Container shipping terms and accessorial glossary

Drayage has its own vocabulary for terminal timing, container equipment, extra services, and shipping documents. Many of these terms appear in quotes or operating instructions without a plain-language explanation.

This glossary explains the accessorial names used by Portmate and other common terms you may encounter while moving an import or export container in the United States.

Quick distinction: A drayage term describes part of the shipment or operation. An accessorial is an additional service or operating condition that may create a separate charge beyond the basic container move.

How to use this glossary

Terms are grouped by where they appear in a drayage workflow instead of being presented as one long alphabetical list.

Start with Portmate accessorial terms when reviewing a quote or terminal rate sheet.
Use terminal and timing terms when planning pickup, delivery, or empty return.
Use equipment and weight terms when describing the container, chassis, or cargo.
Use shipment and document terms when coordinating with a shipper, consignee, broker, carrier, or terminal.

Rates and conditions are not included here because they can differ by terminal metro and effective date. For current charges, use the Portmate accessorial lookup. For the broader pricing methodology, read what Portmate rates are based on.

Portmate accessorial terms

Portmate's accessorial catalog groups additional charges by the service performed and its billing basis. A charge may be billed per container, hour, day, ticket, gallon, or actual outlay.

Time, waiting, and extra trips

These terms usually describe additional driver time, container dwell, staging, or a trip that could not be completed as planned.

Pre-pull or prepull: Picking up a container from the terminal before its planned delivery date and staging it at the trucker's yard. A pre-pull may help when terminal availability, appointment timing, free time, or an early delivery window makes same-day pickup and delivery impractical.
Container drop: Leaving the container at the requested facility or yard and returning later to retrieve it. This is often part of a drop-and-pick operation rather than a live unload.
Container storage: Holding a container at the trucker's yard, normally billed per day. This is different from demurrage or storage assessed while the container remains at a marine terminal.
Detention or waiting time: Time the driver and truck spend waiting at a terminal or facility beyond the included free period. In Portmate's accessorial sheets, this is an hourly trucking charge after the stated free time.
TONU: Short for truck ordered, not used. It can apply when a truck has been dispatched but the planned move is canceled or cannot proceed. A failed trip of this kind is also commonly called a dry run.

Do not treat every use of “detention” as the same charge. A trucker may use it for driver waiting, while an ocean carrier may use it for keeping its container outside the terminal beyond free time.

Chassis, weight, and refrigerated equipment

These terms describe the equipment or handling needed to move a particular container.

Standard chassis: The regular wheeled frame used to carry a container over the road. Chassis time is commonly billed per day.
Tri-axle chassis: A chassis with three axles, used when cargo weight and the supported route require additional axle capacity.
Super chassis: A higher-capacity chassis tier used for certain heavy-container moves. The exact configuration and supported weight depend on the market, equipment provider, and route.
Chassis split: An additional move or handling event required when the chassis and container must be picked up from, or returned to, different locations. It is sometimes described as a split pickup or split return.
Overweight handling: Additional operating cost for a container that exceeds standard legal or equipment thresholds on the supported route. It may require a tri-axle or super chassis, permits, route restrictions, or other planning. Portmate calculates overweight support from structured shipment and lane details rather than treating weight as a simple optional add-on.
Reefer handling: Additional handling associated with a refrigerated container. Portmate determines this from the container type.
Private genset: A separately supplied generator set used to power a refrigerated container while it is away from fixed electrical power. Genset time is commonly billed per day.
Genset refueling: Fuel added to the generator set, normally billed by the gallon.
Scale ticket: A documented weight reading from a truck scale. It may be requested by the customer or required when the provided weight needs verification.

For equipment diagrams and weight context, see container chassis types and how to check if a container is overweight.

Cargo, delivery, and pass-through charges

These accessorials describe regulated cargo, unusual delivery conditions, or expenses paid while performing the move.

Bonded or in-bond transportation: Movement of imported merchandise under customs control before final entry and duty processing at the destination. The shipment requires the appropriate bond, documentation, and authorized parties. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection in-bond guidance explains the regulatory context.
Hazmat: Short for hazardous materials. Hazmat cargo may require approved commodity classification, placards, documentation, trained drivers, equipment, routing, or terminal acceptance. Availability can depend on the cargo's hazard class.
Residential delivery: Delivery within or through an area treated as residential rather than a standard commercial receiving location. Access, parking, truck restrictions, and receiving conditions may affect whether service is possible.
Toll or port fee: A pass-through expense such as a bridge, highway, turnpike, terminal gate, or similar operating fee. Depending on the quote, documented third-party charges such as demurrage or per diem may also be passed through under this category. When shown as at cost, the actual outlay is billed rather than treated as a zero-dollar charge.

