Supply Chain Logistics Definitions

The supply chain and logistics space is so full of industry specific terminology and jargon that even the most experienced logisticians can often come across new terms they are unfamiliar with. Here we explore the definitions of a whole bunch of terms from the familiar HS codes and Incoterms to more obscure terms like cabotage.

Aggregate shipment: A myriad of ware loaded from numerous sellers that are amalgamated by the courier into one shipment to one recipient.

Air-way bill (AWB): A document called the AWB represents the carriage of contract. It is unnegotiable.

Alongside: Alludes to a side of the ship. In order to make the process of loading easier, cargo delivered alongside is kept either on a dock or the barge; which is closer to a ship’s rigging.

Apparent goods order: Cargo deemed undamaged post assessment.

Arrival notice: A courier issued notice to the cargo owner, notifying them on the arrival of their shipment.

Astern: Refers either to the movement of the ship in a backward direction or behind the ship.

Automatic identification system (AIS): Refers to the satellite navigation system utilized by the VTS (vessel tracking service) to track down and identify ships.

Backhaul: Freight carried back, i.e., return trip.

Balloon freight: Cargo that is lightweight but bulky (high volume).

Beam: Breadth of a ship is called Beam.

Beneficiary: The group which is on the receiving-end of the payment.

Bilateral: Form of an agreement by which involved parties supply something for one another. In a bilateral agreement there are only 2 parties.

Bill of lading: It is a certain document provided by the carrier or the agent of a party acknowledging the receipt of freight for shipment. Sometimes, referred to as B/L, BL, BoL, or BOL.

Bill of sale: It is a document meant for the confirmation on the goods transfer in return of payment.

Bill-to party: Refers to the party responsible for the payment of goods and services present in the deal.

BIS: Abbreviation for Bureau of Industry and Security, is an entity inside the Commerce Department of the United States assigned with implementing the EARs (Export Administration Regulation).

Blocking/bracing: Sometimes referred to as the dunnage, these are the supports utilized to secure the freight during transit, made of; either wood, or metal.

Block stowage: It refers to the loading of cargo closer to one another in efforts to minimize the movement of products during transit.

Bolster: Piece of tool attached along/to the railcar or the chassis, meant for the protection of container or the vessel.

Bond port: It is the very first port inside a country where the vessel carrying the merchandize first arrives.

Booking: Dealings done with the courier for movement of the freight; reservation of space.

Bow: A vessel’s frontside.

Broken stowage: Unoccupied space in the container, i.e., an empty space.

Bulk cargo: Freight that’s shipped loosely rather than in a container, or in packages, e.g., coal, or grain.

Bull ring: It’s a particular device tethered with the container’s floor for the security of goods.

Cabotage: Movement of cargo within the country from one place to another by a courier from a different nation.

Cargo: Any product that is being shipped, regardless of what means of transport are chosen.

Cargo declaration: Submission of information before the arrival, or departure of international cargo shipment, to the related country’s Customs Authorities.

Cargo manifest: It’s a document that contains details regarding the freight being carried by a ship, reported mostly to the Customs.

Carnet: Represents a document which allows the owner to temporarily ship products to another country free of duties, for the sake of display.

Cash-on-delivery (COD): Process of selling products while receiving payment on delivery instead of an advance.

Carrier: Party responsible for transportation of goods on behalf of another organization or individual, which is also responsible for loss or any damage during the movement. Usually, a carrier offers transportation to others for money. Contract carriers provide services under special agreements, often for the clients to the government.

CBP: Stands for Customs and Border Protection. An entity within the Homeland Security department, a US government agency responsible for the arrival or departure of goods and people from the country. Also, CBP is tasked with the enforcement of export and import laws.

CCC Mark: Represents a label representing approval of the product standards accepted by the government of China.

CCL:  Commerce Control List, enlists items which can be utilized for either commercial, or military purposes, i.e., dual-use, issued in compliance with USA’s Commerce Department’s EARs. Every single item listed upon the Commerce Control List is recognized by an ECCN (Export Control Classification Number).

