Freight glossary
Plain definitions of the terms freight brokers, carriers and shippers use every day, from BOL and TONU to BMC-84 and EDI 214. Regulatory facts are checked against FMCSA, eCFR and NMFTA sources.
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- 3PL (third-party logistics)
- A company a shipper hires to handle outsourced logistics such as freight brokerage, warehousing, fulfillment, or managed transportation.
A
- Accessorial charges
- Fees for services or events beyond standard pickup and delivery, such as detention, liftgate, lumper, layover or TONU, billed on top of linehaul and fuel.
B
- Backhaul
- A load a truck carries on its return trip toward its home base, booked so the truck doesn't drive back empty.
- Bill of lading
- The document a carrier signs when it takes freight, serving as the receipt, the contract of carriage, and, for order bills, a document of title.
- Bobtail
- A semi tractor driving without a trailer attached, such as after dropping a trailer or on the way to hook the next one.
- BOC-3
- The FMCSA form that designates process agents who can accept court papers for a motor carrier, broker, or freight forwarder in required states.
C
- Cargo insurance
- Insurance that pays for loss of or damage to freight in a carrier's care, federally required only for household goods carriers but standard in broker contracts.
- Carrier packet
- The set of documents a carrier completes before a broker will book it: authority, insurance certificate, W-9, broker-carrier agreement, payment details and contacts.
- Check call
- A scheduled status update between a broker and a carrier or driver during a load, covering location, ETA, arrival, loading and delivery.
- Cross-docking
- Unloading freight from inbound trucks and reloading it onto outbound trucks at a dock, sorted by destination, with little or no storage time.
D
- Deadhead miles
- Miles a truck drives with an empty trailer, usually between a delivery and the next pickup, earning no revenue but costing fuel and driving hours.
- Demurrage
- A per-day charge for holding a container, terminal space, or rail car past the free time allowed, most common at ports and rail sidings.
- Detention
- A charge for holding a truck and driver at a pickup or delivery beyond the agreed free time, usually billed hourly.
- Double brokering
- Handing a brokered load to another carrier without the shipper's or broker's consent, or re-brokering freight without FMCSA broker authority.
- Drayage
- A short truck move that carries an ocean container or intermodal box between a port or rail ramp and a nearby warehouse, rail yard, or terminal.
- Dry van
- An enclosed, non-refrigerated trailer, usually 53 feet long, used to haul palletized or boxed freight that needs weather protection but no temperature control.
E
F
- Freight agent
- An independent salesperson who books freight under a licensed broker's authority and bond, usually paid a commission split of each load's gross margin.
- Freight broker bond (BMC-84)
- The $75,000 financial security FMCSA requires of property brokers, filed as a BMC-84 surety bond or BMC-85 trust fund, available to pay valid claims.
- Freight class
- The NMFC rating, from 50 to 500, that LTL carriers use to price a shipment based on density, handling, stowability, and liability.
- Freight factoring
- Selling unpaid freight invoices to a factoring company that advances most of the amount now, collects from the customer, and keeps a fee.
- FTL (full truckload)
- A shipment that gets a dedicated truck and trailer, moving from shipper to receiver without terminal transfers and priced per load or per mile.
L
- Linehaul
- The movement of freight between cities or terminals, and the base rate for that move before fuel surcharge and accessorial charges.
- Load tender
- A shipper's formal offer of a specific shipment to a carrier or broker, which the carrier or broker accepts or rejects within a set window.
- LTL (less-than-truckload)
- Freight that doesn't fill a trailer, moved through a carrier's terminal network with other shippers' freight and priced by weight, class, lane, and accessorials.
- Lumper fee
- A charge from a warehouse or third-party crew for unloading a truck, usually paid at the dock and reimbursed against a receipt.
M
- MC number
- The docket number FMCSA assigns to a company's operating authority, required for for-hire interstate carriers, brokers, and freight forwarders alongside a USDOT number.
P
- Power only
- A move where the carrier supplies only the tractor and driver and pulls a trailer owned or leased by the shipper, broker or another company.
- PRO number
- The tracking and freight bill number a carrier assigns to a shipment, most often in LTL, used to trace the shipment and match the carrier's invoice.
- Proof of delivery
- The signed record, usually the delivery copy of the bill of lading, showing a shipment reached the receiver, when, in what condition, and who signed for it.
R
- Rate confirmation
- The signed, load-specific agreement between a freight broker and a carrier that sets the rate, stops, equipment, accessorial terms and payment terms for one shipment.
S
- Spot rate
- The market price to move a single load now, negotiated at booking and changing daily with capacity and demand, as opposed to a contract rate.
T
- TONU (truck order not used)
- A flat fee paid to a carrier when a load is canceled after the truck was dispatched or arrived, set by the rate confirmation.
- Transloading
- Moving freight from one mode or piece of equipment to another, such as from an ocean container or railcar into a domestic truck trailer.