PDF Generator API

Ocean freight document

Bill of Lading Template (BOL)

A free bill of lading template for ocean freight, with shipper, consignee, carrier, vessel, ports, cargo lines and freight charges. Fill it in your browser and preview the PDF, or send booking data from your TMS to the API and get one bill of lading per shipment.

Ocean B/L layout, marked Original
Unlimited cargo lines
Filled from your booking data
API, n8n or AI agent

Logistics Solutions

Bill of lading template · sample ocean shipment from Savannah to Stockholm

Live template

Open the bill of lading template in the editor

The real template is open above with a sample ocean shipment: shipper, carrier, consignee, vessel and voyage, ports and three cargo lines. Change the data, add your logo, move fields and switch to Preview to see the PDF. You do not need an account to try it. Create a free one when you want to keep your version and generate bills of lading from your own shipment data.

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At a glance

What is a bill of lading?

A bill of lading (BOL or B/L) is the document a carrier issues to the shipper when it receives goods for transport. It does three jobs at once: it is the carrier’s receipt for the goods and their condition, evidence of the contract of carriage, and, in its negotiable form, a document of title that lets the holder claim the cargo at the port of discharge or sell it while it is still at sea.

This free bill of lading template is laid out for ocean freight, with shipment overview, parties, routing, cargo details, weight, measurement and freight charges. Fill it in your browser and preview the PDF, or send shipment data from your TMS, ERP or freight platform to the PDF Generator API and get one bill of lading per booking.

Document type	Ocean bill of lading (B/L), marked Original
Issued by	The carrier or its agent, to the shipper
Functions	Receipt for goods, evidence of the contract, document of title
Legal framework	Hague-Visby Rules, Hamburg Rules or US COGSA, depending on the route
Cargo lines	Unlimited, sent as a list of packages
Output	PDF to print, email or archive
Generate	REST API, n8n, Make or an AI agent through MCP
Price	Free template, 14 day sandbox account

Last reviewed October 2026 by the PDF Generator API team. This page explains common practice and is not legal advice. The terms printed on your carrier’s bill of lading and the law that applies to your route decide your rights.

Types

Which type of bill of lading do you need?

The same template can print most of them. What changes is a few words on the document: who it is consigned to, whether it is negotiable and how many originals are issued.

Type	What it means	Typical use
Order (negotiable) B/L	Consigned “to order” of the shipper or a bank. Whoever holds an endorsed original can claim the goods.	Sales paid by letter of credit, cargo sold while at sea
Straight B/L	Names one consignee and cannot be transferred by endorsement.	Prepaid sales, shipments within one company
Sea waybill	A receipt and contract only, not a document of title. The named consignee collects without presenting an original.	Regular trade between trusted partners
Telex release	The originals are surrendered at the port of loading and the carrier releases the cargo at destination by message.	When originals would arrive after the ship
House and master B/L	The forwarder issues a house bill to its customer, and the shipping line issues a master bill to the forwarder.	Consolidated (LCL) shipments through a forwarder
Clean or claused B/L	Clean means no remarks about damage. Claused means the carrier noted a problem, such as torn wrapping.	Banks usually accept only clean bills

In US domestic trucking, “BOL” usually means a straight bill of lading for road freight, often in the VICS format. For international road transport in Europe, the equivalent document is the CMR consignment note.

Template contents

What information goes on a bill of lading?

The template groups the details the way carriers, banks and customs read them. Each block is bound to a data field, so the same template prints a different booking every time you send new data.

Bill of lading template · sections and data fieldsTop to bottom, as printed

01HeaderB/L number and the “Original” mark that tells banks and the consignee which copy carries title.billOfLadingNumber
02Shipment overviewLoading date, estimated discharge date, vessel name and voyage number.loadingDateestimatedDischargeDatevesselvoyageNumber
03PartiesName and address of the shipper, the carrier and the consignee.shippercarrierconsignee
04RoutingPort of loading and port of discharge.portOfLoadingportOfDischarge
05Cargo detailsOne line per package with its number, quantity and description, plus a general description of the goods.packages[ ]goodsDescription
06Weight, measurement and freightGross weight, length, width and height with units, and the freight charges with currency.grossWeightmeasurementfreightCharges

Many carriers and banks also expect a notify party, container and seal numbers, HS codes, freight terms (prepaid or collect), the number of originals issued, and the place, date and signature of issue. Add them as text fields in the editor and send them with the rest of the data.

