A bill of lading does three jobs at once: receipt for the goods, evidence of the contract of carriage, and — critically — a document of title. That third function is why the paper original has proved so durable. Whoever holds it controls the cargo, and courier-ing an original around the world remains a real source of delay and demurrage risk in commodity and project trades.
Electronic equivalents solve this cleanly in principle, and legal recognition for electronic trade documents has been broadening across major trading jurisdictions. In practice the constraint is coordination. An eBL only works if the carrier, the shipper, the receiver, the financing bank and often an insurer all accept the same system. One holdout in the chain and you are back to paper — usually late, and usually on the most time-critical leg.
Our position is pragmatic. Where a client’s counterparties and banks are already aligned on a platform, we will structure around it and take the days back. Where they are not, we plan for paper properly rather than half-adopting and discovering the gap at destination. Either way the question belongs in the term sheet discussion, not in the shipping instructions a week before loading.
Harbour Strategies (HK) Limited · 30 June 2026
Editorial commentary by Harbour Strategies. Figures and regulatory details should be verified against primary sources before being relied upon.
