The Alameda Corridor was built to consolidate three main rail access routes between the Los Angeles-Long Beach harbor area and other intermodal rail yards inland.

This is a charge that may be levied by a freight broker as an administrative charge for selecting and booking cargo with a reputed carrier on behalf of the customer.

The term "Bunker" refers to the fuel that is used to operate ships. Bunkering is the action of supplying a ship with bunkers. The ship operator is responsible for the payment of these bunkers to the bunker supplier.

A surcharge assessed for the additional costs of declaring cargo information in advance to the European Union authorities as required for authorities to evaluate any potential security and safety threats.

Any movement of cargo from one location to another involves some form of risk, be it the risk of damage, pilferage, theft of entire packages or non-delivery of the whole shipment.

The 9/11 attacks in the USA, changed many things for many people. The shipping and freight world was also affected in the aftermath of these attacks.

Especially in the United States of America, it is customary for the carriers (shipping lines) to supply their own chassis to the exporters and importers.

From time to time, certain ports around the world face congestion due to various reasons such as weather, political issues, strikes etc.

Sometimes shippers may not have enough cargo to fill a container for export globally.

The business of global trade in container covers many commodities.

In container shipping, you may have heard about FCL and LCL. FCL refers to Full Container Load and LCL refers to Less than Container Load.

Fumigation of shipping containers are usually a standard protocol for many countries. Fumigation is done to ensure pests do not enter or leave a country in order to prevent diseases.

Shipping and freight is a global industry and as such, it involves trading in many currencies. US Dollar, Euro and Pound are the most common of the currencies involved in trading.

In any country, cargo must be cleared with customs authorities before release.

Customs duty is a charge levied by the customs and excise department of a country on any goods that are imported or in some cases exported.

Delivery fee as the name suggests is a fee that is charged prior to the cargo being delivered to the customer.

Demurrage, is a charge levied by the shipping line to the importer in cases where they have not taken delivery of the full container and move it out of the port/terminal area for unpacking within the allowed free days.

Abbreviation for “Destination Delivery Charge.” A charge, based on container size, that is applied in many tariffs to cargo. This charge is considered accessorial and is added to the base ocean freight. This charge covers crane lifts off...

Abbreviation for “Emergency Bunker Surcharge.” A surcharge added to the cost of freight to cover fuel costs.

Environmental surcharges imposed by the destination port. Covers various contingencies such as hydrocarbon spill cleanup costs and other mandated fees.

There are several container service types. These are usually represented in documents as either FCL/FCL, LCL/LCL or other variations of the same.

A freight claim is equal to or more than the value of the goods damaged or lost.

These are the standard dimensions of boxes, pallets and freight containers that are used in shipping.

Abbreviation for “General Rate Increase.” Used to describe an across–the–board tariff rate increase implemented by conference members and applied to base rates.

Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF) is a fee levied by the US Customs and Border Protection unit and is collected on all import shipments.

ISF or Import Security Filing is a term used in shipments moving into the United States of America by an ocean going vessel.

Freight shipments involve a lot of work and most of the work in a freight shipment involves documents.

When it comes to container shipping, there are several service types that are in use usually represented in documents as either FCL/FCL, LCL/LCL and other variations of the same.

Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) is a fee that is levied on an importer at the time of processing the entry with the US Customs and Border Protection unit.

A freight intermediary (also known as an OTI or Ocean Transportation Intermediary) is someone that assists an exporter or an importer to secure the best freight rates possible while providing the quickest routing for their cargoes and also...

The Panama Canal is a canal of approximately 80 kms long created to shorten the transit time of ships going from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

Between June and October of every year, cargo movement between the main trade lanes Asia/Europe and Asia/America peaks, in preparation of the holiday seasons and the wonderful gifts that we receive.

Pierpass charge is a Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF) charged for containers that are moved during peak hours of Monday through Friday, 3 a.m. to 6 p.m at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports

All ports around the world offer a certain free period (maybe 3-7 days) to allow import customers time to process import requirements and take delivery of the import containers from the port of discharge or terminal.

Abbreviation for “Transit Accompanying Document.” A document accompanying uncleared goods during transit from one authorized location to another.

Definition of telex release:

From time to time terminals across the country, especially on the West Coast tends to get congested. Due to the congestion, the berthing of ships may be affected leading to heavy delays for the customers which also results in loss of...

The shipping line operates ships globally carrying cargo from Point A to Point B. Sometimes, this transit could involve the transit through areas affected by war and other risk.

Warehouse fees involves a few different set of fees because there are so many charges involved in a warehouse operation.

A charge assessed by a pier or dock owner against freight handled over the pier or dock or against a steamship company using the pier or dock.