3PL:
a third-party, or contract, logistics company. A firm to which logistics services are outsourced. Typically handles many of the following tasks: purchasing, inventory management/warehousing, transportation management, order management.
AIR Waybill / waybill:
a document that establishes the terms of contract between shipper and transportation company, specifying the obligations of both parties. It serves as evidence of a contract of carriage, and a receipt for goods. This document made out by or on behalf of the shipper.
Bill of Lading:
a document uses for sea transportation; that establishes the terms of contract between shipper and transportation company, specifying the obligations of both parties. It serves as a document of title, as evidence (memorandum) of a contract of carriage, and a receipt for goods. This document made out by or on behalf of the shipper.
Bonded warehouse:
a warehouse authorized by customs authorities for storage of goods on which payment of duties is deferred until the goods are removed.
Booking:
the allotment/reservation in advance of space or weight capacity of goods; the order for beforehand allotment of space or weight capacity of goods.
Break-bulk Cargo:
cargo in-between bulk and containerized, that must be handled piece-by-piece by terminal workers (stevedores). Often stored in bags or boxes and stacked onto pallets. Smaller lift equipment (forklifts, small cranes) used than for containerized cargo, but more labor intensive.
Bulk Cargo:
cargo that is stowed loose on transportation vehicles, in a tank or hold without specific packaging, and handled by pump, scoop, conveyor, or shovel. Examples: grain, coal, petroleum, chemicals.
Cargo:
also referred to as "goods", means any property carried or to be carried on a vehicle, under agreed terms; usually moving under waybill.
Carrier:
a firm that provides transportation services, typically owning and operating transportation equipment. Carrier in a contract of carriage undertakes to perform or to procure the performance of carriage by sea, inland, waterway, rail, road, air, or by a combination of such modes. Examples: trucking company, railroad, airline, steamship line, parcel/express company.
Commodity:
description of goods being shipped.
Common Carrier:
a for-hire carrier providing transportation services to the general public at published rates. Obligations: to serve, to deliver, to charge reasonable rates, to avoid discrimination.
Consignee (cnee):
a person or firm to whom the goods are to be delivered by the carrier. A freight receiver.
Consignment/Shipment (shpt):
one or more pieces of goods accepted by the carrier from one shipper at one time and at one address, receipted for in one lot and moving on one waybill to one consignee at one destination address.
Consignor/Shipper (Shpr):
a person or firm that sends freight/originates the shipment of goods. A freight originator.
Consolidation:
bringing together two or more small shipments, often from different shippers, into large shipment quantities, in order to take advantage of economies of scale in transportation costs. Container load shipments may be consolidated for one or more consignees. In-vehicle consolidation is when a vehicle makes pickups from many customers and consolidates freight inside the vehicle. Out-of-vehicle consolidation occurs at a terminal facility; shipments to a single customer/region are consolidated before shipment.
Container:
steel or aluminum frame forming single, rigid, sealed, reusable box in which cargo can be stowed meeting International Standard Organization (ISO)-specified measurements, fitted with special castings on the corners for securing to lifting equipment, vessels, chassis, rail cars, or stacking on other containers. Containers come in many forms and types, including: standard, high cube, hardtop, ventilated, insulated, refrigerated, flat rack, vehicle rack, open top, bulk liquid, dry bulk, platform or other special configurations. Specialized containers also exist for air transportation modes, but are much smaller and cannot be directly transferred to truck or rail.
Container freight station:
a dedicated port or container terminal area, usually consisting of one or more sheds or warehouses and uncovered storage areas where cargo is loaded (“stuffed”) into or unloaded (“stripped”) from containers and may be temporarily stored in the sheds or warehouses.
Container yard:
a container handling and storage facility either within a port or inland.
Cut-off time (closing time):
the latest time a container may be delivered to a terminal for loading to a scheduled barge, vessel, train, or truck.
Dangerous goods (DG):
articles or substances which are capable of posing a significant risk to health, safety or to property when transported by air.
Dead-head:
a portion of a transportation trip in which no freight is conveyed; an empty move. Transportation equipment is often dead-headed because of imbalances in supply and demand. For example, many more containers are shipped from Asia to North America than in reverse; empty containers are therefore dead-headed back to Asia.
