What is meant by Third Party Bill of Lading?

Answer 1

Third-party bills of lading are probably the most common kind. My company tends to handle about two-thirds of its loads under third-party BLs. The Bill of Lading is, among other things, a contract for cartage of goods between a shipper (the first party) and a transportation company (the second party). A third-party BL is one where cartage is being paid for by an entity not the shipper or the transportation company. Usually, the third party is an account at a bank. Let's say you're Kellogg's and US Express pulls Keebler cookies out of Chicago for you. Keebler ships hundreds of truckloads of product out of that plant every day. It's more efficient for Kellogg's to put a million dollars in a bank account (which draws interest, of course) and let the bank transfer money from Kellogg's account to US Express's than it is to have an accountant sitting in a cubicle at Kellogg's writing checks to pay for cartage. As you'd guess, only transportation companies with a high reputation for honesty are handled this way. The consignee is not considered a "party" to the BL unless they're the ones paying for cartage. It's obvious the product has to be delivered somewhere,