Consignee

The consignee is the party a shipment is addressed to — the person named in the bill of lading or consignment note as entitled to take delivery of the goods. It is often the buyer, but can be a bank, an agent or a forwarder; the notify party is simply whoever the carrier tells when the goods arrive.

What the law says

• US federal law: the person named in a bill of lading as the one to whom the goods are to be delivered.
• Hamburg Rules: the person entitled to take delivery of the goods.
• Rotterdam Rules: a person entitled to delivery under a contract of carriage or a transport document.

Consignee, buyer and notify party

Worked example: one container, two consignees

An exporter ships through an NVOCC. Two bills cover the same container. On the master bill, issued by the shipping line, the NVOCC's destination agent is the consignee — US customs rules allow an NVOCC or forwarder to be listed as consignee at master-bill level. On the house bill, issued by the NVOCC, the consignee is the importer — or, for a letter-of-credit sale, "to order" of the bank, with the importer as notify party.

When cargo moves "to order", US rules report the to-order party as the consignee and put any other contact in the notify-party field.

The mistake people make

Naming the buyer as consignee on a straight bill before being paid. A straight bill lets the named consignee take delivery without presenting an original, so the seller has handed over control of the goods along with the address.