• ANF

    Arrival Notifcation Form- Advice to the consignee of goods coming forward.

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  • BAF

    Bunker Adjustmernt Factor. Freight adjustment factor to reflect current cost of bunkers.

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  • B/L

    Bill of lading – acts as a receipt for the cargo and contains the terms of the contract of carriage and is a document of title to the goods.

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  • B/L Ton

    Bill of lading ton-the greater weight or measurement of goods where 1 ton is either 1000 kilogramme or 1 cubic metre, also called Freight Ton

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  • Blue Book  

    Sets out regulations for the carriage of dangerous goods in ships, as requred by the Department of Trade for dangerous goods aboard ships in British ports. It largely  refers to the IMDG Code (see below).

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  • Bonded Warehouse

    A place of security approved by the custom authorities for the deposit, keeping and securing of goods liable to excise duty, without payment of this duty.

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  • Box 

    A colloquial name for a container.

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  • Boxtime 

    A standard BIMCO time charter for container ships.

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  • Break Bulk Cargo 

    Goods shipped loose in the vessel’s hold and not in containers.

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  • CABAF 

    Currency and bunker adjustment factor, a combination of CAF and BAF.

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  • Cabotage
    Coastal Navigation , Coastal Cargo Marine transportation , Cargo marine transportation in National coastal Area 
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  • CAF

    Currency adjustment factor- adjusts the freight to reflect currency exchange fluctuations.

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  • C/B  

    Container base- one of a group of container freight stations.

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  • C&D

    Collect and delivery- carriage from/to customer’s premises to / form CFS (see hereunder).

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  • C&E

    Customs and Excise.

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  • C&F

    Cost and Freight- a conventional port-to-port INCOTERM of sale, more correctly known as CFR (see below)

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  • CFR

    Cost and Freight- (see above).

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  • CFS

    Container Freight Station- a place for the packing and unpacking of LCL consignments. Sometimes known as C/B in  the U.K; Depots in other parts of the world’ and ICD in the U.K. and the Indian Subcontinent.  

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  • CIF

    Cost, Insurance and Freight- (see above).

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  • CMI

    Comite Maritime International – an international committee of maritime lawyers.

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  • COT

    Customer’s On Transport-i.e. the customer collects the cargo from or delivers it to the CFS/CY.

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  • COU
    Clip on Unit-a portable refigeration unit.

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  • CPT

    Carriage Paid To-a new combined transport Incoterm replacing CFR where CT is involved but applicable to all modes of transport, it used to be DCP. Particulary appropriate for combined transport.  

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  • CSC

    Container Safety Convention.

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  • CT

    Combined Transport- carriage by more than one mode of transport under ome contract of carriage.  

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  • CY

    Container Yard-collection and distribution point for FCL (see below) containers.

     

  • Certificate of Origin

    A document certifying the country of origin of goods which is normally issued or signed by a Chamber of Commerce or Embassy.   

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  • Consortium  

    A group of CTO who agree to rationallise sailings in a trade and carry each others cargo.

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  • Delivery Order 

    A document authorising delivery to a nominated party of goods in the care of a third party. This document can be issued by a carrier on surrender of the original bill of lading and then used by the merchant to transfer title by endorsement.   

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  • Demurrage 

    A charge raised for detaining a vessel, cargo or FCL or carrier’s containers and/or trailers for a longer period than provided for in the tariff or contract.   

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  • Depot A CFS, (see above).

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  • Detention 

    A charge raised for detaining cargo. Containers or trailers for a longer period than provided for in th tariff.   

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  • EDI 

    Electronic Data Interchange-the transfer of structured data from one computer system to another.   

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  • EDIFACT

    EDI For Administration, Commerce and Transport- an – or- ganisation responsible to UN ECE for the development of standard EDI messages for Adiminstration, Commerce and Transport.  

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  • EDP

    Electronic Data Processing-computer processing of data.

     

  • ETC

    Electronic Data Credits- and idea being developed by the EDI Banking Interst Section to facilitate an EDI alternative to documentary credits.

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  • ETD

    Estimated Time of Departure (see ETA)

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  • FCL Full

    Container Load-an arrangement whereby the  shipper utilises all the space in a container which he packs himself. “FCL door  (or house)/LCL depot” would describe a  movement where a haulier, who was the sub-contractor of the carrier, took an empty container to a shipper’s premises for packing by the shipper and then to haul the loaded container back to the container yard. At the importing end, the loaded container would then be unpacked at the CTO’s depot by the sub-contractor of the carrier, who would effect delivery to the consignee’s promises. “FCL port (or pier)/FCL deport” is when the carrier receives from the shipper at the vessel’s side a containerpacked by the shipper and delviers same to the consignee at the importing depot for the consignee to take it to his premises for unpacking and subsequent retum of the empty container to carrier’s depot.  

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  • Feeder Vessel

    A short- sea vessel used to fetch and carry goods and containers to and from deep-sea ports/vessels.

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  • Freight

    The amount of money payable for the carriage of goods. Sometimes erroneously used to describe the goods which are more correctly described as “ cargo” in marine transportation.   

