dispatch the goods, etc. （ 2 ） When delay in shipment, partial shipment or transshipment is asked for, it is necessary to make adequate explanations so that the buyer may accept these requests with pleasure.

Guidelines for Writing （ 3 ） The exporter needs to notify the importer immediately when shipment is effected, especially when the transaction is on FOB basis and the buyer must cover insurance within 48 hours after shipment. （ 4 ） When the exporter receives a request for shipment, he must give a prompt reply no matter whether he is in a position to make the shipment immediately. If he is not able to ship the goods right away, he ought to give valid and sufficient reasons to justify his position.

Guidelines for Writing （ 5 ） Shipping documents, especially the B/L, plays a very important role in international business, so in letters notifying shipment or urging shipment, it’s better to mention the transfer of the shipping documents and the number of copies needed. Some common language features (A) Modes generally used Showing politeness: We shall be pleased to inform you that…etc. Showing instructions: We hope to have the pleasure of dealing with your shipment.

Guidelines for Writing Expressing insistence: These goods were wanted urgently and it is very disappointing to us. Using imperative sentences: Please make explanation to us upon this matter. (B) Typical tenses Using Present Perfect Tense: The goods have been dispatched as expected. We have shipped the following goods to you by s.s~. Using Present & Future Tense: …and is due to arrive at…on (date). The goods will arrive to you by…

Guidelines for Writing Here we take steps in shipping advice as an example: (1)Inform the buyer that the goods under XX contract have been shipped via S.S.XX on （ date ） : We are glad to inform you that we have completed shipment… The goods under Contract No. XX have been shipped via… ( 2) Advise the buyer what shipping documents have been sent. We are sending you one set of… Shipping documents have been sent to you.

Guidelines for Writing (3) Wish the goods to arrive in good condition. We trust the goods will reach you in sound condition. We hope you can take delivery of the goods… We are sure you will find our goods satisfactory. (4) Thank the buyer for his order and wish to receive his repeat orders. We appreciate the business you have been able to secure for us.

Specimen letter -1 (Shipping Instruction) Asia Pacific Trading Company, Ltd. Suite 302, Perison Plaza, Nelson Street, VancouverV5B7A3, Canada Tel: August 22, 2007 Universal Engineering Co., Ltd. 333 Yueliang Street, Changchun, Jilin, China Dear Sirs, We have received your letter dated August 20th in connection with the above subject. In reply, we have the pleasure of informing you that the confirmed, irrevocable letter of credit No.7634, amounting toUSD3, has

been opened this morning through RBC Royal Bank. Upon receipt of the same, please arrange shipment of the goods booked by us with the least possible delay, we are informed by the local shipping company that S/S “ Browick ” is due to sail form your city to our port on or about the 10th September and, if possible, please try your best to ship by that steamer. Should this trial order proves satisfactory to our customer, we can assure you that repeat orders in increased quantities will be placed. Your close co-operation in this respect will be highly appreciated. In the meantime, we await your shipping advice by fax. Yours faithfully, J. Edward

Specimen letter 2 ( Shipping Instruction concerning packing ) June 12, 2007 Dear Sirs ， S/C No ． B428 We received your letter dated June 6 covering the above sales contract in duplicate but wish to state that after going through the contract we find that the packing clause in it isnot clear enough. The relative clause reads as follows ： Packing: Seaworthy export packing ， suitable for long distance ocean transportation. In order to eliminate possible future trouble ， we would like to make clear before hand our packing requirements as follows ： The sugar under the captioned contract should be packed in

international standard sugar boxes 24 boxes on a pallet ， 10 pallets in an FCL container. On the outer packing please mark our initials CNIEC in a diamond ， under which the port of destination and our order number should be stenciled ． In addition ， warning marks like KEEP DRY ， HANDLE WITH CARE should also be indicated ． We have made a footnote on the contract to that effect and are returning herein one copy of the contract after duly countersigning it ． we hope you will find it in order and pay special attention to the packing ． We look forward to receiving your shipping advice and thank you in advance. Yours faithfully, Denel Ding

Specimen letter 3 （ Buyer Asking for Half of the Order by Air Freight ） June 26, 2007 Dear Sirs, Our Order 2233 Please send half of the 500 units of captioned order by air freight as they are urgently required by our customers. You will no doubt proceed with your arrangements for transport by sea for the rest of the 1,000 units of the consignment. We would ask you to be careful to seal the case into a watertight bag. Yours faithfully, Niles Parnell

