Bill of Lading

DCSA, in conjunction with our member carriers, has published data and process standards for the submission of shipping instructions and the issuance, amendment and surrender of the bill of lading (B/L). Through this initiative, DCSA aims to facilitate acceptance and adoption of an electronic bill of lading (eBL) by regulators, banks and insurers and to unify communication between these organisations and customers, carriers and all other stakeholders involved in a transaction. 

The Bill of Lading 3.0 Beta 1 standard supports dry cargo, dangerous goods and reefer containers. Subsequent releases of the DCSA e-documentation initiative, enabling the end-to-end digitalisation of container shipping documentation, will include data and process standards for the arrival notice and shipment release documentation. 

In addition to the standards documents, DCSA has published OpenAPI specifications for the Bill of Lading 3.0 Beta 1 on SwaggerHub, an open-source API development platform, which is available to the general audience and developers for usage and feedback. Carriers can use these definitions to rapidly implement DCSA standard-compliant APIs.