Buying fibre, step 8 of 12
Collect the shipping and classing documents
The bill of lading, the invoice, the weight list, and the classing certificates the contract names.
The documents are what you pay against, so they arrive before the cotton does: to your bank under a letter of credit, to you on a transfer. Check each one against the contract before the money moves:
- Bill of lading. Issued by the shipping line once the containers are loaded; the paper the cotton is claimed with at your port. Check the bale count, the marks, the ports and the consignee against the contract, and that its date falls inside the shipment period the contract allows.
- Invoice. Issued by the merchant against the bill of lading. Check that the price, the basis, the payment term and the weight it is calculated on are the contract’s, line for line, and that the weight is the weight list’s total.
- Weight list. Issued by the merchant, or by the independent weigher the contract names, bale by bale at loading. Check that the bale numbers match the classing certificates, that the total is the invoice weight, and that it says whether the weight is shipped or landed, because the contract clause on which of the two is money is settled on this paper.
- Classing certificates. Issued by the classing office or the HVI laboratory the contract names, before shipment, for the bales actually shipped. Check staple, micronaire, strength, colour grade and trash against the ranges in the contract, and that the bale numbers are the ones on the weight list.
- Certificate of origin. Issued by the exporter’s chamber of commerce or the origin authority the destination recognises, with the shipping documents, where the duty or quota treatment depends on origin. Check that the origin, the marks and the quantity match the bill of lading, and that it is the form the scheme you are claiming under accepts.
