Using an Electronic Bill of Lading as a Document of Title: Prospects and Challenges

Abstract

1 Introduction International trade is growing at such an alarming rate that it is now globally indispensable. According to Chua1 , no country in the world can have any hope of economic prosperity without being a part of the global trade. It is a true façade of globalization where the whole world has become a single market place in which people are enjoying goods, products and services that are being brought to their footsteps through the use of international trade. In transporting goods from one country to another, the mode of carriage is key. Today, we see that carriage of goods by sea is the most favored method of all just as it was centuries ago as it allows a carrier to transport a bulk of goods and products at a minimum cost in comparison to other modes of international transportation. Paul Todd2 states that, carriage of goods by sea can be initiated using two fundamental methods which includes a charter party and a bill of lading. However, these methods are fundamentally different from one another in several aspects as the charter party relates to the ship itself, while the bill of lading relates to the cargo aboard the ship. Wilson observes that the bill of lading originated initially as a nonnegotiable receipt in the Fourteenth Century where it was issued by the ship-owner to a merchant who did not wish to take the journey.3 At the time, the document constituted details relating to the description of the goods. Subsequently, it also endorsed the terms of the 2 The Bar Association Law Journal 2020 Vol. XXV contract of carriage to resolve any disputes that may arise between the cargo owners and the ship owners. Finally, in the Eighteenth Century, the bill of lading was used to dispose of the goods that were in transit by endorsing the bill and surrendering it to another party who was then able to demand the cargo upon arrival of the vessel.