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  • GA

    General Average.

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  • Groupage

    Consolidation of several LCL consignments into a container.

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  • H/L

    Heavy Lift.

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  • House or Door

    A movemnt starting or finishing at the customer’s premisee. Thus, “House/House” or “Door/Door” starts at the shippers premises and ends at the consignee’s premises.

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  • IMDG Code

    International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code- con – tains the IMO recommendations for the carriage of dangerous goods by sea.

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  • IMO

    International Maritime Organisation- a UN body charged with the duty of making safety and anti-pollution conventions and recommendations concerning  sea transport.   

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  • ISO

    International Standards Organisation- a body responsible for, inter alia,Setting Standards for inter alia,setting standards for container construction.  

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  • INCOTERMS

    International Rules for the Interpretation of Trade Termsat current comprising 13 terms (listed above) for foreign trade contracts, compiled by ICC.

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  • L/C

    Letter of Credit- a document in which the terms of documentary credit transactions are set out.

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  • LCL

    Less than container Load- when a parcel is too  small to fill a container which  is grouped by the carrier at a CFS with other compatible goods for the same destination. “ LCL door/ LCL depot” is effected when the carrier collects the cargo from the shipper, takes it to his depot for groupage and delivers to the import depot.

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  • L/I

    Letter of Indemnity- sometimes also called a letter of guarantee, it allows the consignee to take delivery of his goods without the surrendering of the original bill of lading which has been delayed or become lost.

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  • LO-LO

    Lift On Lift Off- a containership onto which and from which containers are lifted by crane (as opposed to RoRo).

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  • Liner  

    A vessel plying a regular pattern of a trade on a defined route under a published sailing schedule.

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  • Liner Terms

    Freight payable which includes the cost of loading and unloading.

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  • MMO

    Multi Modal Operator.

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  • Manifest

    List of goods or passengers on a vessel.

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  • M/R

    Mate’s Receipt- a receipt given to the party that delivers the cargo to the ship.The M\R states quantity and condition of the cargo and where it was stowed.

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  • Notify Party

    The party to whom the ANF (see above) is sent.

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  • O/H

    Overheight- a container with goods protruding above the top of the corner posts.

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  • OOG

    Out of Gauge- goods whose dimensions exceed those of the container in which they are packed.

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  • O/W

    Overwidth – a container with goods portuding beyond the sides of the container/flat rack onto which they are packed.

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  • POA

    Place of Acceptance – the place where the goods are received for shipment or transit and where the carrier’s liability commences. Now more usually called POR (see below).

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  • POD

    Place of Delivery- the place where the goods are delivered and carrier’s liability ends. It can also mean proof of Delivery and then it means a signed receipt acknowledging delivery.

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  • Port or Pier

    A movemnt starting or finishing at he vessel’s side, as in the times of break bulk cargoes, so that the inland movement prior and subsequent to sea carriage is effected by the merchant. It is possible to encounter movements involving more than one of these mentioned. Thus,”door(or house)/ depot” would describe a movement starting at the shipper’s premises and ending at the CFS. Once the details in respect of LCL or FCL are added to the bill of lading a full picture of the type of movement contemplated by the shippers is possible.

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  • RN

    Release Note- a receipt signed by the customer with the acknowledgement of delivery of his goods.

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  • Ro-Ro

    A ferry type vessel, onto which goods and containers can be driven usually via a ramp.

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  • Reefer

    A refrigerated vessel or container.

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  • SDR

    Special Drawing Rights- means of a basket of currencies designed to “iron out” currency exhange fluctuations in international valuations, now Used to express the limitation under the Hague-Visby Relus and the MSA Limitation Convention.

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  • Shipper

    The person who tenders the goods for thecarriage, not to be confused with the party issuing the bill of lading or the vessel’s operator who is the carrier.

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  • Slot

    The space on board a vessel occupied by a container.

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  • Stuffing/Stripping

    The action performed whe packing or unpacking a container.

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  • TEU

    Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit – i.e. 1×20ft= 1 TEU, 1×40ft = 2 TEU.

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  • THC

    Terminal Handling Charge- a charge for handling container at the ocen terminals.

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  • TIR

    Transport International Routiers- a system involving the issue of a carnet to road hauliers which allows loaded vehicles to cross national frontiers with minimum customs formalities.

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  • Tariff

    The terms and conditions and scale of charges- in the US trade the tariff must be notified in advance to the FMC (see above)

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  • Terminal

    The port or deot at which containers are loaded or unloaded onto or from container vessels, railways or trucks.

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  • Waybill

    A bill of lading that acts as receipt for the goods and evidence of the contract of carriage. A wabill is a bill of lading that is not a document and can thus be defined as follows :

                a waybill is a receipt for goods;

                a waybill is evidence of the contract;

                a waybill is a non-negotiable document.

    Under a waybill delivery will be effected to a nominated consignee upon proof of identity. As a title it presents a personal contract between the shipper and the carrier only. There is (at present) no mandatory law or convention and the parties have absolute freedom of contract.

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Modern Maritime Glossary