Legal basis

Which rules apply to a bill of lading?

An ocean bill of lading falls under an international convention or the national law that puts one into effect. The rules decide what the carrier must state on the bill and how much it pays if cargo is lost or damaged.

Regime	Where it applies	Carrier liability limit
Hague-Visby Rules	Most of Europe, the UK and many Commonwealth countries	666.67 SDR per package or 2 SDR per kg, whichever is higher
Hamburg Rules	About 35 states, among them Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and Chile	835 SDR per package or 2.5 SDR per kg
US COGSA	Shipments to and from US ports	USD 500 per package or customary freight unit

Under the Hague-Visby Rules (Art. III r. 3), the shipper can demand a bill showing the marks, the number of packages or the weight, and the apparent order and condition of the goods. The template prints the marks, packages and weight. Add a remarks field when the carrier needs to note the condition of the goods. A shipper can declare a higher value on the bill to lift the limit. Electronic bills of lading gained legal footing with the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records and, in the UK, the Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023, in force since September 20, 2023.

Compare documents

Bill of lading, sea waybill, CMR or air waybill?

Each mode of transport has its own document. Shipments that change mode, such as a truck to the port and then a ship, often need two of them.

Question	Bill of lading	Sea waybill	CMR	Air waybill
Mode	Sea	Sea	Road, international	Air
Document of title	Yes, when negotiable	No	No	No
Needed to collect the goods	An original, or a telex release	Proof of identity only	No, the copy travels with the goods	No
Free template	This page	Adapt this template, title and consignee	CMR template	Build one in the editor

Automate it

How do you generate bills of lading automatically?

Copy the template into your account, then send the data of each booking from your TMS, ERP, a workflow tool or an AI agent. The API returns one bill of lading PDF per booking, ready to email to the shipper or send to the bank.

Copy the template. Create a free account, open this bill of lading template and save it to your workspace.
Make it yours. Add your logo, terms of carriage on page two, or a notify party field in the editor, or ask the AI template builder.
Send the booking data. Post the JSON to /documents/generate with your template ID. Field names match the data fields above.
Issue and archive. Print the originals, or merge the bill with the commercial invoice and packing list into one PDF for the bank.

REST APINo codeAI agent (MCP)

curl -X POST https://us1.pdfgeneratorapi.com/api/v4/documents/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-token>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "template": {
      "id": <your-template-id>,
      "data": {
        "billOfLadingNumber": "BOL-2025-004872",
        "shipper": { "name": "Bluewater Logistics LLC", "address": "1200 Harbor Way, Savannah, GA 31401, USA" },
        "consignee": { "name": "Nordic Home Imports AB", "address": "Skeppsbron 22, Stockholm, Sweden" },
        "carrier": { "name": "Atlantic Freight Lines", "address": "88 Terminal Road, Newark, NJ, USA" },
        "vessel": "MV Northern Star",
        "voyageNumber": "NS-2509W",
        "portOfLoading": "Port of Savannah, USA",
        "portOfDischarge": "Port of Stockholm, Sweden",
        "loadingDate": "2025-03-28",
        "packages": [
          { "packageNumber": "PKG-001", "quantity": 24, "description": "Oak dining table components, palletized" },
          { "packageNumber": "PKG-002", "quantity": 36, "description": "Oak chair components, palletized" }
        ],
        "grossWeight": { "value": 12480, "unit": "kg" },
        "freightCharges": { "amount": 4850, "currency": "USD" }
      }
    },
    "format": "pdf",
    "output": "base64"
  }'

The payload is trimmed. The full sample loads with the live template, and the API documentation lists every output option, including merging several documents into one PDF.

n8nTrigger on a new booking, map the fields and generate the bill of lading with the PDF Generator API node.MakeWatch your TMS, Google Sheet or email for new bookings and create the bill of lading in one scenario.ZapierSend each new booking to this template and store the PDF in Drive or email it to the shipper.

