Glossary of Common Logistics Terms
ABS: The American Bureau of Shipping is a U.S. classification society that certifies if a ship is in compliance with standard rules of construction and maintenance.
Anchorage: Port charge relating to a vessel moored at approved anchorage site in a harbor.
Barge: A large, flat-bottomed boat used to carry cargo from a port to shallow-draft waterways. Barges have no locomotion and are pushed by towboats. A single, standard barge can hold 1,500 tons of cargo or as much as either 15 railroad cars or 60 trucks can carry. A barge is 200 feet long, 35 feet wide and has a draft of 9 feet. Barges carry dry bulk (grain, coal, lumber, gravel, etc.) and liquid bulk (petroleum, vegetable oils, molasses, etc.).
Berth: (verb) To bring a ship to a berth. (noun) The wharf space at which a ship docks. A wharf may have two or three berths, depending on the length of incoming ships.
Bill of lading: A contract between a shipper and carrier listing the terms for moving freight between specified points.
Bollard: A line-securing device on a wharf around which mooring and berthing lines are fastened.
Bonded warehouse: A building designated by U.S. Customs authorities for storage of goods without payment of duties to Customs until goods are removed.
Breakbulk cargo: Non-containerized general cargo stored in boxes, bales, pallets or other units to be loaded onto or discharged from ships or other forms of transportation. (See also: bulk and container.) Examples include iron, steel, machinery, linerboard and woodpulp.
Bulk cargo: Loose cargo (dry or liquid) that is loaded (shoveled, scooped, forked, mechanically conveyed or pumped) in volume directly into a ship’s hold; e.g., grain, coal and oil.
Buoys: Floats that warn of hazards such as rocks or shallow ground, to help ships maneuver through unfamiliar harbors.
Cabotage: Shipment of cargo between a nation’s ports is also called coastwise trade. The U.S. and some other countries require such trade to be carried on domestic ships only.
Captive cargo port: When most of a port’s inbound cargoes are being shipped short distances and most of its export products come from nearby areas, the port is called a captive cargo port. (Contrast with a transit port.)
cargo: The freight (goods, products) carried by a ship, barge, train, truck or plane.
Carrier: An individual, partnership or corporation engaged in the business of transporting goods or passengers (See also: ocean carrier.)
Chandlers: Like a hotel at sea, a ship needs many supplies to operate and serve its crew– groceries; paper products; engine parts; electronics; hardware; etc. A chandler sells these supplies to the ship’s agent. Originally, chandlers (candle makers) provided illumination to ships. Over time they expanded the variety of products they could provide to ships.
Chock: A piece of wood or other material put next to cargo to prevent it from shifting.
Clerks: When cargo is unloaded from a ship, a clerk checks the actual count of the goods (number of boxes, drums, bundles, pipes, etc.) versus the amount listed on the ship’s manifest. He will note shortages, overages or damage. This is used to make claims if needed.
Common carrier: Trucking, railroad or barge lines that are licensed to transport goods or people nationwide are called common carriers.
Conference rate: Rates arrived at by conference of carriers applicable to water transportation.
Consignment: A shipment of goods. The buyer of this shipment is called the consignee; the seller of the goods is called the consignor.
Consolidator: The person or firm that consolidates (combines) cargo from a number of shippers into a container that will deliver the goods to several buyers.
Container: A box made of aluminum, steel or fiberglass used to transport cargo by ship, rail, truck or barge. Common dimensions are 20′ x 8’ x 8′ (called a TEU or twenty-foot equivalent unit) or 40′ x 8′ x 8′, called an FEU. Variations are collapsible containers, tank containers (for liquids) and “rag tops” (open-topped containers covered by a tarpaulin for cargo that sticks above the top of a closed box). In the container industry, containers are usually simply called boxes.
Container crane: Usually, a rail-mounted gantry crane located on a wharf for the purpose of loading and unloading containers on vessels.
Container terminal: A specialized facility where ocean container vessels dock to discharge and load containers, equipped with cranes with a safe lifting capacity of 35-40 tons, with booms having an outreach of up to 120 feet in order to reach the outside cells of vessels. Most such cranes operate on rail tracks and have articulating rail trucks on each of their four legs, enabling them to traverse along the terminal and work various bays on the vessel and for more than one crane to work a single vessel simultaneously. Most terminals have direct rail access and container storage areas, and are served by highway carriers.
Containerization: The technique of using a container to store, protect and handle cargo while it is in transit. This shipping method has both greatly expedited the speed at which cargo is moved from origin to destination and lowered shipping costs.
Corps of Engineers: This department of the U. S. Army is responsible for flood protection and providing safe navigation channels. The Corps builds and maintains the levees, flood walls and spillways that keep major rivers out of low lying communities. The Corps is vital to keeping navigation channels open by dredging sand, silt and gravel that accumulate on river and harbor bottoms.
