A commercial invoice says what was sold and what it is worth. A packing list says how those goods are packed. A bill of lading is the carrier's receipt for the cargo and its contract to carry it. The three are prepared by different people at different times, so several fields (consignee, carton count, gross weight, container number) need to agree across all of them, and mismatches are what cause customs queries and payment holds.
What is a commercial invoice?
The commercial invoice is the seller's bill to the buyer for an international sale. Customs uses it to set the value of the goods for duty, and the buyer's finance team uses it to pay.
Fields worth pulling from a commercial invoice:
- Seller (exporter) and buyer (importer)
- Consignee, if different from the buyer
- Invoice number and date
- Incoterms (for example FOB Shanghai or DAP Rotterdam)
- Currency
- Goods description, HS code and country of origin for each line
- Quantity, unit price and line total
- Invoice total
- Number of packages and gross weight, when shown
What is a packing list?
The packing list describes the physical shipment: what is in each carton, how many cartons there are, and how much they weigh. It carries no prices. The receiving team uses it to check the delivery, and customs officers use it if they open the container.
Fields worth pulling from a packing list:
- Shipper and consignee
- Reference to the commercial invoice number
- Carton or package count, and the carton number range (1 to 240, for example)
- Contents per carton
- Net weight and gross weight, per carton and in total
- Dimensions or total volume (CBM)
- Shipping marks
- Container and seal numbers, if the packer recorded them
What is a bill of lading?
The bill of lading (B/L) is issued by the carrier or its agent. It does three jobs: it is a receipt showing the carrier took the cargo, it records the terms of carriage, and an original negotiable B/L is the document of title. Whoever holds it can claim the cargo at destination.
Fields worth pulling from a bill of lading:
- B/L number
- Shipper, consignee and notify party
- Vessel name and voyage number
- Port of loading and port of discharge
- Container number(s) and seal number(s)
- Number of packages, gross weight and measurement
- Goods description
- Freight terms (prepaid or collect)
- Shipped on board date and place of issue
Commercial invoice vs packing list vs bill of lading: what is the difference?
| Commercial invoice | Packing list | Bill of lading | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Issued by | Seller | Seller or packer | Carrier or its agent |
| Main purpose | Value and payment | Physical contents | Receipt, carriage contract, title |
| Shows prices? | Yes | No | Usually no |
| Carton count | Sometimes | Yes, in detail | Yes |
| Gross weight | Sometimes | Yes | Yes |
| Container and seal numbers | Rarely | Sometimes | Yes |
| Used by | Customs, buyer's finance team | Receiving team, customs inspection | Carrier, consignee, banks |
Which fields should match across all three documents?
This is where most of the real trouble starts. The seller types the invoice, the packer writes the packing list, and the carrier's agent issues the B/L from the shipping instructions. Any one of them can make a slip.
Fields that should agree:
- Consignee. Same company name and address on all three. A different consignee on the B/L can stop the cargo from being released to you.
- Number of cartons or packages. If the packing list says 240 cartons and the B/L says 204, someone has a problem, and you want to know before the vessel arrives.
- Gross weight. Should match between packing list and B/L, and the invoice if it shows weight. Small rounding differences happen; large ones mean a carton count or unit was wrong.
- Shipper or seller. Should match across the documents.
- Goods description. Doesn't have to be word for word, but should describe the same goods.
- Container number. Must match between the B/L and any other document that shows it.
If you pay under a letter of credit, this matters even more. Banks check documents against each other and against the credit terms, and discrepancies can delay payment.
An illustrative cross-check might look like this:
| Field | Commercial invoice | Packing list | Bill of lading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consignee | Example Trading Ltd | Example Trading Ltd | Example Trading Ltd |
| Cartons | 240 | 240 | 204 |
| Gross weight (kg) | 3,612.00 | 3,612.00 | 3,612.00 |
| Container | n/a | CSQU3054383 | CSQU3054383 |
The carton count on the B/L is the odd one out. That is a ten-minute email to the forwarder now, or a customs query later.
How do you check a container number's check digit?
Container numbers follow the ISO 6346 standard. Take CSQU3054383:
- CSQ is the owner code (three letters)
- U is the equipment category (U means a freight container)
- 305438 is the serial number
- 3 is the check digit
The check digit is calculated from the first ten characters. Each letter is given a number (A is 10, B is 12, C is 13 and so on, skipping multiples of 11). Each of the ten characters is multiplied by a power of two based on its position (1, 2, 4, 8 up to 512). Add the results, divide by 11, and the remainder is the check digit. A remainder of 10 is written as 0.
For CSQU305438 the weighted sum is 6,185. Divide by 11 and the remainder is 3, which matches the last digit. The number is valid.
Now say someone types CSQU3054833 by swapping two digits. The calculation no longer produces 3, so the number fails. This catches most single-character typos and swapped digits. It cannot tell you the container is the right one for your cargo, but it does tell you when a number cannot exist.
How does SensiDocs handle shipping documents?
The SensiDocs Logistics pack reads commercial invoices, packing lists and bills of lading from PDFs, scans or phone photos and returns the fields as structured data. Container numbers are validated against the ISO 6346 check digit, and line items on the commercial invoice must add up to the total, allowing only for rounding of a cent or two. A failed check flags the field even if the model was confident in its reading.
Every field is either accepted or flagged with a plain reason, such as failed a check, contradicted, or not found. Doubtful fields get a second, independent read, and a value is only accepted when both reads agree. In review, you see the highlighted fields and fix them in place.