Terminal and timing terms

Terminal timing determines when a container can move and which charges may begin. The terms below are related, but they are not interchangeable.

Availability, appointments, and cutoffs

These terms define the usable pickup or delivery window.

Availability: The point when an import container is physically and administratively ready for pickup. A container may have arrived but still be unavailable because of discharge status, customs, freight release, holds, or terminal processing.
Free time: The period during which a container or piece of equipment may remain in a specified location without the applicable time-based charge.
Last free day or LFD: The final day of free time before the relevant demurrage, storage, detention, or per-diem charge can begin. Confirm which party issued the LFD and what charge it controls.
Terminal appointment: A reserved pickup or delivery time at a marine terminal, rail ramp, depot, or warehouse. Some facilities use appointment windows; others use first-come, first-served access or a hybrid system.
Earliest return date or ERD: The earliest date an export container may be delivered to the terminal for its intended sailing.
Cutoff: The deadline for completing a required export step. A booking may have separate cargo, documentation, verified gross mass, reefer, or hazardous-cargo cutoffs.
Ingate and outgate: Ingate is the recorded entry of equipment into a terminal or facility. Outgate is its recorded departure.

Demurrage, detention, and storage

These charges depend on where the container or equipment is and who controls it.

Demurrage: A charge generally associated with an import container remaining at a marine terminal beyond its allowed free time.
Ocean detention or per diem: A charge generally associated with retaining an ocean carrier's container or equipment outside the terminal beyond the allowed free time.
Terminal storage: A terminal charge for cargo or equipment occupying terminal space. Depending on the tariff and local terminology, it may be separate from or closely related to demurrage.
Trucker's yard storage: A drayage carrier's charge for holding a container at its own yard. This is the container storage accessorial described earlier.
Driver detention or waiting time: The trucker's hourly charge when the driver is delayed beyond included waiting time at pickup or delivery.
Dwell time: The total time a container, chassis, truck, or shipment remains at a location or in a particular status. Dwell describes elapsed time; it does not by itself identify which charge applies.

The Federal Maritime Commission provides additional guidance on ocean transportation demurrage and detention.

Holds and releases

A container usually needs both physical availability and the required administrative releases before pickup.

Customs hold: A restriction placed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection or another government agency. The container cannot move normally until the hold is resolved or the required examination is completed.
Freight release: Confirmation that the ocean carrier or other controlling party has released the cargo after its commercial requirements are satisfied.
Terminal release: Confirmation that the terminal permits the container to outgate. A terminal may still show a hold even when customs and freight releases are complete.
Delivery order: Instructions authorizing cargo release or delivery to the named party. The required format varies by carrier and workflow.
Pickup number: A reference or authorization code used to retrieve a container or shipment from a terminal, depot, warehouse, or CFS.

Equipment and weight terms

Drayage equipment terms identify the container, the wheeled frame beneath it, and any power or weight requirements.

Containers and truck equipment

These are the physical components used during the move.

Container: The standardized cargo box used in international or intermodal transportation. Common size codes include 20GP, 40GP, and 40HC.
Dry container: A standard enclosed container without active temperature control.
Reefer: A refrigerated container with machinery for maintaining a specified temperature.
Chassis: The wheeled frame that carries a shipping container over the road.
Tractor or power unit: The truck that connects to and pulls the chassis.
Genset: A generator set that supplies electrical power to a reefer when fixed power is unavailable.
Bobtail: A tractor moving without a trailer or chassis attached.
Deadhead: Truck movement without revenue cargo, such as traveling to collect an empty chassis or returning from a delivery without a load.
Flip or lift: Moving a container on or off a chassis with terminal, depot, or yard equipment. An extra flip may be needed when the container is mounted on the wrong chassis or stored on the ground.

Portmate's standard container types guide explains the most common container size codes.

Cargo and weight measurements

Weight terms must be read carefully because cargo weight and total moving weight are not the same.

