3PL (Third-Party Logistics Provider)
An organization that manages and executes a particular logistics function, using its own assets and resources, on behalf of another company.

4PL (Fourth-Party Logistics Provider)
The term "4PL" was introduced into the supply chain to convey that deep informational technology skills and deeper analytical skills were required to achieve supply chain leadership. But the true evolution of the 4PL term is better defined in context of the global marketplace where outsourced logistics creates more of a partnership critical to success than a supplier/customer relationship. Companies in the global marketplace are finding that supply chain engineered logistics is not a commodity, and understand it is a vital means to boost their cost savings, enhancing their cash flow and improving servicing levels for getting their products to market.

A

Absorption
Acceptance by the carrier of a portion of a joint rate or charge which is less than the amount which it would receive for the service in the absence of such joint rate or charge.

Acceptance of Goods
The process of receiving a consignment from a consignor, usually against the issue of a receipt. As from this moment and on this place the carrier's responsibility for the consignment begins.

Acknowledgement of receipt
A notification relating to the receipt of e.g. goods, messages and documents.

Active Inventory
Covers raw material, work in progress, finished products that will be used or sold within a given period without extra cost or loss. This term does not cover the so-called reserve inventory.

Actual Demand
Customers’ orders and often also the allocation of items, ingredients and/or raw materials to production or distribution.

Actual Voyage Number
A code for identification purposes of the voyage and vessel which actually transports the container/cargo.

Added Value
The value attributed to products, and services as the result of a particular process (e.g. production process, storage, transport).

Advance Arrangement
An agreement between the shipper and the carrier, concerning contacts between those parties prior to tendering the consignmentlhcolumn.html

Advanced Amount
lhcolumn.htmlfooter.htmlfooter.htmlf cash or cash equivalents expressed in a monetary amount given to a driver to cover expenses during a trip.

Advanced Charge
A charge paid by a carrier to an agent or to another carrier, which the delivering carrier then collects from the consignee. Such charges are usually for agents' forwarding fees and incidental expenses paid out of pocket for account of the shipment by an agent or other carrier (aircargo).

Advanced Interline
An interline carrier that picks up cargo from the shipper and delivers it to another carrier for shipment to the consignee.

Advice Note
A written piece of information e.g. about the status of the goods.

Advisory Committee for Innovation and Technology Transfer
See Strategic Programme for Innovation and Technology Transfer

Aft
At, near or towards the stern or rear of a vessel or an aircraft.

Agency Fee
Fee payable by a shipowner or ship operator to a port agent.

Agents
Intelligent software that can be used in an exchange or auction to monitor prices and conditions on behalf of buyer and supplier, and in some cases to automatically execute trades.

Aggregate Inventory
The inventory for any group of items or products, involving multiple stock-keeping units. Synonym: Aggregate Stock.

AIM
See Automatic Identification Manufacturers.

Allocation
The process of assigning activities, costs or facilities e.g. space to a certain organizational units.

Allotment
A share of the capacity of a means of transport assigned to a certain party, e.g. a carrier or an agent, for the purpose of the booking of cargo for a specific voyage.

Amidships
At or in the middle of a vessel.

Apparel
A vessel's outfit, such as rigging, anchor and life boats. The term used in distribution/transport of clothing for a single piece of clothing, a garment.

Application service provider
An online outsourcer or hosting service for applications, letting Net market makers rent instead of buying applications and services such as auctions, exchanges and catalog aggregation. Many application vendors are moving to a hosting model, but ASPs are often application-agnostic, plugging a feature of one application into a marketplace when appropriate and using another feature from another vendor elsewhere.

Approved Continuous Examination Program
Abbreviation: ACEP
An agreement between the owners of the equipment and the responsible governmental body to allow continuous examination of the equipment (e.g. containers).

Apron
See Platform.

APRYCLEE
A network of national information centres of information technologies.
Acronym: APRYCLEE

Area Code
A code for the area where a container is situated.

Area of Repair
Geographical area where a container is under repair.

Area Off Hire Lease
Geographical area where a leased container becomes off hire.

