Sea Waybill: Non-negotiable Transport Document
The sea waybill as a non-negotiable receipt and evidence of the contract of carriage, when it displaces a bill of lading, and why it cannot sell goods afloat.
A sea waybill is a non-negotiable transport document that acts as a receipt for the goods and as evidence of the contract of carriage, but not as a document of title. The named consignee takes delivery on proof of identity, without surrendering an original document.
The full article will cover the waybill’s function and its limits, the CMI Uniform Rules for Sea Waybills 1990, the right of control and its transfer, the treatment of waybills under the Hague-Visby and Rotterdam regimes and under national carriage legislation, and the operational reasons liner trades have moved so much volume onto waybills: no original to lose, no delay waiting for documents, and no need for a letter of indemnity when the ship beats the paperwork.
The trade-off is that a waybill cannot be endorsed, so goods cannot be sold afloat against it and it will not satisfy a documentary credit calling for a negotiable bill of lading . That constrains which Incoterms rule and which payment mechanism can be used together.