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 9 September 2026