Reference
Glossary of container freight terms
The vocabulary that turns up on delivery orders, terminal notices and freight invoices, in plain English.
- 1-Stop
- The booking platform used by Australian container terminals. An operator with active 1-Stop status books its own truck timeslots directly.
- CoR
- Chain of Responsibility. Australian law making every party in the transport chain — including the consignor — responsible for mass, load restraint, speed and fatigue compliance.
- Dehire
- Returning an empty container to a nominated empty park after unpacking, within the shipping line's free time.
- DG
- Dangerous goods. Cargo classified under the Australian Dangerous Goods Code. Aardiv carries Limited Quantity DG only.
- DO
- Delivery Order. The shipping line's authority to release a container. A "clear DO" has all charges paid and no customs or quarantine holds.
- EDO
- Electronic Delivery Order. The same authority issued electronically.
- Empty park
- A depot where empty containers are collected before packing or returned after unpacking.
- FCL
- Full Container Load. One consignee's cargo filling a whole container — the mode Aardiv operates in.
- Gross weight
- The total weight of the container plus its cargo. Tare plus payload.
- HC
- High Cube. A container 2.9 m tall externally instead of 2.6 m, giving roughly 13% more volume for the same footprint.
- LCL
- Less than Container Load. Multiple consignees' cargo consolidated into one container.
- LQ
- Limited Quantity. Dangerous goods in small inner packagings, exempt from placarding below threshold quantities.
- Payload
- The weight of the cargo alone, excluding the container.
- Side loader
- A trailer with integrated hydraulic cranes that lifts a container off its own deck and places it on the ground.
- Skeletal trailer
- A trailer that is essentially a frame with twist locks — the lightest way to carry a container, requiring lifting equipment at both ends.
- Slot
- A booked window at a terminal during which a truck may collect or deliver. Miss it and the booking is forfeited.
- Tare
- The empty weight of the container itself, stencilled on the door.
- TEU
- Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit. The standard measure of container volume — a 40' container is 2 TEU.
- VBS
- Vehicle Booking System. The terminal slot booking system, accessed through 1-Stop.
- VGM
- Verified Gross Mass. The certified total weight of a packed export container, mandatory under SOLAS before it can be loaded to a vessel.
Term not here?
If something on a delivery order or terminal notice does not make sense, call us. Explaining it takes a minute and it is usually the difference between a container moving and a container sitting.
See also the FAQ and the guide to gross weight.
Need a container moved?
Send the details and you will have a quote the same day. If it is urgent, call — we run to terminal windows, not office hours.