Whether you’re a seasoned carrier or a business owner navigating freight solutions for the first time, the language of logistics can feel like a foreign dialect. The industry runs on terminology that isn’t always self-explanatory, and a misunderstood term can mean delays.
That’s exactly why we put together this freight terminology resource guide. Think of this as your go-to transportation resource for decoding the words and phrases you’ll encounter when moving freight.
Whether you’re shipping LTL across two states or shopping around for a reliable freight broker, use this quick reference guide to better understand the industry lingo.
Glossary of Freight Terminology
A
- Absolute Minimum Charge: The lowest linehaul amount applicable to a shipment, before fuel costs and any additional accessorials.
- Accessorial Service: A service provided in addition to standard pickup and delivery such as liftgate service, inside delivery, etc.
- Auditing: Determining the correct transportation charges due to the carrier; involves checking the freight bill for errors, correct rate, and weight.
B
- Back Haul: Traffic moving in the direction of light flow when a carrier’s traffic on a route is heavier in one direction than the other; to haul a shipment back over a part of a route it has already traveled.
- Bill of Lading: A legal document that serves as the receipt for the shipment by the carrier, a contract of carriage, and a document of title for the goods being transported.
- Brokerage License: Authority granted to persons to engage in the business of arranging for transportation of persons’ property in interstate commerce.
C
- Cargo Claim: A written demand made for payment because of loss or damage alleged to have occurred while a shipment was in the possession of a carrier.
- Cartage: Freight hauling between locations in the same city, town, or local area.
- Claim: A written demand made upon a carrier for compensation due to loss or damage alleged to have occurred while the shipment was in the carrier’s possession.
- Classification or Freight Class: A numerical value to which an article is assigned for the purpose of applying transportation charges.
- Commodity: Any article of freight; goods shipped.
- Concealed Loss or Damage: Loss or damage to the contents of a shipment that is not visible at the time of delivery but discovered upon unpacking.
- Consignee: The person or organization to whom freight is being received.
- Consignor: The person or organization from whom freight is shipped.
- Cubic Foot: 1,728 cubic inches (12 x 12 x 12).
D
- Dead Head: Movement of freight without charges, or movement of an empty trailer.
- Detention: A charge made for a vehicle held by or for a shipper or consignee for loading, unloading, or any other purpose.
- Dock: The platform where trucks are loaded and unloaded.
- Drayage: Short-haul transportation of shipping containers, typically within a port.
- Dunnage: The material used to protect or support freight in or on trucks.
- Duty: A tax levied by a government on the import, export, use, or consumption of goods.
E
- Enroute: On the way to destination.
- Entry (Customs): A statement of the kinds, quantities, and values of goods imported, together with duties due (if any), declared before a customs office or other designated officer.
- Excess Value Liability: An amount of value above the carrier’s maximum liability.
- Export: Any traffic having a subsequent movement to a foreign country.
F
- Freight All Kinds (FAK): A pricing arrangement in which multiple freight classes are grouped and rated under a single agreed-upon class.
- Flat Bed: A trailer with an open deck, no roof or sides.
- Free Time: The period allowed for the owner to accept delivery before storage charges begin to accrue.
- Freight: Merchandise hauled by a transportation line.
- Freight Forwarder: One who assembles small shipments into one large shipment that is then tendered to a regulated over-the-road carrier. Upon reaching the destination, the shipment is separated into individual smaller shipments.
G
- Gross Weight: The weight of an article together with the weight of its container and packing material. As applied to a truck, the combined weight of the truck and its entire contents.
H
- Hazardous Material (HM): A substance or material determined by the Department of Transportation to pose an unreasonable risk to health, safety, and property when transported in commerce. A complete listing can be found in 49 CFR 172.101.
- Hundred Weight: A statement of weight meaning 100 pounds; abbreviated CWT.
I
- In-Bond: Shipments moving under U.S. Customs Bond.
- Interline: Shipment of freight moving between two or more carriers.
