Printable · Free · Updated 12 August 2026
Blank Bill of Lading
An empty bill of lading you print and complete with a pen. Ruled freight lines, US Letter, and deliberately no number or date printed on it — so a stack in a drawer stays usable for months.
Pick a layout, print as many as you need, and write on them. If you would rather type the details and get a finished document instead, the bill of lading form on the front page fills the same sheet in on screen.
Download a blank
Each one opens as a print-ready PDF with twelve ruled freight lines. Nothing is filled in and nothing is stored.
Which one to print
The differences are smaller than the number of templates online suggests. All four collect the same information; what changes is how much legal text is printed on the face and whether there is a block for purchase orders.
| Layout | Print it when | Pages |
|---|---|---|
| Short form | Ordinary LTL and truckload freight. The terms still apply — they live in the carrier's tariff and the NMFC rather than on the back of the sheet. | 2 |
| Long form | A consignee wants the full conditions of carriage on the document, or you are moving regulated material and want the emergency response block on the face. | 2 |
| VICS | A retail distribution centre asks for it by name. It carries the purchase order block their receiving department reconciles against. | 2 |
| Straight | Consigned to a named party and non-negotiable — which covers most domestic freight that is not moving against a letter of credit. | 2 |
Why nothing is pre-printed
Most blank BOLs you find online are a filled-in form with the values deleted, which means they still carry whatever document number and date the generator stamped on them. Print twenty and you have twenty sheets all claiming to be the same bill of lading, dated the day you happened to hit print.
These do not. The number box and the date box are empty, and every field that would otherwise print a dash is left as white space you can write on. A stack printed in March is still correct in September.
Filling one in by hand
Work top to bottom and do not leave the middle blank because you are in a hurry — the empty fields are the ones that cost money later.
- Your own number and the date. Any sequence works as long as you do not reuse one. The date is the date the freight moves, not the date you printed the sheet.
- Shipper and consignee in full. Company, street, city, state, ZIP, and a phone number for each. A consignee with no phone number is a driver sitting at a closed dock.
- One line per commodity. Handling units, package type, piece count, description, NMFC item number, freight class and the actual weight. Guessing the class is the single most expensive habit in LTL — a reclass bill arrives weeks later and it is very hard to argue with.
- Freight terms. Prepaid, collect or third party, marked clearly. If you are billing a third party, write their name and address in the bill-to block rather than assuming the carrier knows.
- Signatures at pickup. The driver signs for what they took. If they note an exception, read it before they leave — that note is the carrier's defence to a claim.
The field-by-field walkthrough covers every block in detail, and there is a filled-in example if you would rather see one completed than read about it.
Blank forms for the rest of the paperwork
The same empty-and-printable version exists for every other document here, and for the same reason: counting freight, recording times and taking a signature all happen at a dock with a pen.
- Blank delivery receipt — count columns and exception lines, for the clipboard
- Blank lumper receipt — keep a few in the cab and fill one in while the lumper is still there
- Blank freight invoice — for working out a bill before typing it up
- Blank rate confirmation — useful as a reference for what a complete one contains
- Blank house bill of lading — for forwarded and consolidated freight
When a blank is the wrong choice
Two cases. If a carrier or a retailer's routing guide requires their own document, use theirs — a blank you printed does not replace a carrier-branded form, and receiving will send the driver away. And if you need a negotiable original bill of lading, printing a blank does not give you one: a negotiable original needs issuer control and endorsement handling that a downloaded sheet cannot provide.
Common questions
Is a handwritten bill of lading valid?
Yes. Nothing in the law requires a bill of lading to be typed. What matters is that the parties, the freight and the terms are identified and that the carrier signs for what it took. A legible handwritten BOL is worth more than a printed one with the weight left blank. Write in pen, not pencil, and press hard enough for the copies underneath.
How many copies should I print?
Three is the working minimum: one for the driver, one that travels with the freight for the consignee, and one you keep. Print a fourth if a broker or a factoring company will want the packet. If you are printing a stack to keep in a drawer, ten is a sensible number — they do not expire, because nothing is dated.
Why is there no BOL number printed on the blank?
Because a stack of forms all carrying the same number is worse than no number at all. The box is left empty so you write your own — your sequence, your reference, or the number the carrier gives you. The same goes for the date: a form printed today might be used next month.
Which blank should I print — short, long or VICS?
Short form for most LTL and truckload freight; it is one page and carriers read them all day. Long form when you want the full conditions of carriage printed on the face, or when hazardous material means you need the emergency response block. VICS when a retail distribution centre asks for it by name, because it carries the purchase order block their receiving department reconciles against.
Can I use a blank bill of lading for hazardous materials?
You can, but be careful. The shipping paper requirements in 49 CFR govern what must appear and in what order for regulated material, and a hand-filled form gives you no help getting the basic description sequence right. If you are shipping hazmat regularly, fill it in on screen where the emergency response fields are labelled, and check the result against the regulations rather than against this page.
Do I need carbonless paper?
No, and printing three separate sheets is usually easier. Carbonless pads exist because a dock is a bad place to operate a printer, not because the document requires them. If you want the convenience, any print shop will make pads from a PDF — this one prints at US Letter with the margins already correct for it.