Show HN: Bol.ai – Extract structured data from Bills of Lading

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Bill of Lading Data Extraction — PDF & Scan to JSON/CSV | Bol.ai

Stop retyping Bills of Lading.

Upload a BOL — PDF, scan or photo — and get clean, structured data back in seconds. B/L number, parties, ports, containers, weights. Ready for your TMS, ERP or spreadsheet.

Start free trial<br>See sample output

5 free documents on signup · 7-day free trial · per-document pricing · no sales call required

20+ fields per document

Seconds instead of minutes of retyping

JSON · CSV · API · webhooks output

✓ Verified ISO 6346 check digits & plausibility flags

🇪🇺 EU data residency by design

The Bill of Lading is our specialty — and we read the documents that travel with it.<br>Drop in a commercial invoice , packing list or CMR waybill too:<br>Bol.ai detects the document type automatically and returns the right fields, at the same per-document price.

How it works

Built for the daily reality of freight forwarders and customs brokers: stacks of carrier BOLs that someone has to key into the system.

Upload your BOL

Drag in a PDF, scan or phone photo — up to 10 MB. Master or house B/L, any carrier layout.

AI extracts — and we verify

20+ structured fields including per-container details. Every container number is checked against its ISO 6346 check digit, dates and weights against plausibility rules — suspect fields are flagged, never silently wrong.

Send it where it belongs

Download CSV for Excel or your ERP import, or pull JSON straight from the API into your own system.

Catch costly discrepancies before they reach customs

Upload a shipment's Bill of Lading, commercial invoice and packing list and Bol.ai links them automatically — then flags where they disagree: a gross weight that doesn't match, a consignee spelled differently, a package count that's off. The mismatches that cause customs holds, amended entries and demurrage — surfaced before you file, not after.

From paper to data

This is what comes back — actual output structure, not a mock-up.

"bl_number": "MAEU123456789",<br>"booking_number": "610203040",<br>"scac": "MAEU",<br>"carrier": "Maersk Line",<br>"vessel": "EMMA MAERSK",<br>"voyage": "124W",<br>"shipper": { "name": "Dutch Cheese Exports BV", … },<br>"consignee": { "name": "NY Food Imports Inc.", … },<br>"port_of_loading": "Rotterdam, NL",<br>"port_of_discharge": "New York, US",<br>"containers": [{<br>"container_number": "MSKU1234565",<br>"seal_number": "NL445566",<br>"container_type": "40RF",<br>"packages": "1100 cartons",<br>"gross_weight_kg": 21500,<br>"volume_cbm": 58.4<br>}],<br>"incoterms": "CIF",<br>"freight_terms": "PREPAID",<br>"date_of_issue": "2026-05-28"

Every field your ops team retypes today

B/L number

Booking number

SCAC code

Carrier

Vessel & voyage

Shipper name & address

Consignee name & address

Notify party

Port of loading

Port of discharge

Place of receipt

Place of delivery

Container numbers

Seal numbers

Container types

Packages & description

Gross weight (kg)

Volume (CBM)

Freight terms

Incoterms

Date of issue

Who uses Bol.ai

Freight forwarders

Turn carrier master B/Ls into house B/L data, shipment files and customer updates without the retyping marathon.

Customs brokers

Pull consignee, goods description, weights and container numbers straight into your declaration workflow.

Importers & 3PLs

Feed arrival planning and warehouse systems from the documents your carriers send you — automatically.

Your documents stay in the EU

🇪🇺<br>Bills of Lading contain commercial relationships you don't want spread across the globe. Bol.ai stores documents and extracted data exclusively in the European Union — database in Western Europe, file storage under EU jurisdiction. GDPR-friendly by architecture, not by addendum.

From desk to dock

Paper doesn't stay at your desk — neither does Bol.ai. No app store required.

📷<br>Photograph paper BOLs

Open bol.ai on your phone and capture a document at the warehouse, dock or customs counter. Same extraction, straight from the camera.

📲<br>Install it like an app

Add Bol.ai to your home screen — Android: menu → Add to Home Screen; iPhone: Share → Add to Home Screen. Full-screen, one tap away.

📧<br>Email it in

Forward a BOL to extract@bol.ai from your account email — the extraction is waiting in your document list.

Pricing

Pay a small base fee, then per document processed. No seats, no modules, no annual contract required.

Starter

€19/month

+ €0.49 per document

PDF, scan & photo extraction

JSON & CSV export

Document history

EU data residency

Start free trial

Professional

€79/month

+ €0.29 per document

Everything in Starter

API access for your TMS/ERP

Priority processing

Priority support

Start free trial

Pay as you go

Credits

one-time credit packs

No subscription

Ideal for occasional volumes

API & MCP access included

Credits never expire

Buy credits

Are you an AI agent or procurement tool? Machine-readable pricing →

Frequently asked questions

What is Bill of Lading data extraction?<br>It converts a BOL document — usually a PDF or scan — into structured,...

document data from lading extraction scan

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