To fill out a bill of lading, enter the shipper and consignee’s full legal names and addresses, describe the freight with its packaging, piece count, weight, and NMFC class, add any purchase order or reference numbers, note special handling instructions, and sign the document at pickup. The details you write in are not just paperwork. Under federal law, the bill of lading is both a receipt for the goods and the contract of carriage, and the description you enter directly affects who is liable if something goes wrong.
Gather Your Information First
Blank fields get paperwork rejected, and guessed fields get freight reclassified. Pull the following before you open the template:
- Full legal name, street address, and contact for the shipper (consignor) and the receiver (consignee). Federal law defines the consignor as the party named on the bill from whom goods were received, and the consignee as the party to whom they are to be delivered.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 U.S. Code Chapter 801 – Bills of Lading
- A specific description of the goods, the exact number of handling units, total gross weight, and packaging type such as pallets, cartons, or crates.2National Motor Freight Traffic Association. What Is a Bill of Lading in Shipping?
- The NMFC freight class. Each commodity is assigned a class from 50 to 500 based on density, handling, stowability, and liability. Guess wrong and the carrier will reclassify the shipment and bill you the difference.3National Motor Freight Traffic Association. National Motor Freight Classification
- Purchase order numbers, shipment IDs, or internal tracking codes that connect the load to your records.
- Special handling instructions such as temperature requirements, fragile notes, delivery appointments, or no-stack restrictions.
If Any of It Is Hazmat
Hazardous materials trigger a separate set of federal requirements on the shipping paper. The document must include an emergency response telephone number and must identify each hazardous material in the format specified in 49 CFR 172.202, including the proper shipping name and UN identification number.4eCFR. 49 CFR 172.201 – Preparation and Retention of Shipping Papers A carrier cannot legally accept hazardous material for highway transport without a compliant shipping paper.5eCFR. 49 CFR 177.817 – Shipping Papers
Skipping these details is expensive. Each hazmat violation can draw a civil penalty of up to $102,348, rising to $238,809 if the violation causes death, serious illness, severe injury, or substantial property destruction.6eCFR. Appendix A to Subpart D of Part 107 – Guidelines for Civil Penalties Training-related violations carry a minimum penalty of $450.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 U.S. Code 5123 – Civil Penalty
Filling In Each Field
Most domestic freight uses a straight, or nonnegotiable, bill of lading. A straight bill names a specific consignee and delivers directly to that party; it cannot be endorsed to transfer title the way a negotiable bill can. Federal law requires carriers issuing a nonnegotiable bill to print “nonnegotiable” or “not negotiable” on the face of the document.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 U.S. Code 80103 – Negotiable and Nonnegotiable Bills
Move your gathered data into the template one field at a time.
From (Shipper). Your company’s full legal name, street address, city, state, ZIP, and a contact number. Do not shorten the legal name to a DBA; the bill of lading identifies the party from whom the carrier received the goods.
Ship To (Consignee). The receiver’s full legal name and delivery address. If the receiving location is a warehouse or third party, the consignee name still needs to match who is contractually taking delivery.
Freight description table. For each line, enter the number of handling units, the packaging type, the item description, the NMFC class, and the weight. Be specific. “Auto parts” is vague enough to invite a carrier inspection and a reclass. “Steel brake rotors, Class 85, 1,200 lbs” is not. If you have multiple commodities on one shipment, break them out on separate lines rather than lumping them under a single class.
Reference or PO number. Enter the purchase order or shipment reference that ties this load to your internal systems. Carriers use this field on invoices, and receivers use it to reconcile deliveries.
Special instructions. Note what the driver or dock needs to know: delivery appointment windows, liftgate service, inside delivery, temperature ranges, do-not-stack, hazmat contact numbers.
Why the Description You Write Carries Legal Weight
A carrier that issues a bill of lading is liable for damages if the goods do not match the description on the bill. That liability narrows sharply, though, when the shipper loaded the freight and the bill carries qualifiers such as “shipper’s weight, load, and count.”9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 U.S. Code 80113 – Liability for Nonreceipt, Misdescription, and Improper Loading In practice, the person completing the bill of lading owns the consequences of what it says. Overstate the weight, understate the class, or fudge the piece count, and the carrier has a built-in defense if you later file a claim.
Signing and Handing It Off
At pickup, the shipper signs the completed bill of lading and hands it to the driver, who countersigns to acknowledge receipt of the goods. Copies go to the shipper, the carrier, and the consignee so each party holds its own record.2National Motor Freight Traffic Association. What Is a Bill of Lading in Shipping?
Wet ink is not required. The FMCSA has issued regulatory guidance confirming that electronic signatures are acceptable on documents required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.10Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Regulatory Guidance Concerning Electronic Signatures and Documents Many carriers now capture the signature on a driver tablet at pickup and delivery, which produces a timestamped digital record that is harder to lose than a paper copy. Larger shippers transmit bills of lading through EDI before the truck arrives; carriers without full EDI integration typically offer a web upload portal.
Keep a Copy
Federal regulations require motor carriers to retain bills of lading and freight bills for at least one year.11Legal Information Institute. 49 CFR Appendix A to Part 379 – Schedule of Records and Periods of Retention Shippers are not bound by that transportation-specific floor alone. The IRS generally expects businesses to keep records supporting tax filings, including shipping invoices, for at least three years, stretching to six years if income is underreported by more than 25% and to seven years for bad debt or worthless securities claims.
Three years covers both the FMCSA floor and the ordinary IRS window, and gives you a buffer if a freight claim takes time to resolve. Scan or export every signed bill of lading and store it somewhere it will survive a single hard drive failure.