The shipping procedure can be complicated, with different processes and paperwork. You have to select the correct people who offer services to match all of your shipping requirements for the appropriate arrival of your cargo. By knowing the relationship between the consignor and consignee, you will be in a good position to take care of your goods and business operations.
Who is a consignor?
We start with the essential question – who is the consignor and consignee?
Consignor means an individual or business that is shipping the package or selling goods. The consignor can be a person (for example, you are shipping a parcel to a friend using a courier) or a business (for example, the wholesaler/manufacturer/seller/distributor/shipping consignments). In most situations, the term is used throughout international shipping.
The consignor has to ship his parcel via a trucking or shipping company (as the case may be). The shipper is known as the carrier. The Bill of Lading (BOL) is issued by the shipping company to the consignor and includes full shipment details. All through international shipping, the consignor is the shipper of record.
Who is a consignee?
The consignee signifies the receiver of the shipment. Client or customer are synonyms to the consignee, i.e., optional terms employed for a consignee.
It should be kept in mind that the consignee can be an ultimate buyer or an agent. The consignee is an individual who has compensated for the goods. Finally, they will be the actual owners. That means when the sale is finished, the possession of goods or property stays with the consignor, and the holding will be shifted only when the payment is done completely. It could be the final customer, retail business holder, or identical.
What is the relationship between the consignor and consignee?
The subsequent thing we must know is the connection or relationship between the consignor and consignee. To start with, all shipments will include information on the consignee and consignor. The real sale of goods is among these two entities.
An agreement of shipping consignment includes two parties – the consignor and consignee. The consignor is known as the seller here. The consignee is called the receiver or an agent here. The consigner delivers the products or shipments to the consignee. Thus, they can be sold to the final buyer on the sender’s part.
For the shipper– the individual or entity getting the products is the consignee. It is of less implication if they are the eventual buyer or just a mediator.
Consignee and buyer variation
A consignee can be an eventual buyer or a consignor’s agent. As an agent, they will ease sales and transportation of the products to the last buyer. The buyer will need to make payments to the consignee, who keeps a commission and sends the remaining to the consignor, thus finishing the transaction.
The key responsibilities of a consignor
The consignor is the merchant of the shipment in the carriage contract. They may also be called the shipper or sender. The holding of goods remains with the consignor till the deal is not completed with the consignee, and the shipment has been obtained by the consignee at the receiving port.
- Shipment or cargo weight:
The consignor must make sure the weight does not go beyond the limit of dimension or mass of the vehicle. A load calculator can assist you in optimising the space for your shipment to make sure the goods are loaded successfully in the container.
- Documents:
The consignor is liable for all the paperwork linked to the shipment and the customs clearance process.
- Providing details:
The consignor should provide all the information, such as shipping date, location address, origin place, and dimensions of cargo on the Bill of Lading. The document can also be employed to check the shipment in real-time. With the assistance of a container-checking tool, you can check your carriage shipments.
- Packing:
It depends on the consignor to deal with the cargo packing for delivery or transport. The consignor should ensure the shipment is complete and planned in conformity with the rules.
- Carriage quotes:
As the goods’ owner, the consignor should ask for freight quotations and choose the correct freight forwarder to fulfil their shipping requirements. In addition, you can go through the online freight marketplace to get the finest rates from international cargo forwarders.
The key responsibilities of a consignee
In a carriage contract, the consignee is the person or organisation who gets the shipment at the location port. The consignee may be similar to the receiver in some conditions but not in all situations. It is necessary to list the name and contact details of the consignee on the BoL or Bill of Lading.
- Collection: It is essential for the consignee to be available at the location port to gather the shipment until stated or else in the Bill of Lading. Some shipping organisations will need the consignee to provide verification papers like ID, passport, or driver’s licence.
- Delivery: The consignee needs to make sure the items are sent to the location port on the planned time and date.
- Checking: It is the consignee’s duty to verify the cargo and check if there has been any loss or damage to goods.
- Filing claims: In case the shipment has acquired a loss or damage, the consignee will need to file a claim with the carrier of shipment.
- Finance: The consignee is accountable for all the finances when we talk about the shipment’s receipt. As the consignee is not the sender of the cargo and its list of stock, the information will not be added to the balance sheet of the consignee. In its place, a commission is indexed on the sales records that are given to third parties.
Final Words
In international shipping, various milestones need to be attained, all through the procedure of obtaining cargo from the consignor to the consignee. The procedure between consignor and consignee includes the document flow and items from the first place to the location. Overall, if you need some more details on these two parties involved in international shipping or wish to start an export business, you can check Amazon Global Selling, your online partner for running an export business flawlessly.
