National Academies Press: OpenBook

Public and Private Sector Interdependence in Freight Transportation Markets (2009)

Chapter: Appendix A - Glossary of Terms and Definitions

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A - Glossary of Terms and Definitions." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Public and Private Sector Interdependence in Freight Transportation Markets. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14285.
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Page 26
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A - Glossary of Terms and Definitions." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Public and Private Sector Interdependence in Freight Transportation Markets. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14285.
×
Page 26
Page 27
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A - Glossary of Terms and Definitions." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Public and Private Sector Interdependence in Freight Transportation Markets. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14285.
×
Page 27
Page 28
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A - Glossary of Terms and Definitions." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Public and Private Sector Interdependence in Freight Transportation Markets. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14285.
×
Page 28
Page 29
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A - Glossary of Terms and Definitions." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Public and Private Sector Interdependence in Freight Transportation Markets. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14285.
×
Page 29

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This glossary of terms and definitions covers some of the language commonly found in the private sector freight industry with respect to types of services, terms used to describe operations, and mode-specific units of measure for financial and operating performance. This glossary is not meant to cover the fundamentals that may be encountered in dealing with the private freight industry. 3PL: (see Third Party Logistics Provider). Accessorial Charges: fees for services in addition to the physical transportation of goods, such as storage, intermediate routing, or other special services. Aggregate Shipments: multiple shipments from different shippers to one consignee that are con- solidated and treated as a single consignment. Axle Load: maximum load permitted to be carried on each axle of a truck or railcar. Axle Weight: amount of weight carried by one axle of a tractor or trailer or railcar. Bill of Lading: a commercial shipping document that serves three distinct purposes in connec- tion with the carriage of goods. An itemized list of goods contained in a shipment. It is a receipt from the carrier for the goods, represents the contract for carriage, and serves as a doc- ument of title. – Order Bill of Lading: a negotiable document by which a transportation line acknowledges receipt of a shipment and contracts for its movement. The surrender of the original straight bill of lading, properly endorsed, is required by transportation lines upon delivery of the shipment, in accordance with the terms of the bill of lading. – Straight Bill of Lading: a non-negotiable document by which a transportation company acknowledges receipt of a shipment and contracts for its movement. The surrender of the original straight bill of lading is not required by transportation lines upon delivery of the shipment, except when necessary for the purpose of identifying the consignee. Blocking or Bracing: wood or metal supports used to keep shipments in place or on containers, trailers, railcars, or aboard vessels. Bonded Warehouse: a warehouse approved by the U.S. Treasury Department, used for storage of goods until customs duties are paid or goods are otherwise properly released. Breakbulk: composite loads made up of identical individual commodities shipped together but not in containers. Often classified as general cargo. Bulk Shipment: commodities shipped not in packages or containers, either dry or liquid. Capacity: amount of cargo or freight that can be carried in a piece of freight equipment or through an individual freight facility, expressed in terms of weight and measurement either for one shipment or over a fixed period of time. 25 A P P E N D I X A Glossary of Terms and Definitions

Capacity Utilization: the percentage of physical capacity, either measured in weight or volume terms, actually used for the transport of cargo, over a defined period of time. Cargo: freight; goods being transported. Carrier: an individual, partnership, or corporation engaged in the business of transporting goods or persons, for a fee. Cartage: traditionally the short-distance shipment of goods between locations in the same city, town, suburb, or local area. Certificate of Weight: an authoritative statement of the weight of a shipment. Classification (rating): the standardized identification of a type of commodity for declaration to customs or for the purpose of applying transportation charges. Container-on-Flat Car (COFC): transportation of a container by railroad flat car. Commodity: any physical material being shipped; the type of goods being shipped. Common Carriers: transportation companies required by the government to serve the general public on demand, at reasonable rates without discrimination. Connecting Carrier: a carrier that has a direct physical connection with another or forms a con- necting link between two or more carriers. Consignee: the person or organization to whom a shipment is shipped. Consolidation: the act or process of assembling freight shipments together for physical ship- ment jointly over the same route, usually taking advantages of economies of scale in shipping rates. Consolidator: the consolidation service provider. Containerization: shipping system based on standard-sized cargo-carrying rectangular contain- ers that can easily be interchanged between trucks, trains, and ships without rehandling of contents. Contract Carriers: a company that engages in for-hire transportation of property under an individual contract or agreement with one of a limited number of shippers. Cubic Capacity: the volumetric carrying capacity of a piece of freight equipment measured in cubic feet or cubic meters. Cubic Foot: 1,728 cubic inches. Cubic Ton: 40 cubic feet. Dead Head: movement of a piece of freight equipment without cargo (empty). Delivering Carrier: the transportation line by which a shipment is delivered to the consignee. Delivery: the act of transferring possession, such as the transfer of property from shipper to car- rier, one carrier to another, or carrier to consignee. Destination: the location to which a shipment is consigned. Detention: a charge made for a piece of transportation equipment held by or for shippers or con- signees for loading, unloading, or any other purpose. Dispatching: the scheduling and control of trucks and trains for pickup and delivery or travel between points on the network. Distance Rates: rates that are applied according to distance. Diversion: any shipment relinquished to the shipper, consignee, or his agent at point of ori- gin or intermediate point or change in routing before the shipment has reached its ultimate destination. Dock: the platform where ships, barges, railcars, or trucks are loaded and unloaded. Drayage: movement of shipments via truck between terminals or terminals and local freight facilities, usually in conjunction with container transportation, often at ports. Exchange Bill of Lading: a bill of lading issued in exchange for another bill of lading. Exempt: traditionally, those trucks hauling certain commodities exempted from economic reg- ulation. Most exempt commodities are agricultural commodities or seafood. 26 Public and Private Sector Interdependence in Freight Transportation Markets

