Letter of Credit Forum

Hello
Sadly, yes: it is possible under  three or four conditions.
Firstly, they may have applied to a bank for a shipping guarantee and persuaded the shipping line to release against this. Myself, I am opposed to the concept of the shipping guarantee for this very reason (not withstanding that it is contrary to the bill of lading terms and conditions anyway).
The second possibility is that the document you are dealing with is not really a bill of lading, i.e. it has been issued by a freight forwarder rather than a shipping line. Under such circumstances, the ‘consignee’ is often (wrongly) able to exert influence on the forwarder who may also be acting as the ‘importer’s’ clearing agent in the destination country – however if this is the case, you have good recourse to the forwarder for negligence.
Thirdly, they may have fraudulently obtained release.
The final option – and I am open to correction on this point, so excuse me if I have this wrong – the applicant may have signed a waiver accepting all discrepancies in exchange for a bank release/shipping guarantee form the issuing bank thus the fact that the buyer has obtained release will not stop you getting paid.

Clearly, calling for a bill of lading and consigning it to order of the bank, illustrates you did not wish the buyer to obtain release and I am sure you are upset by the position you may potentially be in BUT regardless, if the documents form a compliant presentation, the fact that the buyer has obtained release will not stop you getting paid.

I hope some of these thoughts help you...

cheers

phill doran

 ...thus: another step on the road to mercantile enlightenment...