Reference
Shipping Terms
Two quotes for the same lane can differ by hundreds of dollars purely because of the shipping term attached to them. Each term below says where the carrier’s responsibility starts and stops, and which terminal handling charge is already inside the rate.
Where each term starts and stops
The four terminal-to-terminal terms differ only in who pays to lift the container on at origin and off at destination.
Showing 22 of 22 terms
Terminal to terminal
These abbreviations are the ones used in commercial practice for liner transport between ports. They differ only in which end’s terminal handling charge the carrier absorbs.
- FIOS Free in/out and stowed
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Main freight and surcharges only. Loading, discharging and stowage on board all sit outside the rate.
- FIFO Free in/out
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Main freight and surcharges only. The loading and discharging terminal handling charges sit outside the rate.
- LIFO Liner in/free out
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Main freight with the loading charge at origin inside the rate. The discharging charge at destination is not included.
- FILO Free in/liner out
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Main freight without the loading charge at origin, and with the discharging charge at destination included.
- LILO Liner in/out
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Main freight with both the loading and discharging terminal handling charges included.
Container yard
How far a shipping line reaches inland varies by territory: a container may be delivered to a yard near the port, into the hinterland, or all the way to the client. These terms carry the rate past the terminal gate, adding terminal forwarding at one or both ends.
- LICY Liner in/container yard
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Main freight with the loading and discharging charges plus destination terminal forwarding fees included.
- FICY Free in/container yard
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Main freight without the loading charge at origin. The discharging charge and destination terminal forwarding fees are included.
- CYCY Container yard/container yard
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Main freight with the loading and discharging charges plus origin and destination terminal forwarding fees included.
- CYLO Container yard/liner out
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Main freight with origin terminal forwarding fees and both the loading and discharging charges included.
- CYFO Container yard/free out
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Main freight with origin terminal forwarding fees and the loading charge included. The discharging charge is not included.
Door delivery
Door terms put an inland leg on the carrier’s account, so the rate covers collection from the shipper, delivery to the consignee, or both.
- Door-to-Door
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The carrier arranges delivery from the shipper’s warehouse to the consignee’s warehouse. Inland delivery at both ends, transhipments, surcharges, the ocean or air freight and both terminal handling charges are all inside the rate.
- Door-LO Door/liner out
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The carrier arranges delivery from the shipper’s warehouse to the destination terminal. Origin inland delivery, transhipments, surcharges, the ocean or air freight and both terminal handling charges are inside the rate.
- Door-CY Door/container yard
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The carrier arranges delivery from the shipper’s warehouse to the container yard at destination. Origin inland delivery, transhipments, surcharges, the ocean or air freight, both terminal handling charges and destination terminal forwarding are inside the rate.
- Door-FO Door/free out
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The carrier arranges delivery from the shipper’s warehouse to the destination terminal. Origin inland delivery, transhipments, surcharges and the ocean or air freight are inside the rate. The destination terminal handling charge is not included.
- CY-Door Container yard/door
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The carrier arranges delivery from the container yard at origin to the consignee’s warehouse. Origin terminal forwarding, both terminal handling charges, the ocean or air freight, surcharges, transhipments and destination inland delivery are inside the rate.
- LI-Door Liner in/door
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The carrier arranges delivery from the origin terminal to the consignee’s warehouse. The origin terminal handling charge, the ocean or air freight, surcharges, transhipments and destination inland delivery are inside the rate.
- FI-Door Free in/door
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The carrier arranges delivery from the origin terminal to the consignee’s warehouse. The ocean or air freight, surcharges, transhipments, the destination terminal handling charge and destination inland delivery are inside the rate. The loading charge at origin is not included.
Surcharges
Depending on the shipping line or the practice at a particular port, any of the following may be added on top of the rate.
- BAF Bunker Adjustment Factor
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The floating part of sea freight charges, covering additions that follow oil prices.
- CAF Currency Adjustment Factor
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A fee applied to shipping costs to compensate for exchange rate fluctuations.
- CUC Chassis Using Charge
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A charge for use of the chassis.
- Documentation Fee
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A charge for executing the shipping documents.
- Wharfage
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The port fee for using a wharf to unload cargo from a vessel. Normally already inside the freight cost or the terminal handling charge unless stated otherwise.
- Where a line delivers door to door, it rarely stuffs or unstuffs the container itself. That is handled by the consignor, or through a forwarder.
- Surcharges vary by shipping line and by the practice at a particular port, so always check which are inside a quoted rate.
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Know the term, track the box
Once the booking is made, follow the container from load to discharge with live status and ETAs across ocean and air cargo.