According to the Hamburg Rules, the carrier is obliged to deliver the goods in maritime transport only upon return of the original bill of lading. However, country rules may be different. The USA is one of the countries that apply different rules for the delivery of cargo arriving by sea.
If the bill of lading has been issued in favour of the buyer (straight B/L or non-negociable B/L), the original bill of lading is not required for the delivery of the goods in the USA and the goods are delivered to the buyer against identification. In this type of bills of lading, the consignee is the direct consignee. If the consignee is not trusted and it is not desirable to deliver the goods to the consignee without an original bill of lading, it is recommended to issue an endorsable original bill of lading (negociable B/L). Since endorsable bills of lading are issued to the order of the carrier (to order) or to the order of consignee (to order of consignee), the original bill of lading and endorsement are sought at the time of delivery of the goods in the USA. In other words, if the goods are to be delivered against the original bill of lading in an export to the USA, the phrase 'to order' must be added in front of the consignee's name. Otherwise, even if the original bill of lading is issued, the goods can be delivered to the consignee without the original bill of lading against identification.
If only 'To order' is written in the Consignee section, it means 'to the order of shipper', i.e. the goods are delivered against 1 copy of the original bill of lading endorsed by the shipper. Other originals issued are null and void. If this type of bill of lading is issued, the shipper must remember to endorse the original bill of lading before sending it to the consignee. Otherwise, there may be delays in the delivery of the goods and additional costs may be incurred.
If 'to the order of bank/company' is written in the Consignee section, the bank or company (whichever is written) must be the first to endorse the bill of lading. In this type of bill of lading, the endorsement of the consignor is not required.