Expediting: accelerated transportation. Expedited shipment service is usually faster than normal service. Export: goods (or services) being transported across a U.S. border to a foreign country. FEU: forty-foot equivalent unit, common volumetric measure of container shipping. An FEU is two TEUs. Freight All Kinds (FAK): the acronym applied to a pooling of different types of commodities for shipment together or for simplification in pricing. Fixed Charges: charges that do not vary with an increase or decrease in traffic. Flat Bed: a truck or truck trailer with no sides and with the floor of a standard height from the ground. Free Time: the time period given to the owner for taking delivery of freight before storage charges accrue at a freight facility, often a port or intermodal terminal. Freight: merchandise hauled by a transportation carrier; cargo. Freight Bill: document for common carrier shipment. Gives description of the shipment, amount of charges, fees, and taxes. Freight Broker: a third-party who arranges pick up and delivery of a shipper’s goods by a carrier without having physical control of the shipment. Also called a property broker, truck broker, freight agent, transportation broker, or agent. Freight Claim: a demand on a transportation carrier for the payment of overcharge or loss or damage sustained by the shipper or consignee. Freight Forwarder: typically an intermediary who assembles small shipments into larger ship- ments that are then tendered to for-hire carriers. On reaching their destination, the shipments are separated back into the smaller shipments. Gateway: a point at which shipments moving from one territory to another are transferred between transportation lines or carried between modes across a border. Gross Ton: 2,240 pounds, commonly called a long ton. Gross Weight: the weight of an article, together with the weight of its container and the material used in packing. As applied to a truck or container, the weight of the truck or container, together with the weight of its entire contents. Hazardous Material (Hazmat): a substance or material that has been determined by the U.S. DOT to be capable of posing an unreasonable risk to health, safety, and property when trans- ported in commerce, typically requiring special handling and documentation procedures for transportation. A complete list of hazardous materials can be found in 49 CFR 172.101. High Cube: a container, truck, or railcar with above average cubic content. Hub: terminal serving as a centralized connection for shipments across many transportation routes. The hub of a “hub and spoke system” is the interchange location where cargo ship- ments are brought together for interchange before being carried to their final destination. Import: inbound freight that has crossed the border, originating outside the country. In Bond: shipments moving under U.S. Customs Bond. Inland Carrier: a transportation line which hauls export or import traffic between ports and inland points. Interchange: transfer of shipments from one carrier to another. Interline: transportation provided by two or more carriers. Interline Freight: shipments moving from point of origin to destination using two or more transportation providers. Intermediate Carrier: a transportation line over which a shipment moves but on which neither the point of origin nor the destination is located. Glossary of Terms and Definitions 27