Deadweight:
the number of long tons that a vessel can transport of cargo, supplies and fuel. It is the difference between the number of tons of water a vessel displaces 'light' (empty) and the number of tons it displaces when submerged to the 'load line'.
Demurrage:
this penalty is applicable when the customer holds carrier equipment in the terminal for longer than the agreed amount of free time. It can be incurred for both exports (early drop-off) and imports (late pick-up). Export: demurrage days are counted from containers removal to terminal (full) to container loading, minus free days. Import: demurrage days are counted from container discharge to its removal from terminal (full), minus free days. Applicable to all containers that remain at a terminal location longer than agreed free time. Applied per container.
Description of goods:
plain language description of the nature of the goods sufficient to identify them at the level required for banking, customs, statistical or transport purposes.
Destination:
the ultimate stopping place according to the contract of carriage.
Detention:
import: imposed for excess usage container since its removal from the terminal (full) until the return of empty containers at the port, minus free days. Export: counted from pick-up empty to removal to terminal (full) minus free.
Door-to-Door:
transportation service arrangement in which freight is moved from origin (shipper) through to ultimate destination (consignee) for a given rate. Trucking companies typically offer door-to-door service. Railroads do not, unless the shipper and consignee both have rail sidings. Brokers, forwarders, NVOCCs etc. often package together door-to-door service through contracts with multiple carriers.
Drayage:
local trucking, typically describing truck movement of containers and trailers to and from rail intermodal yards and to and from port facilities.
EDIFACT:
Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport. International data interchange standards sponsored by the United Nations.
FCL (Full Container-Load):
an ocean-shipping and intermodal industry term; a full container-load shipment is when a shipper or consignee contracts for the transportation of an entire container. The vast majority of intermodal and ocean freight is contracted in this manner.
Feeder service:
transport service whereby loaded or empty containers in a regional area are transferred to a “mother ship” for a long-haul ocean voyage.
FEU:
forty-foot equivalent unit. Method of measuring vessel load or capacity, in units of forty-foot long containers.
FIATA:
International Freight Forwarders Association.
Freight Forwarder:
an agency that receives freight from a shipper and then arranges for transportation with one or more carriers for transport to the consignee. Often used for international shipping. Will usually consolidate freight from many shippers to obtain low, large volume transportation rates from carriers (through a contract ). Often owns some pickup and delivery equipment; uses to transport freight to/from consolidation facilities. Also provide other shipping services: packaging, temporary freight storage, customs clearing.
Intermodal:
movement of cargo containers interchangeably between transport modes where the equipment is compatible within the multiple systems; a single freight bill is used for the shipment.
LCL (Less-than-Container-Load):
an ocean-shipping and intermodal industry term; LTL equivalent in container shipping. Container freight stations at ports serve as consolidation and deconsolidation terminals. Historically, LCL also stands for less-than-carload.
Letter of Credit (L/C):
a letter from a bank, on behalf of a buyer, addressed to the seller authorizing him or her to draw drafts for a stipulated amount, under specified terms and to provide eventual payment for drafts within a given time.
Liner Shipping:
liners are vessels sailing between specified ports on a regular schedule; schedule is published and available to the public. Most large container shipping companies operate liner services.
Lloyds' Registry:
an organization engaged in the surveying and classing of ships so that insurance underwriters and others may know the quality and condition of the vessels involved.
Lo-Lo:
'Lift-on, lift-off '. Cargo handling method by which vessels are loaded or unloaded by either ship or shore cranes.
Loss and Damage:
loss or damage of cargo while in transit or in a carrier-operated warehouse. Terms for the handling of claims are usually stipulated in the bill. Shippers/consignees usually take out insurance against loss and damage with premiums a function of the value of goods shipped, and the likelihood of loss and damage.
LTL (Less-Than-Truckload):
a trucking industry term; a less-than-truckload (LTL) shipment is when a shipper or consignee contracts for the transportation of freight that will not require an entire truck. LTL shipments are priced according to the weight, volume of the freight, its commodity class (which generally determines its cube/weight ratio), and milage within designated lanes. An LTL carrier specializes in LTL shipments, and therefore typically operates a complex network with consolidation/deconsolidation points; LTL carriers carry multiple shipments for different customers in single trucks.