Customs: A duty or tax on imported goods. These fees are a major bonus to the economy. In 1999, for example, the U. S. Customs Department collected over $22 billion in fees nationally, which went into the U.S. Treasury. The Customs Department also works to prevent the importation of illegal drugs and contraband.
Customs broker: This person prepares the needed documentation for importing goods (just as a freight forwarder does for exports). The broker is licensed by the Treasury Department to clear goods through U.S. Customs. Performs duties related to documentation, cargo clearance, coordination of inland and ocean transportation, dockside inspection of cargo, etc. (Also known as a customhouse broker.)
Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT): Maximum weight of a vessel including the vessel, cargo and ballast.
Deck barge: Transports heavy or oversize cargoes mounted to its top deck instead of inside a hold. Machinery, appliances, project cargoes and even recreational vehicles move on deck barges.
Demurrage: A penalty fee assessed when cargo isn’t moved off a wharf before the free time allowance ends.
Dock: (verb) – To bring in a vessel to tie up at a wharf berth. (One parks a car, but docks a ship.) (noun) – A dock is a structure built along, or at an angle from, a navigable waterway so that vessels may lie alongside to receive or discharge cargo. Sometimes, the whole wharf is informally called a dock.
Dockage: A charge by a port authority for the length of water frontage used by a vessel tied up at a wharf.
Draft: The depth of a loaded vessel in the water taken from the level of the waterline to the lowest point of the hull of the vessel; depth of water, or distance between the bottom of the ship and waterline.
Drayage: Transport by truck for short distances; e.g. from wharf to warehouse..
Dredge: (noun) A waterborne machine that removes unwanted silt accumulations from the bottom of a waterway. (verb) The process of removing sediment from harbor or river bottoms for safety purposes and to allow for deeper vessels.
Dry bulk: Minerals or grains stored in loose piles moving without mark or count.
Dunnage: Wood or other material used in stowing ship cargo to prevent its movement.
Duty: A government tax on imported merchandise.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI): The exchange of information through an electronic format. Electronic commerce has been under intensive development in the transportation industry to achieve a competitive advantage in international markets.
Feeder service: Ocean transport system involving use of centralized ports to assemble and disseminate cargo to and from ports within a geographic area. Commodities are transported between major ports, then transferred to feeder vessels for further transport to a number of additional ports.
Fender piles: The wooden or plastic pilings on the outer edge of the wharf function like the fenders on a car. They are there to absorb the shock of a ship as it docks at the wharf and to protect the structural pilings that actually support the wharf. Fender piles are also called sacrifice piles since they are designed to be discarded after they are broken.
Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) – Known in some countries as a free zone, a foreign trade zone (FTZ) is a site within the USA (in or near a U.S. Customs port of entry) where foreign and domestic goods are held until they ready to be released into international commerce. If the final product is imported into the U.S., duties and taxes are not due until the goods are release into the U.S. market. Merchandise may enter a FTZ without a formal Customs entry or the payment of Customs duties or government excise taxes. In the zone, goods may be: stored; tested; sampled; repackaged or relabeled; cleaned; combined with other products; repaired or assembled, etc.
Freight: Merchandise hauled by transportation lines.
Freight forwarder: An individual or company that prepares the documentation and coordinates the movement and storage of export cargoes. See also Customs house broker.
Gantry crane: Track-mounted, shoreside crane utilized in the loading and unloading of breakbulk cargo, containers and heavy lift cargo.
General cargo: Consists of both containerized and breakbulk goods, in contrast to bulk cargo. See: breakbulk, container, bulk, dry bulk). General cargo operations produce more jobs than bulk handling.
Gross tonnage: The sum of container, breakbulk and bulk tonnage.
Harbor: A port of haven where ships may anchor.
Heavy hauler: A truck equipped to transport unusually heavy cargoes (steel slabs, bulldozers, transformers, boats, heavy machinery, etc.)
Heavy lift: Very heavy cargoes that require specialized equipment to move the products to and from ship/truck/rail/barge and terminals. This “heavy lift” machinery may be installed aboard a ship designed just for such transport. Shore cranes, floating cranes and lift trucks may also adapted for such heavy lifts.
Hostler (or hustler): A tractor, usually unlicensed, for moving containers within a yard. An employee who drives a tractor for the purpose of moving cargo within a container yard.
Intermodal shipment: When more than one mode of transportation is used to ship cargo from origin to destination, it is called intermodal transportation. For example, boxes of hot sauce from Louisiana are stuffed into metal boxes called containers at the factory. That container is put onto a truck chassis (or a railroad flat car) and moved to a port. There the container is lifted off the vehicle and lifted onto a ship. At the receiving port, the process is reversed. Intermodal transportation uses few laborers and speeds up the delivery time.