Intermodal Rail: transportation of containers or truck trailers by railroad. Intermodal Terminal: physical area for interchange between two modes of transport, most com- monly between truck and rail. Interstate: traffic having origin in one state and destination in another state. Intrastate: traffic having origin, destination, and entire transportation within the same state. Land Bridge: a term associated with international freight, where the freight arrives by ocean car- rier on one coast (Atlantic or Pacific), is transported across the country by rail or truck, and is then loaded back on an ocean carrier for carriage to a third country. LTL (Less-than-Truckload): a quantity of truck cargo less than that required to fill a truck trailer. Line haul: the movement, typically long distance, of shipments between cities, excluding pickup and delivery service. Line haul truck: vehicles used to carry shipments long distances, usually a tractor-trailer com- bination of three or more axles. Local Delivery: shipments of a short distance to final destination point. Log Book: a federally required record maintained by truck drivers containing their daily records of hours of service, routes, etc. Long Ton: 2,240 pounds. Low Boy: a semi-trailer with no sides and with the floor of the unit close to the ground. Often used in transporting heavy machinery or large objects, some times requiring special permits. Can imply higher than average transportation costs for special handling. Merchandise Traffic: rail traffic other than intermodal, typically made up of mixed railcar types within one train. Mileage Pay: truck driver pay tied to the distance driven, not the time driving. Mileage Rates: transportation rates applied according to distance shipped. Mini Land Bridge: a term associated with international freight, where freight arrives by ocean car- rier on one coast (Atlantic or Pacific) and is then transported by rail (or truck) to destinations near the other coast (as opposed to an “all-water” transport through the Suez or Panama Canal). Mixed Truckload: a truckload of different articles combined into a single shipment. Mode: means of transportation by one of the following methods: air, water, road, rail, or pipeline. Net Ton: short ton of 2,000 pounds. Net Weight: the weight of an article clear of its packing. Operating Ratio: the ratio between operating expenses to gross receipts of a carrier. Pallet: a small wooden, paper, plastic, or metal platform usually with top and bottom, on which packaged goods are placed to facilitate movement by some type of cargo handling equipment, typically to permit movement by fork lift truck. P&D: pickup and delivery of shipments, typically locally by truck. Peddle Run: pickup or delivery route traveled by a city truck. Perishable shipment: cargo shipment subject to decay or deterioration. Piggyback: transportation of a truck trailer on board a railroad flat car. Point of Origin: the location where a shipment begins its journey. Private Carrier: a transportation line not engaged in the for-hire transportation business as its primary purpose. Typically the trucking operations of a company in another business. ROI: return on investment. Measure of profitability of invested capital over a period of time. Often a threshold level is established as a minimum for investment approval. Route: the course or direction that a shipment moves from origin to destination. 28 Public and Private Sector Interdependence in Freight Transportation Markets

Shipment: one or more pieces of product transported with the same shipper or consignee. Shipper: company or individual who initiates the transport of goods. Split Pickup or Delivery: in trucking, picking up or delivering volume shipments at more than one place within confines of origin or destination points. Spotting: in trucking, the placing, detaching, and leaving in possession of a trailer unaccompanied by a tractor or power unit at a specific site designated by the customer or within a terminal. Storage: a charge made on goods or equipment stored. Storage-in-Transit: storage of property at a point other than the origin or destination of a shipment. Store Door Delivery: the movement of goods to the consignee’s place of business. Supply Chain: a system of supplier-customer relationships between companies or across func- tional groups within companies that together design, produce, transport, and distribute wholesale and retail products. It is often international, at least in part. Surcharge: a charge above the usual or customary charge, such as for fuel used. Tare Weight: the weight of a container and the material used for packing. Terminal: a physical area, potentially including a building with truck loading docks, for the handling and temporary storage of shipments pending transfer between locations. TEU: twenty-foot equivalent unit, standard volumetric measure of container shipping. Third Party: an intermediate party responsible for a shipment that is neither the shipper or consignee. Third Party Logistics Provider (3PL): a provider performing transportation and logistics ser- vices on behalf of another company. 3PLs provide management skills along with the physical assets, labor, and systems technology to provide transportation and logistics services for other companies. Ton-Mile: the movement of 1 ton of cargo over the distance of 1 mile. This unit is used in com- paring shipment earnings and expenses. Tonnage: the number of tons of freight handled or the total cargo capacity of deployed equipment. Trace/Track: to follow the movement of a shipment along its route. Traffic: property carried by transportation carriers. Trailer-on-Flat Car (TOFC): transportation of a truck trailer by railroad. Truckload (TL): shipment in quantity to fill a truck trailer, typically qualifying for lower rates than in smaller shipment sizes. Also refers to carriers offering truckload service. Volume Rate: commodity rates subject to a minimum weight of 10,000 pounds or more. Warehouse: a place for the receipt and storage of goods. Warehouse Velocity: time for goods to enter, be stored, and be shipped from a warehouse; a measure of the productivity of the warehouse facility. Waybill: the description of goods sent along with a shipment (same as freight bill). Wet Goods: liquids. Glossary of Terms and Definitions 29

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TRB’s National Cooperative Freight Research Program (NCFRP) Report 1: Public and Private Sector Interdependence in Freight Transportation Markets is designed as a primer on relationships between public sector and private sector stakeholders in the freight transportation industry. The report explores the freight industry through the use of examples, case studies, and a broad-based examination of the mutually dependent issues facing public and private investment decision makers.

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