RS Group

Reference

Freight glossary.

Freight has a language of its own. This is our plain-English reference — the terms that show up on quotes, bills of lading and rate confirmations, defined clearly so you always know what you are reading.

3PL (Third-Party Logistics)
A provider that manages logistics functions — transportation, warehousing, fulfillment, cross-docking — on behalf of a shipper, often as an ongoing partner rather than a one-off booking. RS Group is both a brokerage and a 3PL.
Accessorial
An extra charge for a service beyond standard pickup and delivery — liftgate, inside delivery, residential delivery, limited-access location, call-before-delivery, detention, and similar. Accessorials are the most common reason an invoice exceeds a quote.
Backhaul
The return leg of a truck’s trip back toward its origin after delivering a load. Carriers price backhaul lanes attractively to avoid running empty, so a shipment riding a backhaul lane can be cheaper.
Blind shipment
A shipment in which one party — usually the supplier or the final customer — is hidden from the other on the paperwork, commonly in drop-ship arrangements. It requires careful BOL handling.
BOL (Bill of Lading)
The legal contract and receipt between shipper and carrier. It lists the freight, the origin and destination, the parties, and the terms of carriage. A clean, accurate BOL is the foundation of every shipment.
Broker (Freight Broker)
A licensed intermediary that arranges transportation between shippers and carriers without owning trucks. The broker matches each load to the best-fit carrier in its network and manages the move end to end.
Cargo insurance
Coverage that protects the value of goods in transit against loss or damage. It is distinct from a carrier’s limited legal liability, which often covers only a fraction of a shipment’s value.
Carrier
The company that owns the equipment and physically moves the freight — a trucking line, railroad, ocean line or airline. RS Group brokers across a network of 34,000+ carriers.
Chassis
The wheeled steel frame onto which an ocean container is mounted so a truck can haul it over the road. Chassis availability is a common bottleneck in drayage.
Class (Freight Class / NMFC)
A standardized classification (50 to 500) assigned to LTL freight under the National Motor Freight Classification, based largely on density plus stowability, handling and liability. Lower classes generally cost less to ship.
Consignee
The party receiving the shipment — the “ship-to” on the bill of lading.
Consignor (Shipper)
The party sending the shipment — the “ship-from” on the bill of lading.
Consolidation
Combining multiple smaller shipments into one larger load to cut cost and handling — a core efficiency in LTL and warehousing.
Container
A standardized steel box (commonly 20 or 40 feet) used for intermodal transport across ship, rail and truck without unloading the goods inside.
Cross-docking
Moving freight directly from an inbound truck to an outbound truck through a dock with little or no long-term storage in between — a way to consolidate, deconsolidate or reroute freight fast.
Customs broker
A licensed specialist who clears imported goods through customs, handling duties, documentation and regulatory compliance on the shipper’s behalf.
Deadhead
Miles a truck drives empty — typically repositioning to its next pickup. Deadhead is a cost carriers try to minimize, and it influences lane pricing.
Deck boards
The planks forming the top (and, on a full pallet, bottom) surface a load rests on. More boards, spaced closer, give more support.
Demurrage
A charge for keeping an ocean container or railcar beyond the free time allowed at a port or terminal. Detention is the equivalent charge for holding a truck or trailer too long.
Detention
A charge that accrues when a driver or trailer is held at a pickup or delivery location beyond the agreed free time (often two hours). It compensates the carrier for lost driving time.
Dim weight (Dimensional Weight)
A pricing weight derived from a package’s volume rather than its actual weight, used so carriers are paid fairly for bulky-but-light freight. The higher of actual and dimensional weight usually sets the rate.
Dock
The loading area, usually at truck-bed height, where freight is loaded and unloaded. A commercial dock is faster and cheaper to serve than a residential or limited-access address.
Drayage
Short-haul trucking that moves a container or trailer between a port, rail ramp or terminal and a nearby warehouse or distribution point — for example, Savannah to Atlanta. RS Group runs a dedicated drayage desk.
Dry van
The standard enclosed trailer used for most general, non-temperature-sensitive freight.
Expedited shipping
Time-critical transportation that prioritizes speed — sprinter vans, box trucks, or team drivers running straight through to meet a tight deadline.
Flatbed
An open trailer with no walls or roof, used for oversized, heavy, or awkwardly shaped freight loaded by crane or forklift from any side.
FTL (Full Truckload)
A shipment that fills (or is dedicated to) an entire trailer. FTL is direct point-to-point, with no terminal transfers, and suits large loads or freight a shipper prefers not to share.
Hazmat (Hazardous Materials)
Goods regulated for transport because they pose a safety risk — across nine DOT hazard classes, each with its own packaging, labeling, placarding and documentation rules.
Interlining
When two or more carriers cooperate to move a single shipment, handing it off between their networks to reach a destination one carrier alone does not serve.
Intermodal
Moving freight in the same container across two or more modes — typically truck and rail — without handling the goods inside when switching modes.
Lane
A specific origin-to-destination route. Carriers and brokers price, plan and build capacity around lanes.
Liftgate
A hydraulic platform on the back of a truck that raises and lowers freight to ground level — an accessorial needed where there is no dock.
LTL (Less-Than-Truckload)
Shipping that consolidates freight from multiple shippers into one trailer, so each pays only for the space its load occupies. Ideal for shipments of roughly 1 to 6 pallets.
Manifest
A document listing all the freight, shipments, or pieces loaded on a truck, container or trailer.
NMFC
The National Motor Freight Classification — the system that assigns each commodity an LTL freight class based on density, stowability, handling and liability.
Pallet
A portable platform — usually wood, commonly 48 × 40 inches — that lets a forklift move stacked freight as a single unit. The building block of palletized freight.
POD (Proof of Delivery)
A signed document or electronic record confirming the consignee received the shipment, including date, time and condition. The close-out of the BOL.
PTL (Partial Truckload)
A shipment too large for LTL economics but too small for a full truckload — roughly 5,000 to 40,000 lbs or 5 to 14 pallets. It usually rides one truck end to end with fewer touches than LTL.
Reefer
A refrigerated trailer or container that holds a set temperature for perishable or temperature-sensitive freight — food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics. Short for “refrigerated.”
Skid
A platform like a pallet but with no bottom deck boards, so it stacks more compactly. Often used interchangeably with “pallet.”
Step deck
A flatbed with a lower rear deck, used for freight too tall to ship legally on a standard flatbed.
Tare weight
The empty weight of a container, trailer or packaging, subtracted from gross weight to find the net weight of the goods.
Tariff
A carrier’s published schedule of rates, rules and charges for its services.
TMS (Transportation Management System)
Software used to plan, book, track and analyze freight across carriers and modes from one place.
Tracking number
A unique identifier assigned to a shipment so its progress can be followed from pickup to delivery.
Transit time
The expected time a shipment spends moving from pickup to delivery, driven by the lane, the mode, and the number of handoffs along the way.
Transloading
Transferring freight from one mode or container to another — for example, unloading an ocean container and reloading the goods into a domestic trailer — often to optimize cost or routing.
Warehouse
A facility for storing, handling and distributing goods. RS Group operates 80,000 square feet of Atlanta warehousing about 30 minutes from the airport.

Term you do not see here?

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