Legal Definitions - shipment

A "shipment" legally refers to the transportation of goods, particularly the act of delivering them to a carrier and receiving a bill of lading. It can also denote the actual goods or order of goods being transported.

A shipment refers to either:

• The act or process of transporting goods from one place to another, often involving a professional carrier (like a trucking company, airline, or shipping line). This process typically includes the delivery of the goods to the carrier and the issuance of official documentation, such as a bill of lading, which details the items and terms of transport.
• The collection of goods themselves that are being transported.

Examples:

• Example 1 (Focus on the act of transportation): A vineyard in Napa Valley prepares several pallets of bottled wine to be sent to a distributor in New York City. The entire logistical process – from loading the wine onto a refrigerated truck, arranging its cross-country journey, and providing the necessary shipping manifests – is considered a shipment.

  Explanation: This example illustrates the first meaning, focusing on the coordinated effort and process involved in moving the goods from the vineyard to the distributor.

• Example 2 (Focus on the goods being transported): A clothing boutique receives a large box containing 200 new sweaters from its supplier. This entire box of sweaters, as it arrives at the store, is referred to as a shipment.

  Explanation: Here, the term refers to the actual items – the 200 sweaters – that have been transported and delivered, aligning with the second meaning of the definition.

• Example 3 (Combining both aspects in a common scenario): When a customer orders a custom-built computer online, the manufacturer packages the computer, labels it, and hands it over to a parcel delivery service. The journey of that computer from the factory to the customer's doorstep is a shipment, and the packaged computer itself, while in transit, is also part of that shipment.

  Explanation: This scenario demonstrates how "shipment" can encompass both the process of moving the item and the item itself (the computer) as it makes its way to its destination.