Freight terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ACID | Advance Cargo Information Declaration — the customs pre-declaration identifier. |
| Air waybill (AWB) | The air-freight contract of carriage. A master AWB covers a consolidation; a house AWB covers one customer's cargo within it. |
| Bill of lading (B/L) | The ocean equivalent. Again master and house. |
| CBM | Cubic metre. |
| Collect | Freight paid by the consignee at destination. |
| Consignee | The party receiving the cargo. |
| Demurrage | Charges for keeping a container beyond its free time at the port or terminal. |
| EDI | Electronic Data Interchange — structured messaging between systems. |
| FCL | Full Container Load: one customer's cargo fills a container. |
| HS code | Harmonised System code, the customs classification of goods. |
| IMO number | A ship's permanent identifier. It does not change when the vessel is renamed. |
| Incoterms | Standard trade terms defining where risk and cost pass between seller and buyer. |
| LCL | Less than Container Load: groupage, several customers' cargo in one container. |
| Notify party | Who is told when cargo arrives. Often, but not always, the consignee. |
| Prepaid | Freight paid by the shipper at origin. |
| SCAC | Standard Carrier Alpha Code. |
| Shipper | The party sending the cargo. |
| Telex release | Electronic release, with no original bill of lading printed. |
| TEU | Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit — the standard container capacity measure. |
| Transshipment | An intermediate port where cargo changes vessel. |
| UN/LOCODE | The standard five-character port code, e.g. EGALY. |
| Volumetric weight | Chargeable weight derived from dimensions rather than actual mass. |
| W/M | Weight or Measure — charging on whichever is greater. |
Cargolake terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ability | One permission: an action on a subject. See How permissions work. |
| Charge line | What you bill the customer. |
| Cost line | What the job costs you. |
| Custody | Cash advanced to a representative, later reconciled. See Custody payment requests. |
| Customer profile | One of a company's several trading arrangements. |
| Exception | A blocked action parked for someone to approve. |
| Lead | A prospect, before qualification. |
| Legal entity | A company in Cargolake — the boundary around all its data. |
| On-hold balance | Credit committed but not yet settled. |
| Posting rule | Configuration turning a business event into journal lines. |
| Qualify | Converting a lead into a company you can trade with. |
| Role | A named bundle of abilities. |
| Tariff code | A charge classification used by the ledger. |
| Transition | A defined move from one workflow step to the next. |
| Workflow | The ordered steps a shipment or container passes through. |
Terms people confuse
Cost line vs charge line. Cost is what you pay; charge is what you bill. The difference is your margin.
Charge code vs billing code. Charge codes appear on customer documents; billing codes classify costs internally. See Quotation types, codes and groups.
Company vs shipment customer. A CRM company is the commercial relationship — who you invoice. A shipment customer is a party record printed on transport documents. They are maintained separately and serve different purposes.
Container type vs physical container vs container. A type is a specification (40HC); a physical container is a specific box by number; a container is that box on one movement. See Containers, vessels and voyages.
Role vs role on a job. A system role grants permissions. Shipment roles, quotation roles and exception roles say what part someone plays in a particular process. A person usually needs both.
On hold (status) vs hold (flag). A shipment's status can be on hold; separately, a shipment can carry a hold flag while progressing normally. The flag is usually commercial; the status is operational.
Credit exposure vs the ledger. The transactions view tracks what a customer has committed and not settled, for credit control. The general ledger is the accounting record. They answer different questions and will not tie line for line.
Last updated 15 September 2026