A guide to Shipping and Freight Terms

Here is our guide to help you brush up on your logistics jargon!

• Accessorials: Any additional steps the carrier must take once the freight has arrived at its destination
• Accessorial Fee: A fee charged for carrier-provided service (for example, an address correction).
• Aggregate Shipment:  Multiple shipments—from different sellers to a single consignee (listed below)—that are consolidated by the carrier into a single consignment. 
• Air Waybill: Waybill indicates the shipment's destination address and includes info for shipper (consignor) or receiver (consignee)
• BOL (Bill of Lading): A contract between the owner of the goods and the carrier. It includes information about the type of goods shipped, where the shipment is coming from, and where the shipment is going. It serves as a receipt once the carrier has picked up the goods.
• Commercial Invoice: A document for international transactions that detail what is being shipped, who shipped the package, and the end consignee. Basis of other documents required for shipment. See also Why are commercial invoices showing the full price instead of the lower customs value?
• Commodity: Any commercial good shipped.
• Consignee: The recipient of the shipment. A consignment is a shipment of goods to a consignee.
• Customs: The government agency responsible for collecting duties/taxes and enforcing import/export regulations.
• Customs Broker: Helps shippers navigate customs requirements.
• Customs Invoice: A document required by the country’s customs authority. Similar to a commercial invoice, but also contains the certificate of origin (COO).
• Customs Value Only: If no transaction of monetary value occurs, shipments are still subject to duties and taxes. Shipper/exporter is responsible for including customs value only statements on the customs or commercial invoice.
• Collect Shipment: Billing option where consignee (receiver) is responsible for freight charges.
• Dimensions: Length, width, and height measurements of freight (Example, a box that is 9x7x7)
• DIM Weight (aka Dimensional Weight): Refers to shipping costs that factor in the dimensional weight (DIM) of a package into the overall shipping price. See this Knowledge Base article for more information
• Dunnage: Material used to stabilize and secure freight during transport (also referred to as void fill). 
• Dangerous Goods: Materials that are corrosive, flammable, poisonous, toxic, explosive, etc. Require special documentation and handling 
• Dangerous Goods Declaration: A form completed by the exporter providing details on the dangerous goods in the shipment. Separate forms are used for air and sea shipments.
• Drayage: The transport of goods over a short distance. Definitions vary, but a typical scenario is when a shipment is moved from a port to a staging warehouse (or i Logistics USA!)
• Duties: Taxes collected on importing and exporting goods (also referred to as Tariffs).
• EDI (Electronic Data Interchange): The electronic transmission of business documents including invoices, purchase orders, packing slips, and bills of lading. Typically in place for select retailers.
• Freight Forwarder: Company that arranges transportation on behalf of shippers.
• FTL (Full Truckload) or TL (Truckload): A carrier that contracts an entire truck’s capacity to a single customer.
• FOB Destination: Title and risk remain with the seller until the goods are delivered
• FOB Origin: Title and risk pass to the buyer the moment the seller delivers goods to the carrier.
• Harmonized System Code: An international standard for classifying goods. They are used for customs purposes. 
• Last-mile Delivery: The movement of goods from a transportation hub to the final destination.
• LTL (Less than Truckload): Carrier contracts truck's capacity to multiple customers. Small to medium-sized pallet shipments (typically 1-8 pallets)
• LCL (Less than Container Load): Like LTL but for ocean shipments.
• Manifest: A document providing a detailed description of shipment contents. 
• NMFC (National Motor Freight Classification): Industry-standard tariff published by carriers containing rules, descriptions, and ratings on all products. Used to classify goods to rate the freight bill.
• Origin: Site where a shipment first enters the carrier's pipeline of processes. An example would be an Origin scan of when packages leave the i Logistics USA facility with one of our carriers.
• PRO (Progressive Rotating Order): a 10-digit number assigned to each shipment, commonly used as a tracking number.
• Surcharge: Charge above usual or customary shipping charge. It is typically used to offset fuel, and peak operation fluctuations (holiday surcharge, etc). 
• Third-party Billing: The billing of freight costs to a third party, not the shipper (consignor) or receiver (consignee).