It was also stated that the problem of bills of lading being unavailable upon delivery was not a result of the speed with which a bill of lading travelled, but rather it was a function of the fact that voyages are often much shorter than time period required for the holding of bills of lading by financial institutions.

Mr. Berlingieri (Italy) said that in the past, the bill of lading had travelled more slowly than the ship carrying the cargo; that problem had been solved by allowing the person to whom the bill of lading was to be delivered to contact the carrier, present a bank guarantee and collect the goods.

The Working Group heard that the “contractual or other arrangements” referred to in subparagraph 10.3.2 (d) referred not to letters of indemnity, but principally to contracts of sale, and particularly to those situations in which there was a series of buyers and sellers and the bill of lading could not travel quickly enough through the entire series in order to be there at the time of delivery.