ISO: International Organization for Standardization. Worldwide organization formed to promote development of standards to facilitate the international carriage and exchange of goods and services. Governs construction specifications for ISO containers.
JIT: The abbreviation for “just in time,” which is a way to minimize warehousing costs by having cargo shipped to arrive just in time for its use. This inventory control method depends on extremely reliable transportation.
Labor union: An organization of workers formed to serve members’ collective interests with regard to wages and working conditions. The maritime unions within ports can include locals of the larger union, such as the General Longshore Workers; Clerks and Checkers; Sack-sewers, Sweepers, Water boys and Coopers; Dock Loaders and Unloaders of Freight Cars and Barges; Dray Clerks, Weighers and Samplers; plus the Seafarer’s International Union; the National Maritime Union; the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association and the Teamsters. Some laborers don’t belong to a union.
Landlord port: At a landlord port, the port authority builds the wharves, which it then rents or leases to a terminal operator (usually a stevedoring company). The operator invests in cargo-handling equipment (forklifts, cranes, etc), hires longshore laborers to operate such lift machinery and negotiates contracts with ocean carriers (steamship services) to handle the unloading and loading of ship cargoes.
LCL: The acronym for “less than container load.” It refers to a partial container load that is usually consolidated with other goods to fill a container.
Length Overall (LOA): Linear measurement of a vessel from bow to stern.
Lift On-Lift Off (LO/LO): Cargo handling technique involving transfer of commodities to and from the ship using shoreside cranes or ship’s gear.
LTL: Means a shipment that is “less than truckload”. Cargoes from different sources are usually consolidated to save costs.
Longshoremen: Dock workers who load and unload ships, or perform administrative tasks associated with the loading or unloading of cargo. They may or may not be members of labor unions. Longshore gangs are hired by stevedoring firms to work the ships. Longshoremen are also called stevedores.
Manifest: The ship captain’s list of individual goods that make up the ship’s cargo.
Marine surveyor: Person who inspects a ship hull or its cargo for damage or quality.
Master: The officer in charge of the ship. “Captain” is a courtesy title often given to a master.
Marshaling yard: This is a container parking lot, or any open area where containers are stored in a precise order according to the ship loading plan. Containers terminals may use a grounded or wheeled layout. If the cargo box is placed directly on the ground, it is called a grounded operation. If the box is on a chassis/trailer, it is a wheeled operation.
Motor ship (MS) or motor vessel (MV): A ship propelled by internal-combustion engines.
NVOCC: A non-vessel-owning common carrier that buys space aboard a ship to get a lower volume rate. An NVOCC then sells that space to various small shippers, consolidates their freight, issues bills of lading and books space aboard a ship.
Ocean carrier: Diesel-fueled vessels have replaced the old steamships of the past, although many people still refer to modern diesel ships as steamships. Likewise, the person who represents the ship in port is still often called a steamship agent. (See: steamship agent)
on-dock rail: Direct shipside rail service. Includes the ability to load and unload containers/breakbulk directly from rail car to vessel.
on-terminal rail: Rail service and trackage provided by a railroad within a designated terminal area.
Operating port: At an operational port like Charleston, South Carolina, the port authority builds the wharves, owns the cranes and cargo-handling equipment and hires the labor to move cargo in the sheds and yards. A stevedore hires longshore labor to lift cargo between the ship and the dock, where the port’s laborers pick it up and bring it to the storage site.
Pallet: A short wooden, metal or plastic platform on which package cargo is placed, then handled by a forklift truck.
Pier: A structure which just out into a waterway from the shore, for mooring vessels and cargo handling. Sometimes called a finger pier.
Pilot: A licensed navigational guide with thorough knowledge of a particular section of a waterway whose occupation is to steep ships along a coast or into and out of a harbor. Local pilots board the ship to advise the captain and navigator of local navigation conditions (difficult currents; hidden wrecks, etc.).
Port: This term is used both for the harbor area where ships are docked and for the agency (port authority), which administers use of public wharves and port properties.
Project cargo: The materials and equipment to assemble a special project overseas, such as a factory or highway.
Quay: A wharf, which parallels the waterline.
Railhead: End of the railroad line or point in the area of operations at which cargo is loaded and unloaded.
Railyard: A rail terminal at which occur traditional railroad activities for sorting and redistribution of railcars and cargo.
Reefer: A container with refrigeration for transporting frozen foods (meat, ice cream, fruit, etc.)
ro/ro: Short for roll on/roll/off . A ro/ro ship is designed with ramps that can be lowered to the dock so cars, buses, trucks or other vehicles can drive into the belly of the ship, rather than be lifted aboard. A ro/ro ship, like a container ship, has a quick turnaround time of about 12 hours.
