In the shadow of the carriage of goods, a considerable amount of transport documents referring to them are forwarded at the same time by surface mail or by air mail. For each consignment a waybill (consignment note) or a bill of lading is issued. Each waybill is issued in one original and several copies—one for the consignor and the other for miscellaneous purposes, like banks’ and Customs’ procedures. The amount of copies often reaches the number of eight or more. Each bill of lading is issued in two or three originals and, in addition, a great number of copies, 15 or so. The fact that three originals are issued might sound a little confusing, since the very word “original” refers to something that is unique and not duplicated.

The reason for this is that two originals are forwarded, one by surface mail and one by air mail in the hope, not very flattering for our postal services, that at least one original will arrive safely and in time to the right receiver at the place of final destination. The copies are for Custom’s purposes, for intermediary carriers and forwarding agents, banks, underwriters, etc. The complete documentation for all consignments on board a modern containership may weigh over 40 kgs.—no one has had the time to count the copies, only to weigh them …

The tremendous amount of paperwork required is a burden to all involved. The difficulty of filling in 10 or 20 copies of documents for every consignment has inspired many new technical devices, speeding up and facilitating this part of the operation. One prerequisite has been uniform standards for the lay-out of documents, and much progress has been made in this field. Under many jurisdictions no signatures in handwriting are required but the issuance can be made by using stamps, print or similar methods of “signature”.

Another simplification is reached by changing the size of documents. This ingenious idea leads to the consequence that you have to shorten the contract clauses on the back—even in small print there is thus less space left for the number of words that the paper can be forced to contain.

One step towards simplification constitutes the widespread use of so-called short forms in some transactions at the same time as long forms. Some short forms do not contain a reference clause but repeat in a condensed form the main issues of the long form, thus constituting something in between. However, a simple reference clause should be considered as sufficient.

An important step forward, presupposing the recognition of plain reference clauses, was the introduction of the so-called blank back documents (BBDocs) last autumn by the Swedish Broström Group. These documents do not constitute a sort of short form, because there is no long form available. The back of the document is completely clean, relieved as it is of all clauses. The front contains all data included in a usual bill of lading or liner waybill and, in addition, a general reference to the Broström