Maritime digital goods · 2026-09-01
An eBL is a deed. A Passport is not.
A bill of lading is receipt, contract evidence, and document of title. An electronic BL is that instrument under MLETR-style law or UCC 7-106 — not a Passport. IMO is the clerk for MASS and the Single Window.
Map eBL platforms and IMO codes. Do not take control of cargo. Tokenizing a container is the dual-ledger problem with salt water.
What a bill of lading does
- Receipt for the goods
- Evidence of the contract of carriage
- Document of title — the original controls the cargo
Surfaces
Model law
MLETR
UNCITRAL 2017. Functional equivalence, technology neutrality, non-discrimination. Not self-executing. The UK ETDA 2023 is the cleanest major-flag enactment. Florida follows UCC Article 7 control, not a MLETR clone.
FIT / DCSA / BIMCO
eBL platforms
Container (DCSA PINT + control registry) and bulk (BIMCO, 25-by-25). Paper still coexists. Interoperability across platforms is the unsolved clerk.
IMO · 1 Jul 2026
MASS Code
Adopted 22 May 2026. Non-mandatory for cargo ships. Remote Operations Centres, cybersecurity, goal-based equivalence to a crewed ship. Not a flag, not a class certificate.
FAL
Maritime Single Window
One ship-to-shore window. FAL 50 (Mar 2026) pushed cybersecurity into the annex. SSDF does not host one.
Machine index: GET /api/maritime. SSDF does not issue cargo title.