In international shipping, discrepancies between the shipper listed on customs declarations and the one on the bill of lading are not uncommon. For instance, a customs declaration might list a trade service provider like OneTouch as the shipper, while the bill of lading shows the actual factory. Such inconsistencies, if discovered, can lead to penalties. So, what steps should exporters take to rectify this issue?
First, act promptly. Contact your freight forwarder immediately to explain the situation and seek corrective measures. Revisions typically involve reprocessing documentation, which incurs additional fees.
The remediation process generally follows these steps:
1. Prepare original commercial invoices and packing lists with company stamps, clearly annotating corrections for gross weight, package quantities, and dimensions.
2. Submit these documents to the customs broker, who will coordinate with the cargo inspection company to amend the tally sheet.
3. Provide the revised tally sheet and corrected pre-entry data (including accurate weight, package counts, and volume) to the forwarder, who will then liaise with the shipping line to amend the bill of lading. Industry sources estimate the total cost for this process at approximately $400.
Preventive measures are equally critical: When dispatching bills of lading, retain at least one original and one copy for your records—only one original is required for customer clearance.
In freight forwarding operations, meticulous attention to documentation consistency proves paramount. Cross-verifying all details across documents helps avert unnecessary complications and financial losses.