- Intermodal: Movement of cargo between motor, air, sea, and rail transportation.
- Interstate: Traffic having origin in one state and destination in another state.
- Intrastate: Traffic having origin, destination, and entire transportation within the same state.
L
- Lift Gate: A powered tail-gate capable of lifting a load from street level to the level of the truck or trailer floor.
- LTL (Less-than-Truckload): A quantity of freight less than that required for the application of a truckload rate; freight weighing less than 20,000 pounds or occupying less than the full visible capacity of a Doubles or Standard Trailer.
- Line Haul: The movement of freight between cities, excluding pickup and delivery service.
M
- M: One thousand pounds.
- Mode: The means of transportation (e.g., air, water, highway, rail).
- Multi-Modal: Movement of cargo between motor, air, sea, and rail transportation; equipment that is compatible with multiple transportation systems; intermodal.
N
- National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC): A publication for motor carriers containing rules, descriptions, and ratings on all commodities moving in commerce.
O
- Origin: Location where cargo begins movement.
- Over, Short and Damaged (OS&D): A shipment that has been damaged or lost in transit, or that arrives with more or fewer pieces than originally shipped.
- Overage: Excess freight; more than the quantity believed to have been shipped, or more than the quantity shown on the shipping document.
- Owner-Operator: A trucking operation in which the truck’s owner is also the driver.
P
- P & D: Pickup and delivery of freight.
- Perishable Freight: Freight subject to decay or deterioration.
- Point of Entry: A port at which foreign goods are admitted into the receiving country; officially designated by the government.
- Prepaid: A term denoting that transportation charges have been or will be paid by the shipper.
- Pricing Agreement: A published document between a carrier and customer outlining agreed-upon rates, discounts, allowances, and terms.
- PRO: A number issued to each shipment by the carrier and used for computer tracking to its destination.
- Prohibited Articles: Articles which will not be handled.
- Proof of Delivery (POD): The copy of the freight bill signed by the receiver at the time of delivery.
R
- Reconsignment: A change in the route made in a consignment before the arrival of the goods at their billed destination; or any change made after the arrival of goods at their billed destination.
- Reefer: A refrigerated container.
- Request for Proposal (RFP): A request given to invite potential vendors or contractors to submit bids.
- Return to Shipper: A shipment returned to the location where it was originally tendered to the carrier.
S
- Shipper Load and Count: The process by which the shipper places goods into a trailer at their own site with no opportunity for a joint check; the shipper is then responsible for proper loading and verification.
- Single Shipment Minimum Charge (SSMC): When a single shipment is tendered at one time and place, the shipment may be subject to the Single Shipment Minimum Charge.
- Standard Carrier Alpha Code (SCAC): A four-letter carrier identification
- Straight Bill of Lading: A non-negotiable document by which a carrier acknowledges receipt of freight and contracts for its movement. Surrender of the original straight BOL is not required, except when necessary to identify the consignee.
T
- Tariff: A schedule of transportation charges; a carrier’s published rates, accessorial charges, and rules.
- Terminal: A building for the handling and temporary storage of freight pending transfer between locations.
- Third Party: A payor of freight charges shown on the bill of lading that is neither the shipper nor consignee.
- Transit Time: The total time that elapses between a shipment’s delivery and its pickup.
- Truckload (TL): A quantity of freight weighing 20,000 pounds or more, or occupying the full visible capacity of a Doubles Trailer or Standard Trailer; the quantity of freight required to qualify a shipment for a truckload rate.
Now That You Know the Lingo, Let’s Move Your Freight!
Understanding freight terminology is just the first step. Having the right logistics partner makes all the difference in how smoothly your shipments actually move.
FLI Transportation & Logistics simplify freight shipping for carriers, shippers, and businesses of every size. Whether you need LTL solutions, truckload capacity, or a logistics partner to help manage the complexity of your supply chain, FLI brings the expertise, network, and technology to get it done right. Freight shipping simply done. Contact FLI Freight today to get started.
