Shipper’s Load and Count Clauses on Bills of Lading

A Shipper’s Load and Count notation on a bill of lading tells you the carrier picked up a sealed container without ever looking inside. The shipper packed it, counted it, sealed it, and vouched for what is in there. If the container arrives short, miscounted, or with goods crushed by poor stacking, the shipper carries that loss, not the carrier. Under federal law, this short phrase moves the burden of proving what was actually loaded off the carrier and onto the party that did the loading.

What the Notation Covers

The notation reflects a simple reality in full container load shipments. The shipper packs the container at its own warehouse, applies a security seal, and hands the whole unit to the driver. The carrier’s signature on the bill of lading acknowledges receipt of the container as a physical unit. It does not acknowledge the contents.

Several abbreviations convey the same idea with slightly different emphasis:

SLC (Shipper’s Load and Count): the shipper loaded the goods and reported the piece count; the carrier verified neither.
SW&C (Shipper’s Weight and Count): adds weight to the disclaimer, so the carrier did not independently weigh the cargo either.
STC (Said to Contain): the bill describes contents based solely on what the shipper reported.
SLAC (Shipper’s Load, Stow, and Count): common in ocean shipping; extends the disclaimer to how cargo was arranged and secured inside the box.

Federal law treats these as functionally equivalent. The governing statute, 49 USC §80113, lists “contents or condition of contents of packages unknown,” “said to contain,” and “shipper’s weight, load, and count” as qualifying phrases, and sweeps in “words of the same meaning” to catch the variants.¹

How Liability Shifts in Practice

The effect on a claim is direct. If a container arrives with its seal intact but the contents are wrong, the shipper owns the problem. Missing pieces, crushed goods from poor stacking, incorrect item counts, water damage from improper dunnage inside the box — all of these fall on the party that packed it.

This is where claims routinely fail. A consignee opens a container, finds 47 cartons instead of the 50 on the bill of lading, and files against the carrier. The carrier points to the SL&C notation and the unbroken seal. Unless the consignee can show the seal was tampered with or the carrier mishandled the container externally, the claim against the carrier goes nowhere. The recourse is against the shipper.

The statute, though, does not hand carriers a blanket shield. A carrier only escapes liability when three conditions line up: the shipper loaded the goods, the bill carries qualifying language, and the carrier genuinely had no means of knowing whether the goods were received or matched the description.¹ That third condition is where disputes turn. If the driver was present during loading and could reasonably have counted or inspected the goods, the notation loses its force. Stamping SL&C on every bill while employees watch the pallets roll in does not create immunity.

For domestic motor carrier shipments, the Carmack Amendment under 49 USC §14706 holds carriers strictly liable for loss or damage to property they transport from the moment of pickup until delivery.² The SL&C notation operates alongside this through what courts recognize as an “act of the shipper” defense: when the loss was caused by the shipper’s own conduct, including improper loading, the carrier can escape liability. It is an affirmative defense, so the carrier has to raise and prove it. It also does not apply when the loading defect was hidden from ordinary observation, which is consistent with the premise of SL&C — the carrier never observed the loading at all.

For international ocean shipments, the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act allows a carrier to decline to state marks, quantity, or weight it has reasonable grounds to suspect are inaccurate or that it had no reasonable means of checking.³ The bill of lading must indicate whether a stated weight is the carrier’s or the shipper’s.⁴

Where the Carrier Still Owns the Loss

SL&C only covers what happened inside the container before the carrier took possession. It does not protect a carrier who:

Failed to maintain equipment, so a refrigeration unit breakdown that spoils temperature-sensitive cargo stays with the carrier.
Damaged the container externally, including dropping it, a collision, or anything that breaches the exterior and causes internal damage.
Deviated from the agreed route or caused unreasonable delays that led to spoilage or missed delivery windows.
Broke or replaced the seal, so that the seal at delivery does not match the seal recorded at pickup.

Any of these knocks the SL&C defense out, and the carrier is back to ordinary liability for what went wrong.

What You Have to Prove, and With What

Without an SL&C notation, a bill of lading is prima facie evidence that the carrier received the goods as described, which forces the carrier to explain any discrepancy at delivery.⁴ With the notation, the bill becomes a receipt for a sealed box rather than a verified inventory. A shipper cannot wave the paperwork and say “it lists 500 cartons, so you received 500 cartons.” The shipper has to independently prove what was inside when the seal went on, and courts are serious about that. A shipper without corroborating evidence loses even when the math on the bill of lading is clean.

