Logistics terminology

Below you can find the list of common logistical concepts and jargon in chronical order. 

• 1PL (First Party Logistics) The logistics are taken care of by the company that produces the goods itself as well. 
• 2PL (Second Party Logistics) Logistics service providers that are focused on taking over the “classical” logistical tasks such as transportation and warehousing. 
• 3PL (Third Party Logistics) A 3PL service provider offers logistics services, but does not carry them out themselves. A Third Party Logistics often has a good network with (2PL) logistics service providers who actually do offer the needed services. 
• ADR ADR is short for “Accord européen relative au transport international de merchandises Dangereuses par Route”. These are the regulations for the transport of dangerous goods by road. Read more on ADR. 
• Bill of lading The (written) commitment of the agreement on freight transport. The shipper (or customer) and carrier agree upon that the carrier takes care of the shipment and transport of the goods, where the goods are loaded and unloaded. On the bill of lading are all the data needed in order to execute the agreement. Therefore, this bill should always be present in the vehicle during the transport. 
• Block pallet A block pallet is a wooden pallet which is slightly larger than the standard Euro pallet. The most common size of a block pallet is 100 cm x 120 cm, but there are also block pallets in other sizes. 
• Bonded warehouse A repository for goods that have not yet been cleared, but are subject to import duties. Read more about customs and import duties. 
• Bulk Goods or products that are not individually packed, but is just loose dumped or stored in cargo compartments and/or transported in tanks. Example of bulk goods are grain or salt (dry bulk) and oil or wine (liquid bulk). The transportation of such goods is called bulk (transport). 
• Bundles Long objects that because of their girth may not fall within the standard package sizes are called “length goods” or “bundles”. An example of length goods are pipes, tubes and ladders.  
• Cabotage When a carrier from an EU country transports goods between two points within the boundaries of another EU state. Not every carrier or logistics service provider (2PL) is allowed to do so, since a special permit is needed. Cabotage is basically domestic transport, only carried out by a vehicle that is registered in another (EU) country. 
• CMR CMR stands for “Convention Relative au Contrat de Transport International de Marchandises par Route” and is another word for “bill of lading”. This document encloses all data related to the transport of the goods. Therefore, the CMR should always be present in the vehicle during the transport. 
• Code 95 As of September 10th, 2016, the Code 95 is required for driving a vehicle in which driver’s license C(E) or D(E) is required. This code is indicated on the driver’s license to prove the driver is qualified. 
• Collo / Colli A package or packaging unit of goods which is sent as a whole. Colli is the plural of collo. 
• Combined cargo Intermodal freight that mostly travels by rail, inland waters or sea. The aim is to limit the distance the freight transports by road transport. It is called combined cargo since use has been made of various transportation methods. 
• Conditioned vehicle Certain delicate goods such as plants and foods need to be maintained at a certain temperature, also during the transportation. For this purpose, there is the so-called “thermos transport”. This is a trailer in which the temperature can be adjusted manually to ensure that the goods remain the correct temperature. There are trailers for refrigerated transport, but there are also trailers where the inside temperature is warmer than the weather outside. 
• Consolidation Combining various shippings into ne shipment in order to save on transportation costs. In road transport as well as in sea- and airfreight, this is also known as groupage. 
• Container A special vessel for transporting cargo. The large tray is sturdy and stackable. A well-known example of a container is a shipping container. Most containers are 20 feet or 40 feet long and have a height of 8 feet. However, also other heights and lengths are becoming more and more common such as 45, 48 and 53 feet long. The maximum height is 9.5 feet. The transport of containers by road is called container trucking. Read more about container trucking. 
• Cross dock A cost effective platform where goods enter the loading dock directly from the unloading dock, without storing them first. This means lower transportation and stocking costs. 
• Dangerous goods / hazardous substances For transporting hazardous materials, both the client and the transporter have to deal with strict regulations. There are different types of hazardous substances which are divided into nine categories: explosives, gases, flammable liquids, flammable solids, oxidizing substances, toxic and infectious substances, radioactive materials, corrosives and miscellaneous or other dangerous substances and products. Read more about dangerous goods and the transportation of them. 
• Distribution transport The logistical process of picking up goods from one or multiple pickup addresses, after which the goods are being transported to the delivery address(es). Optionally, the goods are temporarily stored or sent to a distribution center where the transfer and groupage take place. 
• Dock / dock levelers A place in or at a building where a truck can load and unload. Here, the loading space of the truck is often at the same height as the dock floor, so goods can be directly loaded and/or unloaded. 
• EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) A standard for the electronic exchange of certain business documents. These can for example be orders, invoice and confirmations. Because all these documents must comply with standard templates, it is mostly used for recurring payments. 
• E-fulfilment E-fulfilment is fulfilment especially designed for retailers and e-commerce. This basically means that the order which is places at an online store reaches the customer at the agreed upon time. The logistics service provider organizes the whole logistic process from order placement upto delivery. 
• Emballage The packaging or wrapping of goods such as a crate, bottle or plastic (container). 
• Euro pallet Standard wooden pallet with the size of 120 x 80 centimeters. 
• Export Goods that are produced and/or designed in the Netherlands and are exported abroad. 
• FCL (Full Container Load) When one party offers enough goods to fill an entire container, this is called a “full container load”, or a full container. Read more about FCL and LCL. 