Specimen letter 4 (Booking Shipping containers) April 29, 2008 Dear Sirs, We have ten cases of art goods at the above address ready for dispatch to any European Main Port (EMP), and shall be glad if you will arrange for your shipping container to collect them. Each case weighs 60kgs. As our client requires us to ship the goods no later than June 12 ， please quote us for a shipping container from Karachi to the above mentioned port before that deadline. Your early quotation will be appreciated. Yours faithfully, Abdul Aqis

Specimen letter-5 （ Reply to Booking Shipping containers ） Jumbo Shipping Company S.A. 4 Rue Petitot Geneva, Switzerland Tel: Fax: E- May 8, 2008 Vernon Gregory & Co., Ltd. 818 Nile Street, Alexandria, Egypt Dear Sirs, Thank you for your enquiry of April 29 ， asking us to quote for shipping container to any EMP for ten cases of art goods. The shipping containers we provide are of two sizes ， namely 20 ft. and 40 ft. long and built to take loads up to 4 to 8 tons respectively. They can be opened at both ends ， thus making it possible to load

and unload at the same time. They are both watertight and airtight and can be loaded and locked at the factory ， if necessary. There is also a saving in freight charges when separate consignments intended for the same port of destination are carried in one container and an additional saving on insurance because of the lower premiums charged for container shipped goods. We enclosed a copy of our tariff and look forward to receiving your instructions. Yours faithfully ， Ned Muller

Specimen letter 6 ( Asking for Transshipment and Partial Shipment) Shanghai Tianmao Trading Co.,Ltd. 578 Quyang Road, Shanghai China Tel: August 6, 2007 China Products Trading Inc. 100 Main Street, New Rochelle, N.Y10801 ， U.S.A. Dear Sirs ， Order No. 668 for 500 Cases Tea Reference is made to your letter dated August 5th ． We regret being unable to ship the captioned goods as requested. Since the selling season is approaching ， we are heavily committed at present. We can hardly get the whole lot ready within half a month.

Also ， the shipping space has been fully booked up to the end of next month. So we would suggest that you allow us to transship half of the goods via Hong Kong, which will not result in any delay in your receiving the goods if you confirm at your earliest convenience. Thank you in advance for your kind cooperation. Yours faithfully ， Ali Abdullah

Specimen letter-7 ( Reply to Asking for Transshipment and Partial Shipment) March 6, 2008 Dear Sirs ， We have received your request for transshipment and partial shipment today. Your request will put us to too much trouble. But it seems I have no other choice but to accept it. As far as I know ， the Royal Shipping Agent Ltd. has a liner sailing from Hong Kong to America around Mid August ， then you can transship the goods to America. If you could manage to catch this vessel, everything will be all right. Await your early reply. Yours faithfully ， Ann White

Specimen Letter 8 － Buyer Urging Early Shipment March 1, 2007 Dear Sirs, Our Order No.633 We wonder what has happened to our above order for 2,500 Butterfly brand sewing machines which should be delivered before March 18 as contracted. Now the shipment date is approaching rapidly, but so far we have not received any information from you concerning this lot. When we placed the order we explicitly pointed out that punctual shipment was of great importance because our

customers were in urgent need of the goods and we had given them assurance of an early delivery. We have been put to great inconvenience by the delay in delivery. In case you should fail to effect delivery in November ， we will have to lodge a claim against you for the losses and reserve the right to cancel the contract. We look forward to your early reply. Yours Sincerely, Joey Bruise

Specimen letter- 9 （ Shipping Advice ） September 11, 2007 Dear Sirs, We are pleased to inform you that the following goods under our Contract No. SC303 have now been shipped by S. S. “ Nanhai ” sailing tomorrow from Nanjing to Kuwait. Order No ． C Bales Grey Cotton Cloth Order NO ． C Bales White Cotton Cloth Copies of the relative shipping documents are enclosed to facilitate your taking delivery of the goods when they arrive.

We hope this shipment will reach you in due course and turn out to your entire satisfaction. Yours faithfully, Zhen Xiao Enclose: Commercial Invoice NO.5566 in duplicate Packing List No in duplicate Non-negotiable Bill of Lading No ． 5566 Certificate of Quality Certificate of Quantity Insurance Policy NO Survey Report NO. FT1234