CE Mark: Refers to a label representing approval of the product standards, which the European Union trusts.

Certificate of free sale: A document indicating the sale of a specific product in the U.S. and its eligibility for export. It also shows that the manufacturer is free of any prior or current actions from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). It’s mostly used while exporting to countries with under-developed regulatory agencies when compared to the US’s Food and Drug Administration.

Certificate of inspection: It is a certification document that ensures the good condition of products prior to shipment.

Certificate of origin: It’s a certification document referring to the place of production of the product, its common abbreviation is COO. A Certificate-of-Origin peculiar to a specific agreement of free trade could be utilized to attain preferential treatment on duty. The Customs of the importing country may request a generic COO. In such a case, getting the COO stamped by the chamber of commerce is obligatory.

Chamber of commerce: It’s an organization of several businesses that can perform numerous tasks including; lobbying and advocating for its members, administering business-related events and programs in their institutions, and relative to exports, providing document certifications for exporters.

Chassis: Refers to a wheeled vehicle’s base frame. It is utilized for securing the container before any of its movement.

Chock: Certain material (mostly wood) used to prevent any damage to the goods while in transit due to imprudent movement, done by placing it next to the freight.

Claim: Contextually speaking, a claim represents a demand by the cargo owner to the logistic company for a payment if there is any damage to the goods while in the company’s care.

Commerce Country Chart: A particular EAR tool which assists identifying the need of an official license for the export of specific goods to a specific nation.

Commercial invoice: It is a general document associated to an off-shore transaction which enlists details such as the kind of product, alias of the transporter, and the details of the final recipient. It acts as the focal point for all of the other documents associated with the shipments.

Commodity: Refers to any kind of product that is being shipped for commercial use.

Common law: Refers to a law that comes from a model, tradition and the use instead from the statutes, specifically concerning the legislations of UK, USA, and various other nations that were constituents of the Commonwealth.

Compliance: When talking about international shipments, maintaining compliance or being compliant denotes that the related organization is not breaking any laws or rules that concern their shipments. Contextually, sometimes the terms trade compliance and regulatory compliance are used for explanatory and differentiation purposes, as the term compliance has different meanings in different fields such as medicine.

Concealed loss or concealed damage: Damage to the product which isn’t apparent at first glance upon delivery of merchandize.

Connecting carrier: Refers to the carrier serving as a “middle-man” between a number of different carriers.

Consignee: Refers to the receiver of the shipment, it could be an individual or a place. An ultimate consignee refers to the last receiver of the merchandize, the intermediate consignee refers to someone that holds the merchandize for a certain period during the transit.

Consignment: It’s a payload of products to a recipient.

Consignor: Someone who exports or ships particular goods.

Consolidation: The combination of freight from various shippers into one container.

Consul: Refers to a government servant living in a different country in order to represent the interest of their homeland.

Container: It’s a trailer stocked with freight. It may be detached or attached to a railcar or a vessel. Non-alike containers are meant for loading of different products. For instance, a container could be refrigerated, dehumidified, ventilated, insulated, or could have particular devices fixed in according to the needs of the product. Container shipment is usually over 20k pounds, and is considered a large-scale shipment.

Container load:  Refers to the weight or volume which is enough to occupy the entire space of container with the goods.

Container manifest: Represents a document which enlists the products inside the container, its provenance and its final destination. Vessels can be asked by the law to present manifests for each container that is being moved.

Contraband: Forbidden freight like unauthorized weapons or illegal drugs.

Contract: Lawful binding arrangement among two or numerous groups.

C-TPAT: The United States’ department of Border Protection and Customs introduced the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism several years ago. Both entities assist each other in securing the supply chain on voluntary basis. Living up to the standards of C-TPAT is a ticket for quick processing through inspections by the Customs.

Cu.:  Common abbreviation representing “cubic,” used to describe the volumetric measurements.

Cube out:  Represents a container/vessel when it reaches its volumetric limit before achieving the weight limit.

