Danger of Delivery of Cargo Without Bill of Lading (B/L) 1 January 2021 Yutaka Tsurusaki Attorney-at-law, Tsurusaki & Kobayashi (T&K Partners) 1. Significance of Bill of Lading—Those who laugh at one B/L cry at B/L Nowadays going paperless, the significant meaning of Bill of Lading (B/L) is often forgotten in practice, and it is necessary to re-realise it in each company. The B/L to be issued upon the Cargo being shipped on the Vessel or being transported to the Container Yard is a very significant document, and if the Owners/Carrier do not deal with it without carefulness, there will arise very big problems. The B/L has the following main functions; The function related to the contractual terms of the contract of carriage of the Cargo, The function related to the quantities, conditions and others of the received Cargo, and The function related to the title to the Cargo This time the important function of the above (3) is briefly addressed for. 2. Is LOI a Mere "a Piece of Paper"?—Danger of Delivery of Cargo Without Production of B/L and Letter of Indemnity (LOI) The B/L has a big function that the Carrier may deliver the Cargo to the proper holder of the original B/L with production of the B/L. On the contrary the Carrier owes the obligation to deliver the Cargo to the proper holder of the original B/L with production of the B/L and if the Carrier delivers the Cargo to the person/entity who is not the B/L holder and where the B/L holder appears (for example the bank in case of the Letter of Credit (L/C)), the Carrier cannot deny the claim and can owe the liability for the damages. However, nowadays for the reason of the speed-up the vessels and other reasons, there frequently occur situations that the original B/L does not arrive at the discharge port/place by the time of the Vessel's arrival thereat and the delivery of the Cargo cannot be done with production of the B/L. As a result in practice, there occur irregular situation that the Carrier delivers the