Rubber-Tired Gantry (RTG): Traveling crane used for the movement and positioning of containers in a container field. RTG’s may also be used for loading and unloading containers from rail cars.
Spreader: a device for lifting containers by their corner posts. The spreader bar on a container crane is telescopic to allow lifting various length containers.
Steamship agent: The local representative who acts as a liaison among ship owners, local port authorities, terminals and supply/service companies. An agent handles all details for getting the ship into port; having it unloaded and loaded; inspected and out to sea quickly. An agent arranges for pilots; tug services; stevedores; inspections, etc., as well as, seeing that a ship is supplied with food, water, mail, medical services, etc. A steamship agency does not own the ship.
Steamship line: A steamship (ocean carrier) service running on a particular international route. Examples: NSCSA (National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia), American President Lines (APL), Maersk Sealand, Evergreen, etc.
Stevedores: Labor management companies that provide equipment and hire workers to transfer cargo between ships and docks. Stevedore companies may also serve as terminal operators. The laborers hired by the stevedoring firms are called stevedores or longshoremen.
Straddle carrier: Container terminal equipment, which is motorized and runs on rubber tires. It can straddle a single row of containers and is primarily used to move containers around the terminal, but also to transport containers to and from the transtainer and load/unload containers from truck chassis.
Stripping: The process of removing cargo from a container.
Stuffing: The process of packing a container with loose cargo prior to inland or ocean shipment.
Tank barges: Used for transporting bulk liquids, such as petroleum, chemicals, molasses, vegetable oils and liquefied gases.
Tariff: Schedule, system of duties imposed by a government on the import/export of goods; also, the charges, rates and rules of a transportation company as listed in published industry tables.
Terminal: The place where cargo is handled is called a terminal (or a wharf).
Terminal operator: The company that operates cargo handling activities on a wharf . A terminal operator oversees unloading cargo from ship to dock, checking the quantity of cargoes versus the ship’s manifest (list of goods), transferring of the cargo into the shed, checking documents authorizing a trucker to pick up cargo, overseeing the loading/unloading of railroad cars, etc.
Toplift: A piece of equipment similar to a forklift that lifts from above rather than below. Used to handle containers in the storage yard to and from storage stacks, trucks and railcars.
Towboat: A snub-nosed boat with push knees used for pushing barges. A small towboat (called a push boat) may push one or two barges around the harbor. A large towboat is used to push from 5 to 40 barges in a tow is called a line boat. From the Port of New Orleans, line boats deliver cargo to Mid-America via the 14,500-mile waterway system flowing through the Crescent City.
tractor-trailer: Some trucks are a solid unit, such as a van, but many have three main units. The front section where the driver sits is called the cab or the tractor (because it pulls a load). Cargo is loaded into the metal box (container), which is loaded onto the wheel base called a chassis or a trailer. These big trucks are often also called 18-wheelers.
Tramp: A ship operating with no fixed route or published schedule..
Transshipment: The unloading of cargo at a port or point where it is then reloaded, sometimes into another mode of transportation, for transfer to a final destination.
Transtainer: A type of crane used in the handling of containers, which is motorized, mounted on rubber tires and can straddle at least four railway tracks, some up to six, with a lifting capacity of 35 tons for loading and unloading containers to and from railway cards.
Trucks: Heavy automotive vehicles used to transport cargo. In the maritime industry, cargo is often carried by tractor-trailers. The tractor is the front part of the vehicle, also called a cab. The trailer is the detachable wheeled chassis behind the tractor, on which containers or other cargoes are placed.
Tugboat: Strong v-hull shaped boat used for maneuvering ships into and out of port and to carry supplies. A ship is too powerful to pull up to the wharf on its own. It cuts power and lets the tug nudge it in. Generally barges are pushed by towboats, not tugs.
Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU): A unit of measurement equal to the space occupied by a standard twenty foot container. Used in stating the capacity of container vessel or storage area. One 40 ft. Container is equal to two TEU’s.
Vessel: A ship or large boat.
Vessel operator: A firm that charters vessels for its service requirements, which are handled by their own offices or appointed agents at ports of call. Vessel operators also handle the operation of vessels on behalf of owners.
Warehouse: A place in which goods or merchandise is stored.
Wharf: The place at which ships tie up to unload and load cargo. The wharf typically has front and rear loading docks (aprons), a transit shed, open (unshedded) storage areas, truck bays, and rail tracks.
Wharfage fee: A charge assessed by a pier or wharf owner for handling incoming or outgoing cargo.
Yard: a system of tracks within a certain area used for making up trains, storing cars, placing cars to be loaded or unloaded, etc.
