In practice: a forwarder coordinates bookings, documents, customs, insurance and delivery, and may also act as an NVOCC by issuing house bills of lading. Neither a forwarder nor an NVOCC owns the vessels; space is booked with shipping lines. Before you pay, check that a forwarder is a licensed, verifiable company with official channels, because fake forwarders are a recurring fraud in the China–Middle East–Africa trade.

Example: NIL OCEAN SHIPPING L.L.C is a Dubai-licensed forwarding and logistics-coordination company (trade licence 1104515). It books space with carriers for each case and shows the confirmed vessel and voyage in the case file; our official channels are on Verify Nil Ocean.

A master bill of lading (MBL) is issued by the shipping line to a forwarder or NVOCC, while a house bill of lading (HBL) is issued by that forwarder to its own customer for the same cargo.House and master bill of lading (HBL / MBL)

A bill of lading is the transport document a carrier issues for goods shipped by sea: a receipt for the cargo, evidence of the contract of carriage and, when issued as a negotiable original, a document of title.Bill of lading (B/L)

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Importer of record (IOR)

Glossary term

Freight forwarder and NVOCC

A freight forwarder organises the transport of goods for a shipper using carriers and other providers, while an NVOCC (non-vessel operating common carrier) issues its own bills of lading and contracts as a carrier without operating ships.

In other languages

English: Freight forwarder and NVOCC
العربية: وكيل الشحن والناقل غير المشغّل للسفن (NVOCC)
فارسی: فورواردر و حمل‌کننده بدون کشتی (NVOCC)
Abbreviation: NVOCC

Related terms

Freight forwarder and NVOCC

In other languages

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