Glossary

AEO : Authorised Economic Operator. A company or organisation involved in the international movement of goods and that has been approved by a national Customs administration.

Autonomous car : Also referred to as self-driving car, robot car and driverless car.

B/L : A bill of lading is a detailed list of a ship’s cargo.

Bonded warehousing : A type of warehousing in which companies place goods in storage without paying taxes or tariffs until the goods are ready for onward distribution.

Cold chain : A cold chain is a refrigerated temperature-controlled supply chain most commonly used for pharmaceutical products or foodstuffs. An unbroken cold chain is an uninterrupted series of refrigerated production, storage and distribution facilities which maintain a stipulated low-temperature range.

Compliance : Compliance means that products, services, processes and/or documents meet relevant requirements.

Dangerous goods : Dangerous goods are substances or articles that pose a risk to people, property or the environment, due to their chemical or physical properties. Dangerous goods are often confused with hazardous cargo, which relates to a slightly different risk. See hazardous cargo.

Digitalisation : The adoption or increase in use of digital or computer technology.

Digitisation : The conversion of analogue data into digital form.

Driverless car : Also referred to as self-driving car, robot car or an autonomous car.

FTL, FTL freight : Full truckload. When you want your shipment to occupy a truck exclusively. This can be because your shipment would fill a whole truck, or because you want to pay for a whole truck even though your shipment would not fill it completely. This may be the case if you want faster collection and delivery, but it is probably more expensive than booking LTL - less than truckload.

GDP : This abbreviation is used in two different contexts: Good distribution practice = guidelines for the proper distribution of medicinal products for human use. Gross domestic product = a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period in a country or region.

Haulier : Haulier is used primarily in the UK, but elsewhere 'trucking company' is used more often.

Hazardous cargo : Hazardous substances are classified only on health effects, whether immediate or long term, while dangerous goods relate to physical or chemical effects, including fire, explosion, corrosion and poisoning, whether affecting property, the environment or people.

Healthcare vertical : A healthcare vertical provides services to several sectors including biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics, medical products and personal care and hospitals and care homes.

Incoterms® : They are standard sets of global trading terms and conditions, issued by the International Chamber of Commerce, designed to help traders, lawyers, transporters and insurers when goods are bought, sold and transported. Essentially, the 11 Incoterms rules set out obligations for trading partners (for example, who is responsible for transport, import and export clearance etc.) and, importantly, the point in the journey where risk transfers from the seller to the buyer.

Load metre, load meter : 1 linear metre of loading space in a truck or trailer for calculating freight cost. Used when goods cannot be stacked. One europallet is 0.4 load metres.

LTL. LTL freight : Less than truckload. When your shipment does not need a whole truck, you book "LTL" and your goods are shipped with other customers' goods. This is a lower-cost solution than booking a whole truck.

Robot car : Also referred to self-driving car, autonomous car and driverless car.

Self-driving car : Also referred to as robot car, autonomous car and driverless car.

SOP : A standard operating procedure is a set of instructions to help an organisation’s employees carry out complex routine operations in an efficient and uniform way, in accordance with industry regulations, and to reduce miscommunication.

TEU : Twenty-foot equivalent unit. Standard unit for describing a ship's cargo carrying capacity, or a shipping terminal's cargo handling capacity. A standard forty-foot (40x8x8 feet) container equals two TEUs (each 20x8x8 feet).

TMS : A transport management system is a supply chain management subset which helps optimise the effectiveness and efficiency of transportation fleets.

Track and trace : The process of identifying past and current locations of inventory items in the supply chain.

WMS : A warehouse management system is a software application which supports and enhances warehouse functionality and distribution centre management.