Key terms for road, sea and air freight, logistics and customs formalities.
20 / 20 definition(s)
- ADR
- Agreement governing the international carriage of dangerous goods by road. Classification, packaging, documentation and transport conditions depend on the product and quantity, among other factors.
- Air waybill (AWB)
- Document used for an air cargo shipment. It identifies details such as the shipper, consignee, routing and characteristics of the consignment.
- Bill of lading (B/L)
- Document issued for sea freight, acknowledging receipt or loading of goods and recording the carriage terms. Some forms are negotiable and can transfer rights to the goods.
- Chargeable weight
- Weight used to calculate the freight charge. It may depend on actual weight, volume or occupied space; methods and conversion factors vary by transport mode and quotation.
- CMR consignment note
- Document used for international road carriage covered by the CMR Convention. It records the parties, goods and acceptance for carriage, among other details. It is not, by itself, cargo insurance.
- Commercial invoice
- Document describing a sale, including seller, buyer, goods, value and agreed terms. Depending on the transaction, it may be required for customs formalities.
- Customs clearance
- Formalities needed to place goods under a customs procedure. Documents, checks and any duties or taxes depend on the transaction, countries and nature of the products.
- EORI
- Identification number used by economic operators in dealings with European Union customs authorities. Registration and use should be checked against the operator’s circumstances.
- Export controls
- Checks concerning the product, destination, end user and end use, among other factors. Certain transactions may require authorisation or be subject to restrictions.
- Freight forwarder
- Professional who organises the movement of goods and coordinates the required services. The exact role, responsibilities and formalities handled depend on the instructions and contract.
- Full container load (FCL)
- Booking a container for a shipment rather than sharing its space with other consignments. The container does not necessarily have to be filled to its maximum capacity.
- Full truckload (FTL)
- Road freight using a vehicle allocated to a load, rather than sharing capacity among several consignments. The transport quotation sets out the specific arrangements.
- Groupage
- Combining several consignments in the same means of transport to share available capacity. The operation may include consolidation and distribution stages.
- Harmonized System (HS code)
- International goods classification system based on six-digit codes. National or regional tariff systems add further subdivisions used for customs formalities.
- Incoterms
- International Chamber of Commerce rules allocating certain delivery obligations, costs and risks between seller and buyer. State the chosen rule, named place and edition. The rules do not, by themselves, determine the transfer of ownership.
- Less than container load (LCL)
- Sea freight sharing a container with other consignments. Consolidation and deconsolidation operations combine and then separate the shipments.
- Less than truckload (LTL)
- A load occupying part of a truck’s capacity. Several consignments may be combined according to their volume, characteristics and destinations.
- Multimodal transport
- Carriage using at least two modes of transport, such as road and sea or road and air. The transport arrangements should specify the stages and responsibilities.
- Packing list
- Document detailing a shipment’s packages, including contents, quantities, weights, dimensions or identifying marks as needed. It helps identify goods during logistics and customs checks.
- Pallet
- Handling platform used to group, move and store goods. Its dimensions, total weight and stackability should be supplied when requesting transport.
About this glossary
These definitions are newly written for this website, not recovered from the old website’s glossary module.
They provide general guidance. Formalities and responsibilities depend on the goods, countries and contract.