1Connect the MCP server

Point Claude, Cursor or Cline at mcp.pdfgeneratorapi.com/mcp with a Bearer JWT.

2Give it the booking

Paste the booking confirmation or let the agent read it from your TMS or email.

3Ask for the bill of lading

The agent maps parties, ports, packages and weights to the template fields and returns the PDF.

“Create a bill of lading for booking 8812, Rotterdam to New York, 2 containers, 18,400 kg”

See the MCP server page for setup in each client.

Logistics templates

Templates that ship with the bill of lading

One booking usually needs a full set of documents. These free templates use the same editor and API, so one shipment record prints all of them.

CMR consignment noteFor the road leg in Europe, before or after the ship, with sender, carrier and consignee boxes.Packing listPackage by package contents, weights and dimensions that banks and customs check against the bill.Commercial invoiceThe sales invoice that travels with the bill of lading for customs and payment.Delivery noteThe receipt the consignee signs when the goods arrive at the final address.

Built for logistics software: shipping and fleet platforms such as Veeqo and Fleet Complete generate their documents with PDF Generator API. See how it fits logistics teams. We never store the data you send or the documents we generate, only the template structure. PDF Generator API is ISO 27001 certified and GDPR compliant, and can run as a dedicated instance in the EU, UK, US or Australia.

Pricing

How much does it cost to generate bills of lading?

The bill of lading template is free, and so is the 14 day sandbox account you use to build and test the integration. In production, documents are billed by credits on a monthly or annual plan, with no fee per template. Freight forwarding and TMS software that wants to offer document printing to its own customers can embed the editor through the partner program.

See pricing Try for Free

Issuing bills of lading from your freight platform?

Michal Líška · COO, PDF Generator API

On a short call we look at where your booking data lives, which documents you issue per shipment and which layouts your customers expect. Your users can then adjust their bill of lading, CMR and packing list in the embedded editor under your brand.

Book a call Email sales

FAQ

Bill of lading questions

What is a bill of lading used for?

A bill of lading is the carrier's receipt for the goods, evidence of the contract of carriage and, when it is negotiable, a document of title. The consignee or the holder of an endorsed original uses it to collect the cargo, and banks use it to release payment under a letter of credit.

Who issues the bill of lading?

The carrier or its agent issues the bill of lading to the shipper once the goods are received or loaded. A freight forwarder that consolidates cargo issues its own house bill of lading to the shipper and receives a master bill from the shipping line.

What is the difference between a bill of lading and a sea waybill?

Both are receipts and evidence of the contract, but only a negotiable bill of lading is a document of title. With a sea waybill the named consignee collects the goods by proving its identity, so no original has to travel to the destination.

Is the bill of lading template free?

Yes. You can open and edit the bill of lading template in the browser without an account and preview the PDF. To save your version and generate bills of lading from your own data through the API, create a sandbox account, which is free for 14 days and needs no credit card.

Can I add a notify party, container numbers or my terms of carriage?

Yes. Add text fields for the notify party, container and seal numbers, HS codes or freight terms in the drag and drop editor, and add your terms and conditions as a second page. Send the new fields with the rest of the booking data and they print on every bill.

Do you store the shipment data I send?

No. We never store the data you send or the documents we generate, only the template structure. PDF Generator API is ISO 27001 certified and GDPR compliant, and can run as a dedicated instance in the EU, UK, US or Australia.

Integrations

Generate this template from the tools you already use

Connect the template to your workflow tool, ERP, no code app or AI agent. Every integration sends your data to the same template and returns the finished PDF, so you never retype a document.

All integrations Try for Free

AI agents (MCP)Claude, Cursor or Cline fill the template from a prompt or a file.

n8nA ready node for workflows that create and send documents.

MakeVisual scenarios that connect the template to thousands of apps.

ZapierGenerate a PDF whenever a trigger fires in a Zap.

OdooDocuments from Odoo records, without QWeb or XML.

KintoneTurn any Kintone record into a print ready document.

AirtableAn extension that turns records into branded PDFs.

BubbleA plugin that generates PDFs from your app data.

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