• FTL (Full Truck Load) This is also called “full charge” or “complete load”. The truck is fully loaded with cargo which is transported to (or from) one address. Read more about FTL and LTL. 
• Freight forwarder / shipping agent The person or organization who organizes the shipping or transport between the shipper and the “actual” carrier. The agent arranges the transport for his clients. This arranging of transport by means of charters from A to B is called expedition. 
• Forwarder / shipper A party that lets its cargo transport by a carrier. In other words: the customer of a logistics service provider. 
• Gross weight of goods The total weight of the to be transported goods, including packaging but without the weight of the transport units such as pallets and containers. 
• Groupage transport Even though there is not an official term for it, groupage transport means as much as “the transport of combined shipments, typically from multiple senders to multiple receivers”. In other words, by groupage, the parcels and/or pallets of several parties are transported together in one truck to stock the truck as full as possible and thus save on transport costs. Read more about groupage transport. 
• IBC (Intermediate Bulk Container) Often metal containers that are used as an intermediate between drums and bulk transport (truck transport or sea container). IBCs are still movably by forklift or pallet truck, but not by hand. 
• Intermodal freight transport A combination of various modalities such as sea freight and road transport, in the same intermodal transport unit by successive transport modes without the goods moving when the transportation modality is changed. The goods remain in (for example) the same container throughout the entire transport. The container is also not opened during the transport. Read more on intermodal transport. 
• LDM (load meter) A standard size for road transport. One loading meter is 1 meter from the back of a truck in the length. Due to the width of the truck of 2.40 meters by one meter loading deep, one LDM is 2.4 square meters (2.4 m width x 1 m length). 
• Lean and green An incentive program for companies and government introduced and executed by Connekt. It encourages organizations to grow to a higher level over sustainability by taking measures that do not only reduces costs, but also make the company more sustainable or green. When an organization can demonstrate that their plan can reduce CO2 by 20% in five years, the company qualifies for the Lean and Green Award. Organizations that have realized that goal receive the Lean and Green Star as a symbol of their Lean and Green ambition achievement. Read more about the Lean and Green Award and Star of HST Groep. 
• Length goods Long objects that because of their girth are not within the standard package sizes are called length goods or “bundles”. Examples of length goods are pipes, tubes and ladders. Load factor / loading capacity The percentage of the available load volume that is actually used. This can be expressed in distance (km), weight (kg) or in cubic meters. 
• Load unit A standardized unit in or on which a cargo can be transported. Examples are containers and pallets. 
• Lowboy (trailer) / flatbed trailer A certain kind of semi-trailer which is used for the transport of high (indivisible) items. The cargo area is extra low to the ground so that a higher shipment can be transported. Usually, there is chosen for a lowboy or flatbed trailer when an ordinary trailer will be taller than permitted by the highway regulations or when problems may occur with driving underneath bridges. 
• LTL (Less than Truck Load) If one consignment or one “load” is not enough to (almost) fill a truck completely, this is called Less than Truck Load or LTL in short. 
• MAUT Tolls that trucks need to pay in Germany, Switserland and Austria. 
• Multimodal (freight) In multimodal transport, different forms or types of transportation (modalities) are used, but they are all covered by the same document. 
• Order picking Collecting goods in a warehouse, based on a list of the goods (picking list) that need to be collected. 
• Pallet Lightly raised platform to make it easier to lift and stack goods. Pallets are usually made of wood and are regularly 100 x 120 cm (block pallet) or 80 x 120 cm (Euro pallet). 
• Pallet place Storage places in the warehouse the size of one pallet. Especially for storing large and/or heavy items, there is spoken of pallet places instead of square or cubic meters. 
• Portable forklift (or mounted forklift) A so-called “truck mounted forklift” which is mounted on a trailer or semi-trailer. Portable forklifts are mainly used when taking goods to construction sites where it is not possible to enter with heavy and/or large trucks. 
• Re-export Goods that are cleared by Dutch distribution centers, but will be delivered to other countries. Unlike “transit” is re-export a part of the Dutch import and export because the goods have been owned by a (in this case) Dutch resident. 
• Semi-trailer Vehicle for road transport without a front axle. A semi-trailer is designed in such a way that both a part of the load and the trailer itself lean on the truck. The semi-trailer owes its name to its functionality: it is basically a trailer without wheels on the frond and is mounted to the truck. 
• Synchromodal transport When different modes of transport (modalities) are used optimally and as durable (green) as possible. 
• Throughput The moment the goods are transferred from one mode of transport to another modality. 
• Track & trace With track & trace systems, transport companies can follow their trucks real time thanks to GPS data. Based on these data, the logistics service provider can provide both the sender and the receiver the (expected) time of arrival of the shipment. 
• Trailer An unpowered vehicle in which goods can be transported, towed by another vehicle (often a truck). 
• Transit The flow ow goods transported on Dutch soil on their way from one country to another, but remains at all time in the possession of foreign countries. The “throughput” than is not a part of the Dutch import and export. 
• Unloading area / place The place where the goods are unloaded from (or loaded off) the truck. 
• VAL (Value Added Logistics) Additional (value-adding) warehousing activities such as the packaging, repackaging or shrink sealing of items that are stored. An example of Value Added Logistics is the display service of HST Groep. Read more about VAL activities. 
• Warehouse Building where goods are stored, loaded into or off transportation vehicles or where VAL activities take place.