U

UCP 500
See Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits.

UIC
See Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer.

ULCC
See Ultra Large Crude Carrier.

ULD
See Unit Load Device.

Ullage
Free space above a liquid contained in a tank, drum or tank-container, expressed as a percentage of the total capacity. Ullage is often used to leave room for possible expansion of the liquid.

Ultra Large Crude Carrier
Abbreviation: ULCC
A vessel designed for the carriage of liquid cargo in bulk with a loading capacity from 250.000 till 500.000 DWT.

UNCTAD
See United Nations Conference on Trade And Development.

Undercarriage
A supporting frame or structure of a wheeled vehicle.
The landing gear of an aircraft.

Undercarrier
A carrier in a conference or consortium who carries less cargo than the allotment distributed to him.

UNDG Number
See United Nations Dangerous Goods Number.

UNECE
See United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits
The in 1993 revized rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) governing a letter of credit issued in respect of goods shipped applicable as from 1-1-1994.

Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer
Abbreviation: UIC
International railway union, in which most of the European national railway companies are united.

Unit Load
A number of individual packages bonded, palletized or strapped together to form a single unit for more efficient handling by mechanical equipment.

Unit Load Device
Abbreviation: ULD
Any type of container or pallet, in which a consignment can be transported by air whether or not such a container is considered aircraft equipment.
Any type of air freight container, aircraft container, aircraft pallet with a net, or aircraft pallet with a net over an igloo.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
Abbreviation: UNCTAD
A United Nations agency whose work in shipping includes the liner code involving the sharing of cargoes between the shipping lines of the importing and exporting countries and third countries in the ratio 40:40:20.

United Nations Dangerous Goods Number
Abbreviation: UNDG Number
The four-digit number assigned by the United Nations Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods to classify a substance or a particular groups of substances.
Note: The prefix 'UN' must always be used in conjunction with these numbers.

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Abbreviation: UN/ECE
The UN/ECE is one of a number of Economic and Social Commissions established by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Despite its name it embraces both Europe and North America. The UN/ECE comprises twenty nine core member states, as well as any country which is a member of the United Nations and which applies under Article 11 of the United Nations constitution for delegate status.
The aim is to advance the economic development of Europe and associated countries through trade facilitation and common agreements.

United Nations Layout Key
Abbreviation: UNLK
A standard (ISO6422) which lays down the basic principles for the design of the image area on documents for use in international trade.
Synonym: Layout Key.

UNLK
See United Nations Layout Key.

United Nations Standard Message
Abbreviation: UNSM
A collection of structured data that is exchanged to convey information related to a specific transaction between partners engaged in electronic data interchange. Messages are composed of logically grouped segments required for the type of message transaction covered.
Note: A set of segments in the order specified in a message directory starting with the message header and ending with the message trailer (ISO9735).

UNSM
See United Nations Standard Message.

User Network
A public network made up of thousands of newsgroups and organized by topic.
Acronym: USENET

Utilization Rate
The quotient of used capacity and available capacity.

V

Valuable Cargo
A consignment which contains one or more valuable articles (aircargo).

Valuation Charge
Transport charges for certain goods, based on the value declared for the carriage of such goods (aircargo).

Valuation
A clause in a marine policy that fixes the insured value.

Value Added Tax
Abbreviation: VAT
A form of indirect sales tax paid on products and services at each stage of production or distribution, based on the value added at that stage and included in the cost to the ultimate customer.

Value Surcharge
A surcharge for the carriage of cargo having a value in excess of a specified amount per kilogram (aircargo).

Vanning
See Stuffing.

VAT
See Value Added Tax.

Vendee
Buyer.

Vendor
Seller.

Ventilated/Coffee
Identical to the GP, except for the inclusion of full length ventilation galleries sited along the top and bottom side rails, and thus ideal for the carriage of coffee, as condesation is prevented from accumulating. 20' only

Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Netwide Index to Computerized Archives
A search tool (like archie) that searches text that appears in Gopher menus.
Acronym: VERONICA

Very Large Crude Carrier Abbreviation: VLCC
A vessel designed for the carriage of liquid cargo in bulk with a loading capacity from 50.000 till 250.000 DWT.

Vessel
A floating structure designed for the transport of cargo and/or passengers.
Synonym: Ship.
Boiler, drum.

Viral
A self-propagating practice or pattern of Internet use that moves from person to person. Works best in consumer e-commerce because of easy adoption. Longer sales cycle for b2b e-commerce makes viral practices less important. Example: HotMail's explosive growth

Virtual private marketplace
A private market to enable approved suppliers to bid on a large buyer's business or to enable more cost-effective transactions under negotiated terms. Can be a hosted extranet or a feature a larger Net market. For example, National Transportation Exchange sets VPMs for large shippers to schedule and obtain bids from approved carriers, in addition to NTE's main spot market. FreeMarkets sets up VPMs for large buyers to interact with their suppliers through reverse auctions.

VLCC
See Very Large Crude Carrier.

Volatility Allowance
The largest difference in container availability taking into account past peaks in net demand after having removed the trend in container demand during the repositioning trade-off period.
Volume
Size or measure of anything in three dimensions.

Volume Charge A charge for carriage of goods based on their volume (aircargo).

Voucher
A receipt, entry or other document which establish the accounts.

Voyage
A journey by sea from one port or country to another one or, in case of a round trip, to the same port.
Synonym: Trip.

Voyage Charter
A contract under which the shipowner agrees to carry an agreed quantity of cargo from a specified port or ports to another port or ports for a remuneration called freight, which is calculated according to the quantity of cargo loaded, or sometimes at a lumpsum freight.

Voyage Number
Reference number assigned by the carrier or his agent to the voyage of the vessel.