P&O Containers has introduced a tamper-proof label to prevent document fraud when doing business in India.
Ellerman & Bucknall services trade manager Brian Speck says the label will replace the traditional rubber stamp Shipped On Board (SOB) endorsement.
The label is printed with standard SOB headings over a high security spirograph pattern matching that in the signature box.
This makes the sticker difficult to copy and impossible to peel off without disfiguring the bill. It includes a vertical clause in the left hand column that states any other form of SOB endorsement is invalid.
Shipping lines operating out of the Indian Subcontinent have long suffered from the problem of fraudulent endorsement bills of lading, and shipped on board endorsements in particular, Speck says.
He says this could involve the insertion of an inland place of delivery on a port to port bill of lading. It could also be a shipped on board endorsement on a received for shipment bill of lading.
The changes are then authorised by an alteration approved stamp and the signature is copied from the original.
The P&O anti-fraud bill of lading gives South African importers dealing with Asia a greater degree of security than conventional shipping documentation, he says.
