Freight Forwarding Acronyms: A Working Glossary for U.S. Importers

Freight Forwarding Acronyms: A Working Glossary for U.S. Importers

Every acronym below appears on a document an importer is asked to sign, check or return. They are grouped by where they show up rather than alphabetically, because that is the order in which they are usually met.

This is one page on purpose. Splitting it into thirty short articles produces thirty thin pages; one maintained page produces one that people link to.

Documents and filings

B/L (Bill of Lading) — The contract of carriage and the document of title. It names the shipper, consignee and notify party, and it is what the carrier checks before releasing a container.

SWB (Sea Waybill) — A non-negotiable bill of lading. No original document is needed for release, which is faster and removes any control the shipper keeps after sailing.

Telex Release — An instruction to release cargo at destination without surrendering a paper original. It is a message, not a document, and it is irreversible once acted on.

ISF (Importer Security Filing) — The 10+2 filing submitted before loading at the last foreign port. It is the importer's obligation even when a broker submits it.

AMS (Automated Manifest System) — The carrier's manifest filing to CBP, due before loading. Confusingly similar to ISF, filed by a different party, on a different deadline.

AES (Automated Export System) — The U.S. export filing, relevant on the China side only when U.S.-origin goods move through.

CO (Certificate of Origin) — A document stating where the goods were made. It is not proof of origin on its own, and CBP is not bound by it.

D/O (Delivery Order) — The instruction from the carrier or agent authorising release to a named party at destination.

Packing List — Line-level quantities, weights and carton counts. The document most often inconsistent with the invoice, and the one CBP compares against a physical exam.

Parties

Shipper — The party named as sender. Not necessarily the seller, and not necessarily the party who pays.

Consignee — The party to whom the cargo is released. If named as a bank or an order party, release requires endorsement.

Notify Party — Who the carrier tells on arrival. Has no right to the cargo and is frequently mistaken for the consignee.

IOR (Importer of Record) — The party legally responsible for the entry. CBP's five-year recordkeeping obligation attaches to this name, not to whoever arranged the shipment.

NVOCC — A carrier that sells ocean transport without operating vessels. It issues its own house bill of lading and carries carrier liability for the booking it sells.

OTI (Ocean Transportation Intermediary) — The FMC category covering both NVOCCs and licensed freight forwarders in the United States.

Customs Broker — A licensed party who files entries on behalf of an importer under a power of attorney.

Surety — The company that issues a customs bond. If the bond is a continuous bond, the surety's code must be on file with CBP before entry.

Equipment and movements

TEU / FEU — Twenty-foot and forty-foot equivalent units. A 40HQ is one FEU and, for capacity purposes, roughly two TEU.

40HQ (High Cube) — A forty-foot container roughly a foot taller than a standard 40GP. The extra height is what makes tall pallets or stacked cartons possible.

SOC / COC — Shipper-owned versus carrier-owned container. SOC moves shift repair and positioning responsibility onto the shipper.

FCL / LCL — Full container load versus less than container load. LCL adds a consolidation and deconsolidation step, each with its own charges and its own delay risk.

IPI (Inland Point Intermodal) — A through rate covering ocean plus inland rail to an inland point, under a single bill of lading.

MLB (Mini Land Bridge) — Ocean to a U.S. West Coast port, then rail across the country to an East Coast or Gulf destination.

Drayage — The short truck move between a terminal or ramp and the final delivery point. The least visible leg and the most common source of unexpected charges.

Chassis — The wheeled frame a container sits on for road movement. Supplied from a pool, and a shortage is a hard stop rather than an inconvenience.

Pre-pull — Moving a container out of a congested terminal to a yard before it is needed, to stop demurrage accruing. It trades a known handling cost for an unknown accrual.

Time and money

CY / CFS — Container yard versus container freight station. A quote ending at CY and a quote ending at CFS are not the same product.

Cut-off — The deadline for a specific step: documentation cut-off, gate cut-off, VGM cut-off, rail cut-off. Each belongs to a different party and each is measured differently.

Free Time — The days a container may sit before storage charges begin. Granted separately by the terminal and by the carrier, and counted in calendar days.

Demurrage — Charges for a container occupying terminal space beyond free time.

Detention / Per Diem — Charges for keeping the container itself beyond free time, running from gate-out to empty return.

THC (Terminal Handling Charge) — The terminal's charge for handling the container, levied at origin and again at destination as DTHC.

BAF / CAF / PSS — Bunker, currency and peak season surcharges. Applied on top of the base rate and quoted separately for a reason: they move independently.

Compliance

HTS (Harmonized Tariff Schedule) — The classification system that determines the duty rate. The number on the invoice is a claim, not a determination.

AD/CVD — Antidumping and countervailing duties, applied to specific goods from specific countries on top of the normal duty rate. They can exceed the value of the goods.

UFLPA — The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. Creates a rebuttable presumption that goods with any Xinjiang nexus are inadmissible, and the burden of proof sits with the importer.

Bond — The financial guarantee for duties and compliance. Single entry for one shipment, continuous for a year of them.

Liquidation — CBP's finalisation of an entry. Until it happens the entry is provisional, and most correction routes depend on whether it has occurred.

PEA (Post-Entry Amendment) — A correction filed after the entry but before liquidation.

Protest — The formal challenge to a liquidated entry, filed after liquidation on a different clock than a PEA.

NII (Non-Intrusive Inspection) — X-ray or gamma imaging exam, as opposed to a physical tailgate or intensive exam.

Terms are added as they come up in correspondence rather than as they are invented. If a term you were given is not here, it is worth asking whether the person using it can define it.