Container glossary
What is a house bill of lading?
A house bill of lading (house B/L, HBL) is a bill of lading issued by a freight forwarder or NVOCC to its own customer, not by the shipping line. It sits beneath the master bill of lading that the line issued to the forwarder for the same cargo.
Two bills for one container: house and master
The shipper books with a forwarder or NVOCC, and the forwarder books space with a shipping line. The line knows only the forwarder, so its master bill names the forwarder’s origin office as shipper and the forwarder’s agent at destination as consignee. The forwarder then issues the house bill, which names the real seller and the real buyer.
When a forwarder consolidates several small shipments into one container, there is one master bill for the box and a separate house bill for each shipper inside it. At destination the release runs in two steps. The forwarder’s agent obtains the container from the line under the master bill; the buyer obtains the goods from the agent under the house bill.
How to tell a house B/L from a master
Read the letterhead: a house bill carries the name of a forwarding company, not of a shipping line. Its number does not begin with a line’s SCAC, although it may begin with the forwarder’s own code. Somewhere in the body it gives the container number, and often the number of the master bill as well.
Those two details are what you track with. The container number works on the tracking page of the line carrying the box, whoever issued your document. The house bill number works only with the forwarder: on its own portal if it has one, or by asking its office.
A house B/L number pasted into a carrier tracker
This is the mistake, and it always ends the same way: no results. A house bill number exists only in the forwarder’s system, so no line’s tracker will recognise it. People who do not know this decide that the shipment was never loaded and lose a day chasing it. Use the container number on the line’s page; the container number checker names the owner of the prefix and where to look.
A second mistake costs more. A buyer holding a house bill sometimes asks the shipping line to release the cargo. The line cannot: its contract is with the forwarder, and it will release only to the party named on the master bill. Go to the forwarder’s destination agent, whose address is on the house bill or on the arrival notice. Some consolidators, Vanguard Logistics among them, track only by the house bill they issued.
Frequently asked questions
Can I track a shipment with a house B/L number?
Not on a shipping line’s tracker — the number is unknown outside the forwarder that issued it. Track with the container number on the line’s page, or with the house bill number on the forwarder’s own portal.
Who releases the cargo under a house bill of lading?
The forwarder’s agent at destination releases it, not the shipping line. The agent first collects the container from the line under the master bill, then hands the goods to whoever holds the house bill or is named on it.
Is a house B/L a real bill of lading?
Yes — it is a contract of carriage between you and the forwarder or NVOCC, which takes on the carrier’s responsibility toward you. What it is not is a contract with the shipping line, which is why the line will neither track it nor release against it.