Customhouse: It’s a government owned office used for payment of duties, and submission or receival of trading paperwork.

Customs: It represents an entity within the government responsible for collection of duties and regulation of the laws of international trade.

Customs bonded warehouse: Refers to a government authorized warehouse for receival of duty-free products.

Customs broker: Refers to an organization or an individual who assists the shipper to deal with requirements of the Customs Authority.

Customs clearance: It’s a process of assessment through which the Customs ensure that the goods being imported are within the laws of import of the particular country. A cargo which is deemed okay/cleared by the Customs and is allowed a gateway to the country’s commerce is called customs cleared.

Customs entry: Sometimes known as the Form 7501 or Entry Summary, happens to be a document which provides the Customs and Border Protection of the United States with details regarding the cargo, like value, place of origin, and classification. Information on the declaration is used to calculate duty rates.

Customs invoice: It’s a document that needs to be provided to the Customs, it serves the exact purpose that the common commercial invoice does, but it contains extra information like the origin certificate.

Customs value only: Sometimes, a shipment between the final recipient and the exporter constitutes of products involving zero transaction of money. This includes shipments like items intended for the display at a trade fair, or products intended for a repair job under a withholding warranty. This cargo still has duty and taxes imposed on it, therefore, it’s necessary for the exporter to mention the value of an item being exported on the invoice so that the customs of importing country can deduce the duty. In such a case, it’s in the exporters best interest to send along a customs value only statement with the invoice/bill.

Cut-off time: It refers to the final time period in which an exporter might deliver the cargo to the terminal.

Dangerous goods:  Products might be deemed dangerous if they are; flammable, explosive, poisonous, corrosive, toxic, etc. Transporting such stuff can require special permission, packaging, and documentation for safety purposes.

Dangerous goods declaration: The dangerous good declaration form refers to a document presented by the exporter. It contains the details regarding the dangerous products inside the cargo. Transporting such items through air requires the Dangerous Good IATA Declaration document. Shipping via sea requires the Dangerous Good IMO Declaration document.

Destination control statement: Refers to a legal declaration on the export invoice which states that the products are to not be handed over to anyone but the final consignee. Sometimes known as the Anti Diversion Clause, diverting to other nations or companies without authorization is deemed as violation of the United States’ law.

Deemed export: Conveyance of, source code, information, or controlled technology to a foreigner. Export laws are applicable to such exports.

Delivery receipt: Refers to a document dated and signed-off by the consignee or the consignee’s authorized agent, used to confirm the receipt of products and a statement regarding the products’ condition upon delivery.

Detention or Demurrage: Demurrage refers to a penalty payment by the consignee to a carrier if cargo is delayed beyond the allotted free time. Demurrage is similar to detention, except detention is applicable to the delay in equipment rather than the cargo.

Denied party screening: Sometimes known as trade party screening and restricted party screening, it represents a process through which potential customers, vendors and partners are screened against a list of denied parties. These lists, enlist certain individuals and companies that are prohibited as business partners. Working alongside such entities can get one penalized.

Destination control statement: It refers to the legal statement placed on the shipping document. It’s a binding statement which instructs the shipper that the products aren’t transferable to anyone except the final consignee. Diversion of cargo to any other nation or party without authorization is considered as violation of the United States’ legislation.

Discrepancy: When the conditions of a letter of credit are not met by the produced documents. Letters of credit with discrepancies are rejected by the banks.

Dock: Talking in context of roads, it’s a place where the process of loading and unloading are performed on a truck. Considering the sea, it refers to the area next to a shoreline used for handling of freight and tying up of ships.

Dock receipt: It’s an acknowledgement of the freight’s receipt. Serves as the foundation for preparation of the ocean’s lading bill.

Drawback: Refers to a limited refund on the import fee, often provided if the merchandize is re-exported out of a nation that was responsible for fee collection.

Dumping: The import of products into the country for lower price than the original value on a fair market.

Dutiable value: Refers to the amount used for calculation of the customs duty.

