Understanding Transportation and Logistics Terminology Part 2

In Part 1 of transportation and logistics terminology we focused on paperwork and billing and the types of shipping and transportation modes.  Now we are going to focus on the additional logistics terminology that you will need to know when communicating with anyone in the shipping and logistics industry.

Additional Logistics Terminology

• Back Haul – The return trip of a truck transporting cargo or freight. It may be a return to the origin of the freight hauled, in which the carrier is willing to offer a discount to secure freight for the trip.
• Blind Shipment – When shippers and receivers are not aware of one another.
• Bonded Warehouse – The customs service authorizes bonded warehouses for storage or manufacture of goods on which payment of duties defers until the goods enter the customs territory. The goods are not subject to duties if reshipped to foreign points.
• Broker – The person who makes freight shipment arrangements on behalf of a person or company.
• Bulk Freight – When a shipment is a large amount of an item. But the packaging is not individual, it is bulk. Examples of bulk are sand and crude oil.
• Carrier – A person or company that transports freight for a fee is a carrier.
• Cartage – A trucking term that refers to shipping freight within the same city or area.
• Classification – An LTL term that refers to a list of articles and classes to which it assigns them.
• Common Carrier – A carrier that can be hired by anyone to transport goods.
• Consignee – The person receiving the shipment.
• Consolidated Shipments – This is when two or more shipments combine into one. This is more cost-effective for businesses.
• Container – A container looks like a truck trailer with no wheel and is among the most common freight shipping methods in the U.S. and abroad. They use containers for intermodal transportation and come in standard sizes to ensure they fit on standard trucks, rail cars, and ships.
• Customs Broker – Person or company who is licensed by the U.S. Treasury Dept. to act on behalf of freight importers and exporters with respect to U.S. Customs transactions.
• 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 in international shipping.
• Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) – Total Weight of Transport and its cargo.
• Interline – When the initial carrier of a freight shipment transfers the freight to another carrier to get to its final destination.
• Nested – Term used in “Less-than-truckload” which materials are stacked, and one item goes inside another. Nested freight reduces the amount of space taken up by the combined freight and makes LTL shipping more efficient as a result.
• TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit) – A measurement of a ship’s cargo-carrying capacity. One TEU measures twenty feet by eight feet by eight feet.
• Third-Party Shipments – A shipment in which the person who arranges the shipment is neither the originating, not the receiving destination. The third-party makes the arrangements for the shipper and receiver.
• Time Critical – Freight shipment is time critical when the guarantee of delivery is the earliest possible time.
• Time Definite – A guarantee that the delivery will occur on a specific day and/or time of day.
• Transit Time – Total time from pick-up to delivery.
• Third-Party Logistics (3PL) – A company that serves as a liaison between another individual or company that needs shipping services and an authorized motor carrier. A 3PL provides the necessary transportation and logistics services but not the actual carriers.