NVOCC (Non Vessel-Operating Common Carrier):
owns no vessels (ships), but provides ocean shipping negotiated-rate freight-forwarding services. It is a cargo consolidator in ocean trades who buys space from a carrier and resells it to smaller shippers. The NVOCC issues bills of lading, publishes tariffs. Often will affiliate with freight forwarders to provide pickup/delivery, other services.
On-carrier:
person or company who contracts to transport cargo from the port or place of discharge of a sea-going or ocean-going ship to another destination by a different means of transport, such as a feeder vessel, truck, train, or barge.
Panamax:
maximum beam that allows vessels to pass through the locks of the Panama Canal (specifically used for dry bulk and container vessels). The type of vessels, which have the dimensions that allows vessels to pass through the locks of the Panama Canal.
Pickup and Delivery (Cartage):
local hauling of freight. Often the trucking service used for transferring freight from the shipper to a terminal, or from a terminal to a consignee.
Private Carrier:
owned and operated by a shipper. Usually refers to private trucking fleets. Components include: vehicle fleet, drivers, maintenance equipment. Often more expensive than contracting out, but not always. Can serve special needs: fast, high-ontime-reliability delivery; special equipment; special handling; availability.
Reefer:
a refrigerated container designed to transport refrigerated or frozen cargo. For long storage in transit (or in ports) must be plugged into a ship's power system (or port's). Temporary power units can be attached that last for 18-36 hours.
Ro-Ro:
'Roll On/Roll Off'. A method of ocean cargo service using a vessel with ramps which allows wheeled vehicles to be loaded and discharged without cranes.
Shipment (shpt)/Consignment:
one or more pieces of goods accepted by the carrier from one shipper at one time and at one address, receipted for in one lot and moving on one waybill to one consignee at one destination address.
Shipper (Shpr) / Consignor:
a person or firm that sends freight/originates the shipment of goods. A freight originator.
Slot:
a place for a container onboard a container ship; typically, one TEU fits in a slot.
Stevedore:
individual or firm that employs longshoremen (or dockers, dock workers, or port workers) to load and unload vessels.
Terminal:
transportation facility with one or more of the following roles:
  • System access: terminals are points at which freight enters and leaves the transportation system,
  • Freight consolidation/distribution,
  • Mode transfer: freight may change from one mode to another, for example, rail to truck,
  • Vehicle transfer: within a single mode, freight may transfer from one vehicle to another,
  • Storage and warehousing,
  • Fleet maintenance.
TEU:
twenty-foot equivalent unit. Method of measuring vessel load or capacity, in units of containers that are twenty feet long. A 40' long container measures 2 TEUs; two twenty-foot containers (TEUs) equal one FEU.
TL / FTL (Truckload, Full Truckload):
a trucking industry term; a truckload shipment is when the shipper or consignee contracts an entire truck for direct point-to-point service. Truckload shipments are priced per km within designated lanes, regardless of the size of the shipment provided it fits (weight, volume) within the vehicle.
Tramp Shipping:
an ocean carrier company operating vessels not on regular runs or schedules. They call at any port where cargo may be available. Sometimes used for bulk cargo shipping.
Transshipment:
a distribution method whereby containers or cargo are transferred from one vessel/plane to another to reach their final destination, compared to a direct service from the load port/airport of origin to the discharge port/airport of destination. This method is often used to gain better vessel/plane utilization and thereby economies of scale by consolidating cargo onto larger vessels while transiting in the direction of main trade routes.
Transshipment port:
a port where cargo is transferred from one carrier to another or from one vessel of a carrier to another vessel of the same carrier without the cargo leaving the port.
Unitization:
the consolidation of a quantity of individual items into one large shipping unit for easier and faster handling through methods such as palletizing, stripping, slinging and containerization.
Waybill/ AIR Waybill (for air transport):
a document that establishes the terms of contract between shipper and transportation company, specifying the obligations of both parties. It serves as evidence of a contract of carriage, and a receipt for goods. This document made out by or on behalf of the shipper.