Duties: Also known as tariffs, duties refer to the amount of tax collected on particular imports or exports.

EAR: Abbreviation for Export Administration Regulations. A set of laws issued by the Commerce department of United States which govern the exports of products with dual-use. Such items can be used for both military and commercial purposes.

ECCN: Abbreviation for Export Control Classification Numbers. These are codes consisting of alphabets and numbers utilized for identification of dual-use products. Such items can be used for both military and commercial purposes. Knowledge of your items ECCN makes it easy to determine if export license is necessary or not.

EEI: Stands for Electronic export information. It represents an exporters data which they’re obligated to share with Computerized Export System through an online web portal called Computerized Commercial Environment.

Electronic data-interchange (EDI): It refers to the transfer of business records like bills of lading, invoices, and purchase orders using electronic means.

Embargoes: The Sanctions represent restrictions placed upon business like tariffs, trade barriers, or restrictions on a financial transaction. These are usually placed by the government to secure national and economic interests of the country. Embargoes are the same, just more severe and may result in blockades and travel bans.

Eminent domain: Refers to the authority of a free government to seize the property in order to use it for public.

Empty repo: An abbreviation for repositioning; it represents the transport of containers without anything to carry.

End-user: Refers to the last receiver of the shipment. Generally, the same as an ultimate consignee. It could be different than the group responsible for the payment of cargo bill.

Endorsement: It represents the legal signature which ensures that rights to the shipment have been transferred from one group to a different group.

ERP: It stands for Enterprise resource planning; it’s a software used by organizations to manage accounts and order- processing process. A few ERPs come with support for trade compliance modules and international shipping. These ERPs usually have a limited functionality.

Exception: Refers to a problem in the delivery receipt noticed by the receiver or driver prior to signing off on the receipt. Generally, the problem is that the goods have been damaged or there is a potential shortage.

Exclusive use: Shippers can get the trailer exclusively for their use by making a premium payment. In such a case, the container carries only the associated shipper’s goods even though the trailer has additional storage.

Export: The complete opposite of import, an export is shipping of goods outside one’s own country.

Export compliance-program: Commonly known as ECP, it’s a set of procedure followed by a company to ensure compliance while exporting.

Import controls and export controls: It represents all the authorization documents required by the government to declare exports or imports legal. This may include permits, and licenses.

Export documentation software: Refers to a software utilized by organizations to attain efficiency, audibility, and consistency for their compliance process and export documents.

Export license: Refers to a government authorization, obtained by the shipper in order to export to specific party or country, or in order to export particular products in general.

Export management company: Some exporting companies leave their export process to be handled by an EMC (export management company), usually because they themselves don’t possess an export department.

FAK: Stands for “freight all kinds.” Usually represents a container full of mixed freight.

False billing: The process of misrepresenting information on documents of shipment.

Federal Maritime Commission (FMC): Refers to a US government entity that specifically handle the laws that regulate shipment of cargo by the ocean.

Force majeure: It represents a particularly common clause written within the contracts. It exempts the shipper from fulfilling their duty because of certain events beyond human control, like war or earth-quakes or any other natural disaster.

Fore and aft: When a ship positions parallel to the line in center, the phenomena is known as fore and aft.

Foreign trade zone: Refer to places that are usually free of any custom duties. Products may be manufactured here, even kept under particular customs laws. Sometimes called free port, these are often abbreviated as FTZs

FPPI: Stands for foreign principal party of interest. It’s the final party that receives goods; usually it’s a foreign client.

Free time: Refers to the time period where the tools from the carrier could be utilized without getting charged any additional fee.

Freight broker: Refers to someone hired by the shipper, responsible for handling the transport procedure. Usually such person connects carriers to shippers with less cargo to transport.

Freight forwarder: Refers to an organization hired by the shipper, responsible for handling the transport procedure. Such companies can have their own carrier service or even have external carrier contractors working for them. These organizations are generally good at amalgamating LTL cargo from several shippers.

FTA: Standing for Free trade agreements, FTAs are agreements among different nations aimed at removing obstructions and making trade easier among the participants.

