Shipping glossary

The words that turn up on a bill of lading, an arrival notice or a demurrage invoice — what each one means, and what it costs you to get it wrong.

By theme

A–Z

1

1-MCP also: 1-methylcyclopropene and SmartFresh

1-MCP blocks the receptors fruit uses to sense ethylene, which pauses ripening. It is applied before the container moves and it cannot be undone later.

A

AIS also: Automatic Identification System

The transponder feed that puts a ship on a tracking map. It reports the vessel, never the box — and half its fields are typed in by the crew.

AIS vs carrier EDI also: Carrier EDI, EDI, and EDIFACT

One is a ship broadcasting its position, the other is the line reporting what it did to your box. Different questions, and they disagree for good reasons.

B

Bill of lading also: B/L, BL, and Ocean bill of lading

The contract, receipt and document of title in one — and the piece of paper most likely to leave your fruit sitting in a terminal waiting for a courier.

Blank sailing also: Blanked sailing and Void sailing

The service skips the call, so every container for that week moves at once. The problem is not the missed sailing but the queue for the next one.

Bunker fuel also: Bunkers, VLSFO, Green methanol, and Marine biofuel

The fuel a ship burns, the surcharges it puts on your invoice, and what a carrier is actually selling when it offers you a low-emission alternative.

C

Captain Peter also: Maersk Captain Peter and Maersk Remote Container Management

Maersk's reefer monitoring service: temperature, atmosphere and position pushed to you in transit, on the Maersk boxes that carry the hardware.

Certificate of origin also: EUR.1 and GSP Form A

Proof of where goods were produced, deciding whether you pay a preferential duty rate or the full one. It does not stop your container — it costs money.

Cold chain visibility also: Cold-chain visibility and Perishable supply chain visibility

Knowing where perishable cargo is, what condition it is in, and how much of its life is left — early enough to still make a decision about it.

Commercial invoice also: Exporter invoice

The exporter's statement of what the goods cost, and the basis customs uses to value your import — often a price nobody knew at loading.

Container visibility platform also: Visibility platform, Real-time transportation visibility platform, and RTTVP

Software that pools carrier milestones, vessel positions and terminal data into one timeline per shipment. What it can tell you, and what it cannot.

Controlled atmosphere also: CA, CA container, Controlled atmosphere container, Controlled atmosphere shipping, and Modified atmosphere

CA holds the oxygen and carbon dioxide inside a reefer at levels that slow the fruit down. It buys days of shelf life, and it is booked before loading.

CSRD also: Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive

The EU sustainability rule reaching importers through their retailers, and now capping what a retailer may demand from a small supplier.

D

Demurrage and detention also: Demurrage, Detention, and Port storage

Demurrage is the daily fee for a container left in the port terminal past its free time. How demurrage charges work, and how detention differs.

E

ETA vs ETD also: ETA, ETD, ATA, and ATD

What each one actually predicts, how much to trust it, and why planning a cold store slot against a six-week-old ETA is how produce importers lose days.

F

Free time also: Free days and Laytime

The days after discharge a container costs you nothing to hold. Reefers get 2 to 4 where dry gets 5 to 7 — the shortest clock on the most perishable cargo.

G

General average also: York-Antwerp Rules, General average bond, and General average guarantee

When a ship is saved from a common danger, every cargo owner pays a share. Your container is held until security is posted — and produce cannot wait.

I

IMO number, MMSI and call sign also: IMO number, MMSI, and Call sign

Ships change name, flag and owner. Only one identifier survives that, which matters when you are confirming the vessel carrying your fruit.

Inherent vice also: Inherent defect and Inherent quality

The carrier's first answer to almost every reefer claim: the fruit carried the cause of its own decay. What it means, and what actually rebuts it.

IoT container tracking also: Smart container, IoT tracker, and Container IoT

A device on or inside the container reporting position and condition on its own. The one feed that is genuinely about your box rather than about the ship.

L

Live Reefer also: Hapag-Lloyd LIVE and Hapag-Lloyd Live Reefer

Hapag-Lloyd's reefer monitoring product: temperature, atmosphere and container position reported in transit, sold under the Hapag-Lloyd LIVE name.

N

Notify party also: Notify address

Who the line tells when the vessel arrives. Get it wrong and the arrival notice reaches nobody while free time runs out on cargo with a shelf life.

P

Packing list also: Packing declaration and Lista de empaque

The document that says what is on each pallet — variety, calibre, box count, weight. In produce it is not paperwork, it is what you sell from.

Phytosanitary certificate also: Phyto

Official confirmation from the origin's plant health authority that a shipment meets import rules — the one document with no remedy at destination.

Predictive ETA also: Predicted ETA, AI-predicted ETA, and Machine-learning ETA

A model's arrival estimate, built from vessel movement and port congestion rather than the carrier's schedule. Useful when the carrier ETA is stale.

Programme also: Supply programme and Standing programme

A standing commitment to supply the same volume every week of a season. The cadence is the promise, and it is what a rolled container actually breaks.

Q

Quality life also: Postharvest quality life

Quality life is how long produce stays genuinely good, not how long it stays sellable. It is the number a long sea programme has to be planned against.

R

Reefer container also: Reefer, Refrigerated container, and Temperature-controlled container

Reefer is short for refrigerated: a container with its own cooling unit, powered all the way. It carries its own log, short free time and high charges.

Reefer monitoring also: Remote container monitoring, RCM, Cold chain monitoring, and Cold-chain monitoring

The carrier's readout of what the refrigeration unit is doing in transit. It reports the machine, not the fruit, and coverage follows the box.

Reefer telematics also: Reefer telemetry, Container telematics, and Telematics

The modem, GPS and controller fitted to a refrigerated container. Telematics is the hardware; reefer monitoring is the service sold on top of it.

Rollover also: Rolled cargo and Shut out

Your container did not sail on the vessel it was booked on. Usually no charge and no compensation — the cost is a week of shelf life, and nobody tells you.

S

Scope 3 also: Scope 3 emissions and Value chain emissions

Scope 3 is everything a company emits through others, including your shipments — its supplier's problem to measure and its retailer's number to report.

Setpoint vs pulp temperature also: Setpoint, Set point, and Pulp temperature

The setpoint is what you asked the container to hold. The pulp temperature is what the fruit is actually doing, and it decides what arrives.

Shipping line vs freight forwarder also: Carrier vs forwarder and NVOCC

One owns the ships, the other arranges the shipment. Which you booked through decides who to chase, and whether your reference is even trackable.

T

Time bar also: One-year time bar, Suit time bar, and Time limit for cargo claims

One year from delivery and a cargo claim is gone, however good it was. What starts the clock, what the three-day notice does, and how extensions work.

Tonne-kilometre also: Tonne-km, tkm, and Freight tonne-kilometre

A tonne-kilometre is one tonne of cargo moved one kilometre — the unit freight emissions standards use, and what your buyer's questionnaire asks for.

Transshipment also: Transhipment and T/S

Changing vessel at a hub is where a reefer waits. A missed connection costs a sailing, and the plug gap on the quay costs temperature.

Two-way reefer control also: Remote setpoint change and Two-way control

Changing a reefer's setpoint, ventilation or humidity mid-voyage through the carrier. It is a request to the line, not a dial you get to turn.