A single export booking can arrive with a dozen abbreviations attached. Here are the ones that matter when you ship full containers out of Canada or the US, grouped by where you’ll meet them.
Containers and loads
- FCL
- Full container load. One shipper’s cargo fills the container.
- LCL
- Less than container load. Cargo from several shippers shares one container.
- FTL
- Full truckload. A whole trailer for one shipment.
- TEU
- Twenty-foot equivalent unit, the standard measure of container volume. A 40′ container counts as two TEU.
- FEU
- Forty-foot equivalent unit.
- 40′HC
- A 40-foot high-cube container, 9′6″ tall instead of the standard 8′6″.
- Drayage
- Moving a container by truck over a short distance, usually between a port or rail ramp and your dock.
Dates and deadlines
- ERD
- Earliest return date. The first day the terminal will accept your loaded export container.
- CY cut-off
- Container yard cut-off. The last moment the loaded container can enter the terminal and still make the vessel.
- SI cut-off
- The deadline for sending the carrier your shipping instructions, which become the bill of lading. Also called the doc cut-off.
- VGM cut-off
- The deadline for declaring the container’s verified gross mass (see below).
- ETD / ETA
- Estimated time of departure and estimated time of arrival.
- Free time
- The number of days you can use the carrier’s container or leave it at the terminal before charges start.
Documents
- B/L
- Bill of lading. The carrier’s receipt for the cargo, the contract of carriage and, if negotiable, the document of title.
- MBL
- Master bill of lading, issued by the ocean carrier to the NVOCC or forwarder.
- HBL
- House bill of lading, issued by the NVOCC to the shipper.
- SI
- Shipping instructions. The shipper, consignee, cargo description and other details the bill of lading is built from.
- VGM
- Verified gross mass. Under the SOLAS convention, the total weight of a packed container must be declared before it can be loaded onto a ship.
- CI / PL
- Commercial invoice and packing list.
- COO
- Certificate of origin. States where the goods were made, and may qualify them for lower duties at destination.
- COI
- Certificate of insurance. Proof that the cargo is insured, often required by the buyer or their bank.
Who’s who
- SSL / VOCC
- Steamship line, or vessel-operating common carrier. The ocean carrier that runs the ships.
- NVOCC
- Non-vessel-operating common carrier. Books space with ocean carriers and issues its own bills of lading, without operating ships. NVOCCs serving US trades are licensed or registered with the Federal Maritime Commission.
- FMC
- Federal Maritime Commission, the US regulator for ocean shipping.
- POL / POD
- Port of loading and port of discharge.
- ICD
- Inland container depot. A dry port away from the coast where containers are cleared and delivered, common in India and other markets.
- CBSA / CBP
- Canada Border Services Agency and US Customs and Border Protection.
Charges
- THC
- Terminal handling charge, for handling the container at the port.
- BAF
- Bunker adjustment factor. A fuel surcharge.
- PSS
- Peak season surcharge.
- GRI
- General rate increase, announced by carriers across a trade lane.
- D&D
- Demurrage and detention. Demurrage is charged when a container stays in the terminal past its free time. Detention (in the US, often called per diem) is charged when you keep the carrier’s container outside the terminal past its free time.
- OW
- Overweight. A fee or permit needed when a loaded container is heavier than road or terminal limits allow.
Export customs
- HS code
- Harmonized System code, the international classification for traded goods. The first six digits are shared worldwide, and each country adds its own digits after that.
- Schedule B
- The 10-digit code used to classify US exports.
- AES / EEI / ITN
- US exports are reported in the Automated Export System (AES). The export data filed is the Electronic Export Information (EEI), and a successful filing returns an Internal Transaction Number (ITN).
- CERS
- Canadian Export Reporting System, CBSA’s online system for reporting exports from Canada.
Paper and plastic terms
- OCC
- Old corrugated containers. Used cardboard, one of the most traded recovered paper grades.
- Regrind
- Plastic that has been ground into flakes for reuse.
- Supersack
- A large woven bulk bag, also called an FIBC, used for pellets, flakes and regrind.
Shipping a full container out of Canada or the US?
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