Full truckload (FTL): Refers to a carrier who entertains single customers that are willing to buy out all of the trucks space. Commonly known as truckload carriers.

Gross vehicle-weight (GVW): Represents a vehicles entire weight, this includes; weight of toed containers alongside the vehicle’s weight itself.

Harbour: An area where ships dock to restock supplies, and for the loading and unloading process of goods.

Harbour master: The person at a harbour responsible for handling all of the operations.

Hatch: Refers to a point on the ship’s deck where a cargo hold gets its access.

Hazardous materials: Sometimes referred to as “dangerous goods,” HazMat or hazardous materials are products which present themselves as threat to the well-being of everything due to being corrosive, flammable, toxic, poisonous, explosive, etc. The transportation of such goods can require special authorization and packaging for safety purposes.

HS: Abbreviation for Harmonized System. It’s an internationally recognized system utilized for identification/classification of items. The six beginning digits of the HS codes are similar for all nations; however, every country can add more digits to particularize the product even further. HS codes are important for both the determination of duties, and export and import controls. The procedure for identifying the code and also the code itself is commonly called tariff classification.

 IMDG: Stands for International Maritime Dangerous Goods. Refers to a code/laws created by the IMO (International Maritime Organization) for international shipment of HazMat.

Import: The antonym for export, imports are shipping of merchandize into the country.

Import declaration: Refers to the information provided by the importer or an appointed agent to the nation’s customs authority prior to or at time of import. This includes details on the means of transportation, tariff classification, importer’s contact details, and the value of items in the import order.

Import license: Refers to the authorization granted by the government allowing the applicant to import goods.

In bond: Refers to an import/export shipment awaiting customs approval.

Incoterms:  ICC or the International Chamber of Commerce’s publication of trade terms applicable to every country are called incoterms. These codes are made up of three letters that are used to depict costs, the task, and the risk involved in shipment of products in a foreign transaction. The explain the different roles and how these are divided among the buyer and the seller.

Interchange point: Refers to a place where cargo changes hand from a carrier to some other carrier.

 Intermodal: Refers to transportation of products using a few means of transportation like rail, truck, air, sea, etc. Container of such type can be utilized in different means of transportation without the need of unloading and reloading products whenever the means of transport change. Contextually speaking, international trade refers to an intermodal container simply as a container.

ITAR: Abbreviation for International Traffic in Arms Regulations. It regulates the process of exporting defense/military related products and space-related items. The State Department of United States is responsible for enforcement of ITAR.

JIT: Refers to “just in time.” Represents the procedure used to control inventory; it minimizes the use of warehouses. The container by itself, becomes a moveable warehouse, and time of arrival is vital.

Laden: Stocked up on the container.

Landed cost: Refers to the entire expenses incurred by the buyer which include the transport of goods and the duties on import.

Letter of credit: Abbreviated as L/C and LC, it’s a documented commitment by the bank. Sometimes known as documentary collection, the LC is issued after the importer’s request that the exporter will receive payment when terms of LC have all been entertained by exporter by providing certain documents as a proof.

License exception: A scenario where the export license isn’t required from the exporter, although normal circumstances would demand it, as they have met certain conditions.

Liquidated damages: Refers to a penalty-fee which should be paid by the seller to the buyer at all costs if the task fails to live up to expectation, or the deadline mentioned in the contract is missed.

List: The tilt-angle of the vessel from a vertical. The degree unit is used to measure it.

Logistics: Refers to handling of goods during transportation from the pick-up point to the final delivery point. Logistic Companies provide services like consulting services, freight forwarding, and customs brokerage.

Maritime: Transportation carried out on the sea.

Marking: Alphanumeric or other special characters on a packaging utilized for identification of an item.

Master bill of lading: Refers to a bill which confirms that the receipt of a shipment has been provided to the freight forwarder by the carrier. It separates itself from the house bill of lading in terms of confirming the receipt of item on a shipment has been provided to the shipper by the freight forwarder.

