Reference
Freight glossary
The freight terms you’ll see on a quote or a bill of lading, explained.
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A
- Accessorial
- An extra service beyond standard pickup and delivery — liftgate, residential delivery, inside delivery — that adds to the freight charge.
B
- Bill of Lading (BOL)
- The legal document between shipper and carrier that lists the freight, terms and destination. It is the receipt and the contract of carriage.
C
- Cross-docking
- Moving freight straight from an inbound truck to an outbound one with little or no storage in between.
D
- Drayage
- Short-haul trucking of containers between a port or rail terminal and a nearby warehouse.
E
- Expedited
- Time-critical transport for freight that must arrive faster than standard transit.
F
- Freight class
- A standardized rating (50–500) that prices LTL freight based on density, stowability, handling and liability.
- Full truckload (FTL)
- A shipment that fills, or is priced for, an entire trailer with no terminal stops.
L
- LTL
- Less-than-truckload: freight that shares trailer space with other shipments, priced for the space it uses.
N
- NMFC
- The National Motor Freight Classification — the system that assigns freight classes to commodities.
P
- Partial truckload (PTL)
- A mode between LTL and FTL for larger multi-pallet shipments with fewer handlings than LTL.
R
- Reefer
- A refrigerated trailer (or the service) for temperature-controlled freight.
T
- Transloading
- Transferring cargo from one container or trailer to another — e.g. an ocean container to a domestic truck.
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