Logistics Glossary
Freight terms and abbreviations you'll meet on quotes, bookings and documents — explained in plain language.
A
- Arrival notice
- Notice from the carrier or forwarder that a shipment is about to arrive, with the vessel, ETA, charges due and what is needed to release the cargo.
- ATA / ATDActual Time of Arrival / Departure
- The time a vessel, aircraft or truck actually arrived or departed — as opposed to the estimate (ETA / ETD).
- AWBAir Waybill
- The transport document for air freight. It is a receipt and evidence of the contract of carriage, but — unlike an original bill of lading — not a document of title. A master AWB (MAWB) is issued by the airline, a house AWB (HAWB) by the forwarder.
B
- B/LBill of Lading
- The key ocean transport document, issued by the carrier: a receipt for the goods, evidence of the contract of carriage and — as an original negotiable B/L — a document of title. Whoever holds the original can claim the cargo.
- BAFBunker Adjustment Factor
- A surcharge on ocean freight that follows the price of ship fuel (bunker). Carriers revise it monthly or quarterly.
- Bonded warehouse
- A customs-approved warehouse where imported goods can be stored without paying duties and VAT until they are released for free circulation or re-exported.
- Booking confirmation
- The carrier's confirmation of space on a vessel or flight, with the booking number, schedule, cut-off times and the depot where empty containers can be picked up.
- Break bulk
- Cargo shipped as individual pieces rather than in containers or in bulk — machinery, steel, project cargo — loaded piece by piece by crane.
C
- Carrier
- The company that actually performs the transport — a shipping line, airline, railway or haulier — and issues the master transport document.
- CBMCubic metre
- The volume unit freight is measured in: length × width × height in metres. LCL ocean freight is usually priced per CBM.Read more
- Certificate of origin
- A document confirming the country where the goods were produced. Needed to claim preferential duty rates under trade agreements (e.g. EUR.1) or when the buyer's country requires it.
- CFSContainer Freight Station
- A warehouse at or near the port where LCL cargo is received, consolidated into containers before export, or unpacked after import.
- Chargeable weight
- The weight freight is billed on: the higher of the actual gross weight and the volumetric weight. Light, bulky cargo is charged by volume.
- CIM
- The international rail consignment note under the COTIF convention, used for rail freight in Europe. Its counterpart for the CIS, China and Mongolia is SMGS; a combined CIM/SMGS note avoids re-documenting at the gauge change.
- CMR
- The international road consignment note under the CMR convention. It confirms the haulier received the goods and sets the carrier's liability limit.
- Commercial invoice
- The seller's invoice to the buyer. Customs use it to establish the value of the goods, so it must show the parties, description, HS codes, quantities, prices, currency and Incoterms® rule.
- Consignee
- The party the goods are shipped to, named on the transport document — usually the buyer or its agent.
- Consolidation (groupage)
- Combining several smaller shipments from different shippers into one container or truck to share the cost. The basis of LCL and LTL services.
- Customs broker
- A licensed agent who prepares and lodges customs declarations on behalf of the importer or exporter.
- Customs clearance
- Completing the customs formalities — declaration, documents, duties and taxes — so the goods can leave (export) or enter (import) a country.
- Cut-off
- The deadline for delivering the container to the terminal (CY cut-off), submitting shipping instructions (SI / doc cut-off) or the VGM. Miss it and the box is rolled to the next vessel.
- CYContainer Yard
- The area of a terminal where full and empty containers are stored before loading or after discharge.
D
- Dangerous goods (DG)
- Cargo classified as hazardous — flammable, toxic, corrosive, lithium batteries and more. It needs proper classification, packing, labelling and declarations: IMDG Code at sea, IATA DGR by air, ADR on the road.
- Delivery order
- An instruction from the carrier or its agent to the terminal to release the cargo to the named party, issued once freight is paid and the B/L surrendered.
- Demurrage
- A daily charge for a full container staying in the terminal beyond the free time — usually because the cargo isn't cleared or collected in time.
- Detention
- A daily charge for keeping the carrier's container outside the terminal beyond the free time — until the empty box is returned to the depot.
- Door-to-door
- A service covering the whole route from the shipper's premises to the consignee's, including pick-up, main carriage and final delivery.
E
- EORIEconomic Operators Registration and Identification
- The registration number every business needs to import into or export from the EU. It goes on every customs declaration.
- ETA / ETDEstimated Time of Arrival / Departure
- The planned arrival or departure time of a vessel, flight or truck. Updated as the voyage progresses.
F
- FCLFull Container Load
- A container used by one shipper only, priced per box regardless of how full it is. Usually cheaper than LCL from about 13–15 CBM.Read more
- Feeder vessel
- A smaller ship that carries containers between a main hub port and regional ports — e.g. from Rotterdam or Hamburg to Klaipėda.
- Free time
- The number of days a container can stay in the terminal or with the customer before demurrage or detention starts. Can often be extended when booking.
- Freight forwarder
- A company that organises transport on behalf of the shipper — books carriers, handles documents and customs, and coordinates the route end to end. Cargo 4S is a freight forwarder.