Cargo weight or net weight: The weight of the goods loaded inside the container, excluding the container itself.
Tare weight: The empty weight of the container.
Gross weight: The combined weight of the cargo and container. In some operating contexts, people may use the phrase more broadly, so confirm what is included.
Verified gross mass or VGM: The verified total mass of the packed export container, including cargo, packaging, securing materials, and the container tare.
Axle weight: The portion of total vehicle weight carried by a particular axle or axle group. A container can create an axle-weight problem even when its total weight appears manageable.
Legal weight: The maximum weight permitted under the applicable vehicle, axle, road, permit, and jurisdictional rules. It is not one universal number for every container and route.

For typical tare, payload, and gross-weight references by equipment code, use the standard container sizes and payloads guide.

Shipment and facility terms

These terms describe how cargo is packed, where it changes hands, and who participates in the shipment.

Move types and facilities

The same container may pass through several kinds of facilities during one shipment.

FCL: Full container load, generally meaning one shipper's cargo uses the container under a full-container movement.
LCL: Less than container load, where cargo from multiple shipments may be consolidated into one container.
CY: Container yard, a terminal area or facility where full containers are received, stored, or released.
CFS: Container freight station, a facility that receives, consolidates, deconsolidates, or handles cargo moving outside a sealed full-container workflow.
Marine terminal: A port facility where containers transfer between vessel and landside transportation.
Rail ramp: An intermodal rail facility where containers transfer between train and truck.
Depot: A facility commonly used for empty-container pickup and return, maintenance, inspection, or equipment storage.
Trucker's yard: A drayage carrier's operating location used for staging, container storage, chassis handling, or dispatch.
Live load or live unload: The driver waits while the facility loads or unloads the container.
Drop and pick: The driver leaves the container and returns later, or exchanges it for another container that is ready.
Transload: Cargo is transferred between an ocean container and another vehicle, container, or storage arrangement.
Cross-dock: Cargo moves through a facility from inbound to outbound transportation with little or no long-term storage.
Street turn: An empty container is reassigned directly from an import move to an export shipper instead of first returning to the designated empty-return location. Carrier authorization is normally required.
Empty return: Delivery of the unloaded container to the ocean carrier's designated terminal or depot.

Parties and documents

These names identify the organizations and records that control the move.

Shipper or consignor: The party sending the goods.
Consignee: The party named to receive the goods.
Drayage carrier or motor carrier: The trucking company performing the local container move.
Ocean carrier or steamship line: The vessel-operating carrier responsible for the ocean transportation and its container equipment.
NVOCC: A non-vessel-operating common carrier that arranges ocean transportation and may issue its own bill of lading without operating the vessel.
Freight forwarder: A party that organizes transportation and related documentation on behalf of a shipper or consignee.
Customs broker: A licensed party that helps submit customs entries and related information to government agencies.
Bill of lading or BOL: A transportation document describing the cargo, parties, and movement terms. Ocean shipments may involve both a master bill and a house bill.
Equipment interchange receipt or EIR: A record of the transfer and reported condition of a container or chassis when equipment enters or leaves a terminal, depot, or carrier's custody.
Interchange: The transfer of container or chassis possession between parties, normally recorded through terminal or depot transactions.
SCAC: Standard Carrier Alpha Code, an identifier commonly used for transportation companies in documents and operating systems.
UIIA: The Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement, commonly referenced when motor carriers interchange intermodal equipment with participating providers and facilities.
Booking number: The ocean carrier's reference for reserved export capacity and associated shipment instructions.
Container number: The unique equipment identifier printed on the container, usually four letters followed by seven digits.
Seal number: The identifier of the security seal placed on the loaded container doors.
POD: An abbreviation that can mean either proof of delivery or port of discharge. Confirm the intended meaning from the document or conversation.

Ask in plain language

You do not need to memorize the glossary before requesting a drayage quote. Describe the operating requirement as clearly as possible, and include the facts that may affect equipment, timing, or additional services.

For example:

“Quote a 40HC reefer from the terminal to the warehouse. The driver will wait during unloading, and we expect the process to take about three hours.”

“The import container must be picked up before its last free day, stored overnight at the trucker's yard, and delivered the next morning.”

“The cargo is hazardous, and the gross cargo weight is 44,000 lb. Please check the supported chassis and overweight requirements.”

Portmate's machine learning model uses the shipment details and conversation context to identify supported accessorials and calculated equipment requirements. Review the final pricing breakdown to confirm what is included.

For the complete quoting workflow, read how to get an instant drayage quote. For a broader introduction to the operation itself, see what is drayage. You can also ask Portmate a drayage-related question in plain language.