NAFTA: Abbreviation for North American Free Trade Agreement. Born in 1994, the organization intends to improve and smoothen the trade ties among Canada, Mexico, and the US. If particular products of a company from aforementioned nation pass NAFTA standards, the companies can enjoy reduced duties. On 1st July,2020, the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement took NAFTA’s place.

NES – NEC: Not elsewhere specified – not elsewhere classified.

Negotiable and non-negotiable: Negotiable instrument refers to a contract which is transferable to some third group. It’s impossible to do the same when talking about the non-negotiable contract. The ocean/inland bill of lading can either be non-negotiable or negotiable; a lading bill destined “to order” and “to the order of a shipper” is considered negotiable if countersigned by a shipper or shipper’s representative. Airway bills are non-negotiable by default.

Net-Weight: Refers to weight of products minus weight of the packing.

Non-dumping certificate: Documents required by certain nations ensuring their land isn’t used as dumping grounds for particular products.

NVOCC: Abbreviation for non-vessel operating common carrier.  Acts as a carrier despite the fact that it doesn’t offer a transportation service. NVOCC actually sells spaces to shippers that have been purchased from some carriers.

On board: Represents a particular note on the lading bill informing about the loading of cargo aboard the vessel.

On deck: The stowing of cargo upon the deck of the ship is indicated through notation present on a bill of lading.

Open account: Refers to a maneuver where cargo is shipped to an offshore buyer with no cashback guarantee.

Operating ratio: Represents means of efficiency-based operations when a carrier’s net sales are compared with their operating expenses.

Origin: It can either refer to the manufacturing country of the products, or the starting-point of their shipment.

Packing list: It’s a typical document sent alongside a shipment. Sometimes knows as the packing slip, the document doesn’t divulge info regarding the cargo’s value but does enlist the items it contains, and what its packed in.

Pallet: Refers to loading platform for goods. The handling is eased when the lift truck is being utilized.

Parcel, small-parcel, package, small-package: Refers to a shipment usually roughly 150 pounds or less.

Payee: Refers to the seller, i.e., the group getting paid in the deal.

Payer: The group responsible for the payment, i.e., the group that is buying.

Payment terms: Refers to the conditions on the mode of payment. Payments are usually handled by; a consignee on collect shipments, and the shipper on prepaid shipments. This is unless the shipping contract refers to a third group as a payor.

Phytosanitary inspection certificate: Refers to a record confirming the ships plant disease- and pest-free nature. Utilized to meet other nation’s import needs.

Pier: Refers to a structure which is at 90 degrees to a shoreline and is used to secure ships for unloading and loading of freight.

Place of delivery: Refers to the place where a carrier leaves the cargo.

Place of receipt: Refers to the place where a carrier takes charge of the freight.

POD: Stands for either port of discharge/destination, or proof of delivery; it’s a document issued by a carrier needed to collect the payment/fee.

Point of origin: Refers to a place where the carrier receives the shipment from the shipper.

Port of call: Refers to the port where the ship either unloads or loads stuff.

Port of entry: Refers to the port where freight is unloaded and provided a gateway to enter the nation.

Port of exit: Refers to the port where freight is loaded then granted a gateway to leave the country.

PPI: Abbreviation for Principal party of interest. For more info please have a look at USPPI and FPI.

Prepaid: Refers to the payment of cargo fees by the shipper before the carrier issues bills of ladings.

Proforma invoice: It’s a certificate serving as the formal quote, provided to a potential buyer by a seller prior to the finalization of the deal.

Quarantine: Refers to restrictions in place amid concerns for public safety and health.

Quota: Refers to quantity of importable products over an allocated time period with no applicable restrictions.

Quotation: Generally abbreviated as quote, it’s a tender to market products under standard conditions at a standard price

Rate basis: Represents a formula consisting of particular factors used to calculate the rates of cargo.

Reasonableness: According to the general law and ICC, it’s the condition that freight rates should be charged at an amount which is enough to reimburse a carrier and let them a fair amount of profit through.

