On the ops desk, surrendering the bill of lading is the standard fix when the originals cannot reach the consignee before the cargo does: the shipper hands every original back to the carrier at origin, and the carrier's telex release message tells its destination office to release the cargo to the named consignee. The decision the term drives is whether to courier the originals ahead or surrender them at origin and skip the document chase entirely. A surrender BL is not the same as a sea waybill: a surrendered BL starts life as an original bill of lading and is then handed back, while a sea waybill never has originals issued at all.
Glossary
Surrender BL
An original bill of lading that the shipper has handed back to the carrier at origin, in full set, so the cargo can be released to the named consignee at destination without paper originals being presented.