The evidence that holds up includes:

Timestamped photographs of goods being loaded into the specific container, including shots of the container number and seal number.
Loading logs showing who loaded the box, what went in, and when the seal was applied.
Weight certificates from a certified scale after loading and sealing.
Third-party inspection reports from a surveyor who witnessed the loading and verified the count. This is the strongest evidence against an SL&C defense.

Shippers who skip this because it feels like overkill learn its value the first time a claim is denied. The evidentiary gap the notation creates can only be filled by records made before the container left your control.

Seals Decide Most Disputes

The security seal is the pivot of nearly every SL&C fight. An intact seal at delivery supports the carrier’s position that nothing happened to the contents in transit. A broken, missing, or mismatched seal collapses it.

Major ocean carriers require ISO 17712-compliant high-security seals on full containers for international transport. These seals show visible evidence of tampering and carry unique identification numbers recorded on the bill of lading. Carrier contracts routinely state that if a shipper-packed container arrives with its original seal intact, the carrier bears no liability for shortages found inside.

When a container arrives with a seal that is missing, tampered with, or carrying an identification number that does not match the shipping documents, the receiving party should notify the delivering party and the cargo supplier immediately, note the discrepancy on all cargo documentation, and refuse custody of the container until the issue is resolved. For international cargo, seal discrepancies should also be reported to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.⁵

On the origin side, photograph the seal before and after you affix it, with the seal number legible in the frame. That image is often the record that proves the seal was intact and matched the paperwork at pickup.

Deadlines for Filing a Claim

When cargo does arrive short or damaged, the clock starts running. Under the Carmack Amendment for domestic motor carrier shipments, a carrier cannot set a claims-filing period shorter than nine months. After the carrier denies all or part of a claim in writing, the shipper has at least two years to file suit.²

These are floors. A carrier’s tariff or contract can allow more time but never less. The two-year clock for filing suit starts when the carrier issues a written denial that specifically identifies the disallowed portion and the reasons. A vague settlement offer does not start it.²

Ocean shipments under COGSA have their own time limits set out in the carrier’s bill of lading terms and applicable conventions, and those run shorter. Regardless of framework, preserve all damaged cargo and packaging until the carrier tells you to dispose of it. Throwing out evidence before the claim is settled is one of the fastest ways to lose a legitimate case.⁶

Does SL&C Make a Bill of Lading Unclean?

No. Buyers and banks under letters of credit care whether a bill of lading is “clean,” meaning the carrier received the goods in apparent good order without noting damage or irregularity. Under the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCP 600), a bank rejects a bill only if it carries a clause expressly declaring a defective condition of the goods or packaging. Notations such as “shipper’s load, stow, and count” or “said to contain” do not describe a defect; they describe who did the counting. Banks accept them, and payment under a letter of credit should not be held up on that basis alone.

How to Protect Yourself as the Shipper

The clause exists because the carrier genuinely cannot see inside a sealed box. That does not make shippers helpless. Most SL&C disputes turn on evidence, and evidence is something you build before the container leaves your dock.

The single most effective step is loading with the driver present. If the driver witnesses the loading and signs off on the piece count, the notation loses much of its force; the carrier can no longer credibly claim it had no reasonable means of checking.¹ In container shipping that is often not practical, so build a documentation habit instead:

Photograph the empty container before loading, including its condition and container number.
Record the loading with video or a sequence of photos showing goods going in.
Weigh the loaded container at a certified scale and keep the certificate.
Photograph the seal with the seal number legible, before and after it is affixed.
Match container number, seal number, and bill of lading in your records before the box leaves the yard.

Cargo insurance fills the gap that remains. A shipper’s interest or all-risk marine cargo policy pays regardless of fault, which means it responds even when the carrier successfully invokes an SL&C defense. These policies usually exclude losses caused by the shipper’s own inadequate packing, so the same documentation does double duty: it supports your claim against the carrier and satisfies your insurer that you packed the container properly. Moving freight without cargo insurance and leaning on carrier liability alone is the exact scenario the SL&C clause is designed to decide against you.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 USC 80113 – Liability for Nonreceipt, Misdescription, and Improper Loading
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 USC 14706 – Liability of Carriers Under Receipts and Bills of Lading
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 46 USC 30701 – Definition
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 46 USC 30703 – Bills of Lading
5
Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center. Users Guide on Security Seals for Domestic Cargo
6
U.S. General Services Administration. Freight Damage Claims FAQs