Area Off Hire Sublease
Geographical area where a subleased container becomes off hire.

Area On Hire Lease
Geographical area where a leased container becomes on hire.

Area On Hire Sublease
Geographical area where a subleased container becomes on hire.

Arrival Notice
A notice sent by a carrier to a nominated notify party advising of the arrival of a certain shipment.

Articles Dangereux de Route
Abbreviation: ADR
An European agreement concerning the international carriage of dangerous goods by road.

Assembly
The stage of production in which components are put together into an end product appropriate to the process concerned.

Assignment
The transfer of certain rights from one party to another.

Auctions
Let multiple buyers bid competitively for products from individual suppliers. Suitable for hard-to-move goods such as used capital equipment (forklifts) and surplus or excess inventory. Prices only move up, but buyers can buy below list prices while sellers sell for more than a liquidator pays. Auctions are becoming a feature of many Net markets, but some use auctions as their primary market mechanism. Examples: AdAuction, TradeOut.com (used equipment).

Audit
A methodical examination and review of a situation or condition (as within a business enterprise) concluding with a detailed report of findings.

Authentication
Proof by means of a signature or otherwise that a certain document or certain data is of undisputed origin and genuine.

Authorization
The commission to a certain person or body to act on behalf of another person or body. The person or body can be authorized e.g. to issue Bills of Lading or to collect freight.

Auto Container
Container equipped for the transportation of vehicles.

Automatic Identification
A means of identifying an item e.g. a product, parcel or transport unit by a machine (device) entering the data automatically into a computer.
The most widely used technology at present is bar code; others include radio frequency, magnetic stripes and optical character recognition.

Automatic Identification Manufacturers
Abbreviation: AIM
International organization of companies and/or associations involved or interested in automatic identification.

Average
In marine insurance: a loss or damage to or in respect of goods or equipment. The numerical result obtained by dividing the sum of two or more quantities by the number of quantities.

Average Adjusters
In general average affairs average adjusters are entrusted with the task of apportioning the loss and expenditure over the parties interested in the maritime venture and to determine which expenses are to be regarded as average or general average.

B

Backbone
A central high speed network that connects smaller, independent networks. the NSFnet is an example.

Back-end systems
Legacy enterprise systems that handle order processing, inventory, and receivables management for both buyers and suppliers. To deploy a digital trading platform, companies must often integrate new technologies with these older systems, which can include mainframe or ERP applications.

Back Haul
The return movement of a means of transport which has provided a transport service in one direction.

Back Letter
Back letters are drawn up in addition to a contract in order to lay down rights and/or obligations between both contracting parties, which, for some reason cannot be included in the original contract. This expression is sometimes used for letters of indemnity which are drawn up if the condition of the goods loaded gives rise to remarks and, nevertheless, the shipper insists upon receiving clean Bills of Lading. Letters of indemnity are only allowed in very exceptional circumstances.

Back Order
A customer’s order or commitment that is unfilled due to insufficient stock.

Back Scheduling
A method of obtaining a production schedule by working backwards from the required due date, in order to predict the latest start date in consistent with meeting that due date.

Backlog
The quantity of goods still to be delivered, received, produced, issued, etc., for which the planned or agreed date has expired. The total number of customer orders which have been received but not yet been shipped. Synonym: Open Order.

BAF

See Bunker Adjustment Factor.

Balespace
The balespace of a vessel is the capacity of cargo spaces under deck (including hatchways but excluding void spaces behind cargo battens and beams) expressed in cubic metres or cubic feet.

Ballast
Materials, solely carried to improve the trim and the stability of the vessel. In vessels usually water is carried as ballast in tanks, specially designed for that purpose.

Banking System
For marine purposes the practice of always keeping more than one piece of cargo on the quay or in the vessel ready for loading or discharging in order to avoid delays and to obtain optimal use of the loading gear.

Bar Coding
A method of encoding data for fast and accurate electronic readability. Bar codes are a series of alternating bars and spaces printed or stamped on products, labels, or other media, representing encoded information which can be read by electronic readers, used to facilitate timely and accurate input of data to a computer system. Bar codes represent letters and/or numbers and special characters like +, /, -, ., etc.

