House Bill of Lading (HBL)

House bill of lading (HBL) is a document issued by a freight forwarder or a non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC) to a shipper to acknowledge receipt of their items for shipment. In other words, it's a receipt for the goods. The shipper is the exporting company, and the freight forwarder or NVOCC (which can also be referred to as a forwarding agent) is the company to arrange transportation of their goods to a foreign destination. The freight forwarder or NVOCC then books cargo space with physical carriers. Carriers are the transportation providers—the trucking companies, shipping lines and airlines that physically move the shipment. 

Master Bill of Lading (MBL)

Master bill of lading (MBL) is a document issued by a physical carrier, and it represents the contract of carriage for the goods. Once the carrier has confirmed that it has received the goods, it will issue the MBL to the party that booked the freight, usually the freight forwarder or the shipper. 

In Summary

House bill of lading is always a receipt for a shipment from one exporter, while a master bill of lading is a receipt that could potentially cover the shipments of many exporters, as they are consolidated by the carrier into a larger shipment. HBL is issued by the freight forwarder or NVOCC to a single exporter; whereas the MBL is issued by a carrier to a forwarding agent or the shipper, depending on who booked the transport. MBL represents the transfer of cargo from the forwarder to the carrier, and this cargo could be coming from several different exporters. 

Client must need to know not EACH forwarder can issue legal HBL, only licensed forwarder can issue House Bill of Lading (HBL), when shipment to USA and Canada, forwarder needs to be licensed by Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) and Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA); when shipment to China, forwarder needs to be licensed by China Transportation Department.