Freight, shipping and chartering glossary

Type Meaning
Container Manifest

Document showing contents and loading sequence of a container.

Container Vessel

An oceangoing vessel designed specifically to easily handle the loading, stowage, and off-loading of ocean freight containers.

Containerization

The practice or technique of using a boxlike device in which a number of packages are stored, protected, and handled as a single unit in transit.

Contract of Carriage

Contract on the legal obligations of the carrier and the client.

Cost Freight Incoterm (CFR)

Supplier has organized land delivery, completed port formalities, performed loading on ship’s board, and paid freight charges to the port (airport) of destination.

Countervailing Duties (CVD)

Special duties imposed on imports to offset the benefits of subsidies to producers or exporters in the exporting country.

Cube Out

When a shipping container has been filled by volume but has not reached its maximum weight limit.

Customer

An enterprise that uses the services as provided by another enterprise.

Customs

A government agency providing the procedure for moving goods and vehicles, things, and other items across the customs border, levying customs payments.

Customs Broker

A legal entity that has received a license to perform intermediary functions in the field of customs clearance of goods at the expense and on behalf of the represented person.

Customs Duty (at Destination)

Duties on exports from China

Customs Entry

The document that provides US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with details of your shipment, such as cost, classification, and origin.

Customs Value

The notional value of the goods used for customs duties.

Cage

(1) A secure enclosed area for storing highly valuable items, (2) a pallet-sized platform with sides that can be secured to the tines of a forklift and in which a person may ride to inventory items stored well above the warehouse floor.

Cargo

Goods that are transported by different types of vehicles.

Carnet

A document allowing special categories of goods to cross international borders without paying duties. This document is issued by customs.

Carriage Paid To Incoterm (CPT)

The seller arranges the delivery to the indicated place and includes it in the goods price. As a rule, such a place is a terminal where an ocean carrier (shipping line) can accept cargo for further transportation.

Carrier Certificate and Release Order

A document to advise customs of the shipment's details. This document confirms the owner or consignee of the cargo.

Carrier’s Lien

A freight carrier‘s right to hold on to cargo until they have received payment for transporting the goods.

Cartment

Customs form permitting in-bond cargo to be moved from one location to another under Customs control, within the same Customs district.

Cash Against Documents (CAD)

Settlement form, in which the exporter receives payment after submission of shipping documents to the bank or the importer receives documents for the goods after payment.

Certificate of Insurance (COI)

Issued by an insurance company or broker. The document confirms the existence of an insurance policy and summarizes the main aspects and conditions of the policy.

Certificate of Origin

Сertificate submitted by an exporter to those countries requiring it, listing goods to be imported and stating their place of origin. Used for customs and foreign exchange purposes.

Charter Rates

The tariff applied for chartering tonnage in a particular trade.

Chassis Usage Fee

Fee charged by ocean carriers at certain U.S. ports for the use of their chassis.

Collect Freight

Freight payable by the consignee at the port of destination.

Commodities

Products; commercial products and services.

Combined Transport

Transportation of goods by at least two different modes of transport; widely used in container shipping. When using it, transportation can be carried out by sea and further by rail and/or road according to one document. Combined Transport is also referred to in the USA as "Intermodal Transport" and in other parts of the world as "Multimodal Transport"

Commodity Code

A code describing a commodity or a group of commodities pertaining to goods classification. This code can be carrier tariff or regulating in nature.

Conference

A group of vessel operators joined for the purpose of establishing freight rates.

Consignment

Freight sent under a single contract of carriage.

Congestion Surcharge

This surcharge is dependent on unusual events, e.g. strikes, bad winter, major port fires.

Consolidator

An agent groups the cargo of several customers for container transportation.

Consolidator's Bill of Lading

A bill of lading issued by a consolidating freight forwarder to a shipper.

Container Chassis

Devices for transporting containers for ship or other operations.

Container depot

A storage area, other than a container yard, where shippers and consignees may pick up or drop off empty containers.

Container Cleaning Fee

Registration of all formalities and operations necessary to obtain permission to unload the container from the vessel and to load it on board the vessel.

Container Fumigation (at Export)

Disinfection allowance (fumigation).

Container ID

An identifier assigned to a container by a carrier.

Container Vessel

An oceangoing vessel designed specifically to easily handle the loading, stowage, and off-loading of ocean freight containers.

Contract of Carriage

Contract on the legal obligations of the carrier and the client.

Cubic Capacity

The carrying capacity of a container according to measurement in cubic feet, cubic centimeters or cubic meters.

Cube Out

When a shipping container has been filled by volume but has not reached its maximum weight limit.

Customs Bond

The bond protects the US government should an importer not pay any duties, penalties, etc. either while the goods are in CBP custody or after release.

Customs Broker

A legal entity that has received a license to perform intermediary functions in the field of customs clearance of goods at the expense and on behalf of the represented person.

Customs Duty (at Destination)

Duties on exports from China

Customs Duty (at Origin)

Duty on imports to the US may apply

Cabotage

Navigation of a commercial cargo or passenger ship between seaports of the same state.

Carriage & Insurance Paid To Incoterm (CIP)

Same as CPT but insurance is added for seller’s account on a definite part of the route. The shipping section covered by insurance can be any.

Cartel

A group of countries producing the same product and having concluded an agreement between themselves to control the supply volume and price level of this product.