- FTL / LTLFull / Less than Truck Load
- FTL: a whole truck for one shipper. LTL: part loads from several shippers sharing a truck, priced by loading metres, pallets or weight.
G
- Gross weight
- The total weight of the goods including packaging and pallets. Net weight is the goods alone; tare is the weight of the empty container or vehicle.
H
- HBL / MBLHouse / Master Bill of Lading
- The MBL is issued by the shipping line to the forwarder; the HBL is issued by the forwarder to its customer. In consolidation each shipper gets an HBL under one MBL.
- HS codeHarmonized System code
- The international product classification number (6 digits) used by customs worldwide. The EU extends it to 8 (CN) and 10 (TARIC) digits, which set the duty rate and any restrictions.
I
- ICS2 / ENSImport Control System 2 / Entry Summary Declaration
- The EU's advance cargo information system. Before goods arrive, carriers and forwarders must file an ENS with safety and security data — including a precise goods description and HS code.
- Incoterms®
- The ICC's standard trade terms (current version 2020) that define where the seller delivers, where risk passes and who pays which costs. See our Incoterms® guide.Read more
L
- Lashing
- Securing cargo inside a container or on a trailer or flat rack with straps, chains, blocks and dunnage so it can't shift in transit.
- LCLLess than Container Load
- A shipment too small for its own container, consolidated with other shippers' cargo and priced per CBM or per tonne, whichever is higher.
- Letter of credit (L/C)
- A bank's promise to pay the seller once it presents documents that match the L/C terms exactly — typically the B/L, invoice, packing list and certificates.
M
- Multimodal transport
- Carriage by two or more modes — e.g. sea and rail, or rail and truck — under a single contract and transport document.
N
- NVOCCNon-Vessel Operating Common Carrier
- An ocean carrier that doesn't own ships: it buys space from shipping lines and issues its own bills of lading to customers.
O
- Out of gauge (OOG)
- Cargo larger than a standard container's dimensions, shipped on flat racks or open tops with parts overhanging. Needs special stowage and costs more.Read more
P
- Packing list
- A list of what is in each package — contents, quantities, dimensions and weights. Used by customs, the forwarder and the consignee to check the shipment.
- Pallet
- A flat base for stacking goods so they can be moved by forklift. A Euro pallet is 1200 × 800 mm; a standard (industrial) pallet is 1200 × 1000 mm.Read more
- POL / PODPort of Loading / Port of Discharge
- The port where the cargo is loaded onto the ship and the port where it is unloaded. Both appear on the bill of lading.
- Pre-carriage / On-carriage
- Transport before the main leg (from the shipper to the port or terminal) and after it (from the port to the consignee) — usually by truck or rail.
- Proof of delivery
- A signed confirmation that the consignee received the goods — usually the signed CMR or delivery note.
- PSSPeak Season Surcharge
- A temporary surcharge carriers add when demand is high, typically before Christmas and Chinese New Year.
R
- Reefer
- A refrigerated container with its own cooling unit, keeping a set temperature (about −30 °C to +30 °C) for food, pharma and chemicals.Read more
- Roll-over
- When a container booked on a vessel isn't loaded and is moved to a later sailing — because of overbooking, a missed cut-off or missing documents.
S
- Sea waybill
- A non-negotiable ocean transport document. The cargo is released to the named consignee without presenting an original — faster when no bank payment depends on the documents.
- Seal
- A numbered, tamper-evident lock fitted to the container doors after loading. The seal number is recorded on the B/L and checked on arrival.
- Shipper (consignor)
- The party that sends the goods and contracts with the carrier or forwarder — usually the seller or manufacturer.
- SMGS
- The rail consignment note used across the CIS, China and Mongolia under the SMGS agreement — the standard document on China–Europe and Central Asia rail routes.
- Spot rate / Contract rate
- A spot rate is quoted for a single shipment at current market prices; a contract rate is agreed for a period (often 3–12 months) for regular volumes.
- Stuffing / Stripping
- Loading goods into a container (stuffing) and unloading them from it (stripping).
T
- T1 transit
- A customs procedure that lets non-EU goods move through the EU under customs control without paying duties until they reach the office of destination.
- Telex release
- The original B/L is surrendered at origin, and the carrier tells its destination office electronically to release the cargo without originals.
- TEU / FEUTwenty / Forty-foot Equivalent Unit
- The standard units for container capacity: one 20ft container = 1 TEU, one 40ft = 2 TEU (1 FEU). Ship and port capacity are measured in TEU.Read more
- THCTerminal Handling Charge
- The charge for handling a container at the terminal — lifting on and off the ship and moving it in the yard. Charged separately at origin and destination.
- Transit time
- The time from departure to arrival — port to port or door to door. Quoted times are estimates; weather, congestion and transshipment can change them.
- Transshipment
- Moving cargo from one vessel to another at an intermediate port on the way to its destination — e.g. from a mainline ship to a feeder.
V
- VGMVerified Gross Mass
- The certified total weight of a packed container (cargo, packing and the container itself), which the shipper must submit before loading under the SOLAS convention.
- Volumetric weight
- A weight calculated from volume, so bulky light cargo is charged fairly: by air usually L × W × H (cm) ÷ 6000, by road often 1 CBM = 333 kg.
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