Bare Boat Charter
A charter whereby the charterer leases the bare ship and appoints the master and crew himself.

Barge
Flat bottomed inland cargo vessel for canals and rivers with or without own propulsion for the purpose of transporting goods.
Synonym: Lighter.

Bars
Special devices mounted on container doors to provide a watertight locking. Synonym: Door lock bars.

Base
Home depot of container or trailer.

Basic Stock
Items of an inventory intended for issue against demand during the resupply lead-time.

Batch
A collection of products or data which is treated as one entity with respect to certain operations e.g. processing and production.

Batch Lot
A definite quantity of some product manufactured or produced under conditions that are presumed uniform and for production control purposes passing as a unit through the same series of operations.

Batch Production
The production process whereby products/components are produced in batches and where each separate batch consists of a number of the same products/components.

Battens
Members protruding from the inside walls of a vessel's hold or a (thermal) container to keep away the cargo from the walls to provide an air passage. They may be integral with the walls, fastened to the walls or added during cargo handling.

Bay
A vertical division of a vessel from stem to stern, used as a part of the indication of a stowage place for containers. The numbers run from stem to stern; odd numbers indicate a 20 foot position, even numbers indicate a 40 foot position.

Bay Plan
A stowage plan that shows the locations of all the containers on the vessel.

BC Code
Safe working practice code for solid bulk cargo.

Bending-moment
It is the result of vertical forces acting on a ship as a result of local differences between weight and buoyancy.
The total of these forces should be zero, otherwise change of draft will occur. At sea the bending moment will change as a result of wave impact which than periodically changes the buoyancy distribution.
Note: The maximum allowed bending moment of a vessel is restricted by the class bureau to certain limits which are different under port and sea conditions.

Berth A location in a port where a vessel can be moored, often indicated by a code or name.

Bilateral Transport Agreement
Agreement between two nations concerning their transport relation.

Bill of Health
The Bill of Health is the certificate issued by local medical authorities indicating the general health conditions in the port of departure or in the ports of call. The Bill of Health must have visa before departure by the Consul of the country of destination.
When a vessel has free pratique, this means that the vessel has a clean Bill of Health certifying that there are no questions of contagious disease and that all quarantine regulations have been complied with, so that people may embark and disembark.

Bill of Lading
Abbreviation: B/L, plural Bs/L.
A document which evidences a contract of carriage by sea. The document has the following functions:

• A receipt for goods, signed duly by a authorized person on behalf of the carriers.
• A document of title to the goods described therein.
• Evidence of the terms and conditions of carriage agreed upon between the two parties.

Bill of Lading Clause
A particular article, stipulation or single proviso in a Bill of Lading. A clause can be standard and can be preprinted on the B/L.

Bill of Material
A list of all parts, sub-assemblies and raw materials that constitute a particular assembly, showing the quantity of each required item.

Bill of materials function
Ability to present predefined lists of items routinely required by buyers for a specific purpose. Can greatly reduce the planning process. In vertical markets, the challenge is developing a complete list of items that need to be purchased for specific products or projects. PartMiner (electronic components) uses this function to create a complete view of buyer activity, both purchases that go to contract suppliers and purchases made on itsanonymous spot market. Enables a market to combine a channel enabler approach with an exchange.

Bimodal Trailer
A road semi-trailer with retractable running gear to allow mounting on a pair of rail boogies. Synonym: Road-Rail trailer A trailer which is able to carry different types of standardized unit loads, (e.g. a chassis which is appropriate for the carriage of one FEU or two TEU's).

B/L
See Bill of Lading.

Boatman
Person who attends to the mooring and unmooring of vessels.

Bollard
Post, fixed to a quay or a vessel, for securing mooring ropes.

Bolster
See Container Bolster.

Bona Fide
In good faith; without dishonesty, fraud or deceit.

