Freight glossary
These pages are the words that show up on a dock receipt, a BOL and an accessorial invoice. Each article is short, factual and tied back to a calculator where the term has a number. No blog, no city pages — just the terms shippers, FBA sellers, warehouse planners and brokers actually search when something on the paperwork is ambiguous.
NMFC
Classification system behind LTL class.
LTL vs FTL
Shared trailer vs dedicated.
FCL vs LCL
A box of your own vs a piece of one.
Demurrage vs detention
Terminal time vs equipment time.
Drayage
The short haul off the port.
Dunnage
What keeps cargo from walking.
Tare weight
Empty equipment mass.
Bill of lading
Contract, receipt, document of title.
Accessorial charges
Liftgate, residential, inside.
Cross-docking
Through the dock, not into stock.
Forwarder vs broker
Different licenses, different jobs.
3PL
Someone else’s warehouse and trucks.
Pallet sizes
GMA through quarter pallets.
Skid vs pallet
Bottom deck or not.
Case pack
Eaches in the carton.
Master carton
The shipper around inner packs.
Cube utilization
How much of the envelope you filled.
Floor loading
No pallets, just cartons on the floor.
Methodology
Sources and last-reviewed dates.
About freightcalcs
Who publishes this and why.