Letter of Credit Forum

Hello there

(you should maybe post questions like this on the main forum - you may get a better response)

I am assuming you are referring to a FIATA bill of lading (FBL) and a freight forwarder’s House bill of lading (HBL)?
Both are transport documents issued by the freight forwarder – as opposed to the actual shipping line. So the carrier – the shipping line – will issue the Ocean bill of lading (OBL) or Master bill of lading (MBL). 
In short – the FBL and HBL are transport documents issued by a party who are NOT an actual carrier – only a contractual carrier (entering into contracts in their own name with the carrier, but not actually the carrier themselves). This allows them (for example) to by space wholesale from the shipping line (a container for example) and sell this off in smaller retail units through their house bills – such as with a Groupage operation.
To issue an FBL, the forwarder has to be a member of FIATA (an international body of forwarders) and carry indemnity insurance.
A forwarder issuing a HBL may also be a member of FIATA and/or may also carry indemnity insurance – but then again, neither condition may apply.
Please note, however, that neither the FBL nor the HBL are actually ‘bills of lading’. Things are what they are because of what they do, not because of what they are called. The shipping line’s document is a bill of lading – a forwarders document is most certainly a transport document, but not a bill of lading in the true sense.

I hope this helps
Others may add more

cheers

Phill
“...in the kingdom of the blind; what you see is what you get...”