Bonded
The storage of certain goods under charge of customs viz. customs seal until the import duties are paid or until the goods are taken out of the country. Bonded warehouse (place where goods can be placed under bond). Bonded store (place on a vessel where goods are placed behind seal until the time that the vessel leaves the port/country again). Bonded goods (dutiable goods upon which duties have not been paid, i.e. goods in transit or warehoused pending customs clearance).

Booking
The offering by a shipper of cargo for transport and the acceptance of the offering by the carrier or his agent.

Booking Reference Number
The number assigned to a certain booking by the carrier or his agent.

Bottleneck
A stage in a process that limits performance.
Note: Generally this is interpreted as a facility, function, department etc. that impedes performance, for example a warehouse or distribution centre where goods arrive at a faster rate than they can be transported or stored, thus causing stock-piling at improper moments or in unwanted areas.

Bottom Fittings
Special conical shaped devices inserted between a container and the permanent floor on the deck of a vessel in order to avoid shifting of the container during the voyage of this vessel.

Bottom Lift
Handling of containers with equipment attached to the four bottom corner fittings (castings).

Box Pallet
Pallet with at least three fixed, removable or collapsible vertical sides.

Break Bulk
To commence discharge.

Break Bulk Cargo
General cargo conventionally stowed as opposed to unitized, containerized and Roll On-Roll Off cargo.
Synonym: Conventional Cargo.

Broken Stowage
The cargo space which is unavoidably lost when stowing cargo. The percentage of wasted space depends upon e.g. the kind of cargo, the packing and the used spaces.

Broker
Person who acts as an agent or intermediary in negotiating contracts.

Brussels Tariff Nomenclature

Abbreviation: BTN
The old Customs Cooperation Council Nomenclature for the classification of goods. Now replaced by the Harmonized System.

BSI Specification

British Standards Institution Specification for freight containers.

BTN
See Brussels Tariff Nomenclature.

B2b (business-to-business)
Describes online transactions between one business, institution, or government agency and another. Differentiated from b2c (business-to-consumer) plays such as Amazon.com, eBay, and Yahoo.

Buffer Stock
A quantity of goods or articles kept in store to safeguard against unforeseen shortages or demands.

Bulk Bags
A large polythene liner that can be fitted to a 20'GP as an alternative to bulk containers.

Bulk Cargo
Unpacked homogeneous cargo poured loose in a certain space of a vessel or container e.g. oil and grain.

Bulk Carrier
Single deck vessel designed to carry homogeneous unpacked dry cargoes such as grain, iron ore and coal.

Bulk Container
Shipping container designed for the carriage of free-flowing dry cargoes, which are loaded through hatchways in the roof of the container and discharged through hatchways at one end of the container.

Bull rings
Rings for lashing the cargo in containers.

Bunker
(Tank) spaces on board a vessel to store fuel.

Bulkhead
Upright partition dividing compartments on board a vessel. The functions of bulkheads are:

• To increase the safety of a vessel by dividing it into watertight compartments
• To separate the engine room from the cargo holds
• To increase the transverse strength of a vessel
• To reduce the risk of spreading fire to other compartments
• A vertically mounted board to provide front wall protection against shifting cargo and commonly seen on platform trailers (road cargo)

Synonym: Header Board.

Bunker Adjustment Factor
Abbreviation: BAF
Adjustment applied by shipping lines or liner conferences to offset the effect of fluctuations in the cost of bunkers.

Bunkers
Quantity of fuel on board a vessel.

Bureau Veritas
French classification society.

Business Logistics
Logistics within a business system.
The coordinating function of material management and physical distribution, which executes the integral control of the goods flow.

Business Process Re-engineering
The fundamental analysis and radical redesign of everything: business processes and management systems, job definitions, organizational structures and beliefs and behaviors to achieve dramatic performance improvements to meet contemporary requirements. Information technology (IT) is a key enabler in this process.
Acronym: BPR

Buyer's Market
A 'buyer's market' is considered to exist when goods can easily be secured and when the economic forces of business tend to cause goods to be priced at the purchaser's estimate of value. In other words, a state of trade favourable to the buyer, with relatively large supply and low prices.