Bill of Lading parser and data extraction

Foxello reads bills of lading from any carrier - ocean, straight, commodity, sea or air waybill - and returns structured shipment data in seconds. No templates, no per-carrier setup.

Complete BOL data in seconds

BOL number
Shipper name & address
Consignee name & address
Notify party
Port of loading
Port of discharge
Vessel & voyage number
Container & seal numbers
Commodity description & HS codes
Gross weight, volume & package count
Freight charges & payment terms (prepaid or collect)
Special instructions (hazmat, temperature control)
How it works

BOL processing at freight scale

Receive BOLs from any carrier in any format - ocean, straight, commodity, telex release, original, sea waybill, or air waybill - by email, upload, or API.
Describe the fields you track once, in plain language. Foxello reads each document for what a field means, wherever it sits on the page, so a new carrier or trade lane needs no template.
Container and commodity line items come back as one continuous table, with a confidence score on every field.
Uncertain values go to Review Hub for your team; the rest is confirmed automatically and exported as JSON, CSV, or Excel, or sent to your TMS, customs platform, or shipment database by API or webhook.

BPO Mode for freight operators: Run a full BOL processing operation with your validation team. Route uncertain extractions to reviewers automatically - process thousands of BOLs per day.

24s
Average turnaround per Bill of Lading page
From file upload to structured JSON export - including multi-container manifests. In our testing, a document that used to take 5-8 minutes to process manually takes under 30 seconds.
Why it matters

One BOL, a dozen carrier formats

A bill of lading from one carrier looks nothing like one from another - different fields, different layouts, sometimes a different language. Freight teams re-key the same handful of facts - parties, ports, containers, weights - out of every one of them.

Foxello reads BOLs from any carrier without a template, so a new carrier or a new trade lane doesn't mean configuration work. Multi-container manifests come back as one continuous table, not split page by page.

Every field gets its own confidence score, and uncertain values - a smudged container number, an unclear weight - go to Review Hub instead of flowing straight into your TMS or customs platform.

Documents are processed and stored in the EU and never used to train models.

Bill of lading processing - common questions

What is the best way to parse bills of lading?

Fixed-layout parsers break whenever a carrier changes a form. A better approach is to describe the fields you need in plain language and let the model find them by meaning, wherever they appear on the page. That is how Foxello works, so container numbers, parties, and commodity lines come out correctly even when the layout changes.

Can I define my own fields for a bill of lading?

Yes. In Instinct or Mastery workflows you list the fields you want, in your own words, once in the workflow editor. There is no schema file to hand to engineering. If two carriers differ too much for one field list, run a separate workflow for each.

Does it handle ocean, straight, and commodity bills of lading?

Yes. Ocean, domestic straight, and commodity bills of lading, as well as sea and air waybills, all go through the same workflow. You choose the fields per workflow, so each document type can have its own list.

How are container and commodity tables extracted?

Line items are extracted as a table field. You define the columns once - for example container number, commodity description, weight, and package count - and every row is returned in that structure, even when the source lists it as a paragraph instead of a table.

Should I build my own bill of lading parser or use Foxello?

A custom parser means template upkeep for every carrier and silent failures when a form changes. Foxello needs no templates and no engineering time, scores every field, and sends only uncertain values to your reviewers. You can also use the REST API if you need to build it into your own product.

Can I use it for high volume bill of lading processing?

Yes. Documents can arrive by email, upload, or API, run without manual steps, and only low-confidence fields go to Review Hub. Plans scale with volume, and Review Hub supports multiple reviewers, each working on separate files - a file is locked to one reviewer while it is open.

What output formats are available?

JSON, CSV, and Excel, plus webhooks, a REST API, Zapier, and n8n. You can map extracted fields to the keys your TMS or customs platform expects.

Where is my data stored?

In the EU. Documents are processed and stored on EU infrastructure and are never used to train models.

Related use cases

Automate your Bill of Lading processing

Start extracting BOL data in minutes. Works with any carrier format.

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