Relay: Refers to the moving of cargo from one container to the other, which is owned by a similar carrier.

Remittance: Refers to the funds transferred from a person to the other meant as a payment.

Revenue: Refers to the payment/amount a carrier gets upon transportation of products.

Roll-off, Roll-on: Known as ro-ro and RORO, these represent a vessel particularly made for carrying cargo on wheels. This includes trailers, vehicles, etc. This is also different from lift-on/off (LoLo) vessels that are utilized to load/unload freight.

Sanction: Refers to embargo placed on another nation by the government.

Ship’s tackle: Refers to instruments like cranes and rigging utilized to load/unload freight on or from a ship.

Shipper: When talking about international trade, a shipper usually represents an organization which intends or does sell products in an international market. In such circumstances, a shipper could be referred to as a consignor or an exporter.

Shortage: Refers to the lower quantity of items received than what is mentioned on a shipping contract.

Skids: Stuff placed underneath the packages or boxes so a forklift could access and lift them off of the floor.

SOLAS: Abbreviation for Safety of Life at Sea Convention. It’s regulated by IMO. It forces exporters to divulge the weight of products before being stocked on the ship for transportation purposes.

Spotting: Refers to a condition in which a container is placed in such a position so that it can easily be loaded/unloaded.

Starboard: It refers to the right of ship while in a face-forward position. It’s opposite to port.

Stern: Refers to backside of the ship; it’s opposite to the bow.

Stevedore: It refers to the organizations and individuals which allocate a contractor or longshoremen for the unloading and the loading process of a ship.

Stripping: Refers to removal of freight from the container.

Stuffing: The process of filling a container with freight.

STW: The words “said to weigh” are denoted by STW.

Supply Chain: It represents a massive system of organizations and perhaps, activities. The function of these entities is to move products to the customer from the supplier.

Surcharge: Refers to additional charges.

Surtax: Refers to extra tax.

Tail: Opposite to front/nose, a tail represents the backside of the trailer or container.

Tare Weight: Refers to weight of completely empty container.

Terminal: Refers to a place where containers get; dropped off, kept, maintained, and picked-up. Sometimes known as a container terminal.

Terminal charge: Refers to fee incurred for utilizing the terminal area of the carrier in order to carry out services in that space.

Third party logistics (3PL): Refers to an organization which entertains other organizations by providing them with logistics services like transportation or warehousing.

TL: Represents trailer Load’s abbreviation.

Trailer: Refers to the container chained/attached to backside of the truck.

Transshipment: It refers to the intermediate point where a carrier hands off the cargo to another carrier, usually moves products from a vehicle to the other, while the goods make their way to their ultimate consignee.

Truck tonnage: It represents a shipment’s weight, measured in tons, while being transported by a truck.

Turnaround: Represents a term in maritime transport of goods; it’s the time taken for a ship to arrive and depart from the place.

Ullage: Refers to space in a tank or drum which isn’t occupied by liquid.

Unit load:  Known as unitization, the process refers to loading of packages inside a crate, onto a pallet or by other means so the goods could be handled in forms of single units.

UN number: Refers to internationally accepted four-digit codes that are used for classification and identification of dangerous goods or HazMat’s.

USML: Abbreviation for United States Munitions List. Following the laws of International Traffic in Arms Regulations, it enlists items classified as defense/space related products that are under the State Department of United States’ control.

Vessel: Refers to a vehicle used for transportation on the sea, e.g., a ship or a boat.

Vessel manifest: Represents a document which enlists the details about both the cargo and crew present on a vessel/ship.

Vessel traffic service (VTS): Similar to the air-traffic control which is used to keep track of aircrafts, a VTS is a tracking network used by port/harbour authorities to track vessels.

War risk: Refers to coverage provided by an insurance company due to an ongoing war.

Warehouse: Refers to an area used for distribution, amalgamation, and storage of freight. Storage of freight is known as Warehousing.

Wharf: Refers to a place/structure used to entertain ships at the harbor’s shore, by providing docking facilities.