Delivery Without Original B/L at Chittagong, LOI, Bank Guarantee and Receiver Practice

Principals often ask the local agent to 'just arrange delivery' while originals are still in banking channels. In Bangladesh, as elsewhere, release authority sits with the carrier and the documentary controls the carrier accepts, not with the port agent’s preference for speed. Confirm clearance, screening and release steps against current customs and receiver instructions for the cargo.

What the local agent can coordinate

The appointed agent can follow up status, relay carrier and receiver requirements, and report what documentation is still missing. The agent does not issue bills of lading, does not override carrier release rules, and does not accept LOI risk on the principal’s behalf unless the appointing authority expressly creates that role in writing.

LOI and bank guarantee pathways

Letters of indemnity and bank guarantees are commercial risk instruments between the parties who sign them. Wording, counterparty strength, duration and return-of-originals conditions matter. Templates copied from another trade are not automatically acceptable to the carrier serving Chittagong.

Where a bank guarantee is required, expect formal channels and time. Where an LOI is discussed, the principal, not the local agent, owns the decision to expose the line of indemnity.

Practical sequence

Confirm carrier release instruction for the specific B/L set; Confirm receiver documentation and any Customs pathway dependencies; Escalate missing originals early, not after gangs are ordered; Keep LOI/BG decisions on the commercial principal’s desk; Record what was accepted, by whom, and under which written authority.

Boundary

This article is operational orientation, not legal advice. For high-value or disputed sets, principals should involve their P&I club and commercial counsel. CPA coordinates local follow-up under appointment; it does not underwrite documentary risk.

Receiver urgency does not move carrier release rules. The agent’s useful role is early visibility: which original set is missing, which bank channel is involved, and what alternative instrument the carrier will actually consider.

Keep LOI and bank-guarantee drafts off public forms and open email threads that mix crew lists with commercial indemnities. Use the secure route the duty desk confirms after the first brief.