Glossary of Terms - C

CAD

See Cash Against Documents

CAF

See Currency Adjustment Factor

Cabotage

Transport of goods between two ports, or places located in the same country, by a carrier based in another country.

Transport of cargo in a country other than the country where a vehicle is registered (road-freight).

The carriage of a container from a surplus area to an area specified by the Owner of that container, in exchange of which and during which the operator can use the container.

Call

The visit of a vessel to a port.

Cargo

Goods transported or to be transported, all goods carried on a ship.

Any goods, wares, merchandise, and articles of every kind whatsoever carried on a ship, other than mail, ship's stores, ship's spare parts, ship's equipment, stowage material, crew's effects and passengers' accompanied baggage (IMO).

Any property carried on an aircraft, other than mail, stores and accompanied or mishandled baggage Also referred to as 'goods' (ICAO).

Cargo Assembly

The separate reception of parcels or packages and the holding of them for later despatch as one consignment (air cargo).

Cargo Disassembly

The separation of one or more of the component parts of a consignment (from other parts of such consignment) for any purpose other than that of presenting such part or parts to customs authorities at the specific request of such authorities (air cargo).

Cargo Handling

All procedures necessary to enable the physical handling of goods.

Cargo Unit

A vehicle, container, pallet, flat, portable tank or any other entity or any part thereof which belongs to the ship but is not permanently attached to that ship.

Carriage

The transportation of cargo from one place to another.

Carriage Paid To (...named place of destination) (CPT)

See Inco Terms

Carriage and Insurance Paid To (...named place of destination) (CIP)

See Inco Terms

Carrier

The party undertaking transport of goods from one place to another.

Carrier Haulage

The inland transport service, which is performed by the sea-carrier under the terms and conditions of the tariff and of the relevant transport document.

Cartage

See Haulage

Cash Against Documents (CAD)

Terms of payment: when the buyer of goods pays for the goods against transfer of documents, entitling him to obtain delivery of the goods from the carrier.

Cash On Delivery (COD)

Terms of payment:when the carrier collects a payment from the consignee and remits the amount to the shipper.

Cell

Location on board of a container vessel where one container can be stowed.

Cell Position

The location of a cell on board of a container vessel identified by a code for successively the bay, the row and the tier, indicating the position of a container on that vessel.

Cellular Vessel

A vessel, specially designed and equipped for the carriage of containers.

Certificate of Origin

A certificate, showing the country of original production of goods. Frequently used by customs to confirm eligibility to special duty rates under preferential tariff programmes or in connection with regulating imports from specific sources.

Charter Party

A contract in which a shipowner agrees to place the vessel or a part of it at the disposal of a charterer, for the carriage of goods.

Charterer

The person who has signed a charter party with the owner of a vessel or an aircraft and thus hires or leases a vessel or an aircraft or a part of the capacity thereof.

Chassis

A wheeled carriage onto which an ocean container is mounted for inland conveyance
The part of a motor vehicle that includes the engine, the frame, suspension system, wheels and steering mechanism, but not the body.

Clean Bill of Lading

A Bill of Lading does not contain any qualification about the apparent order and condition of the goods to be transported I.E.it bears no stamped clauses on the front of the B/L. It bears no superimposed clauses expressly declaring a defective condition of the goods or packaging (resolution of the ICS 1951).

Clearance Terminal

Terminal where Customs facilities for the clearance of goods are available.

Cleared Without Examination (CWE)

Cleared by customs without inspection.

Closed Ventilated Container

A container of a closed type, similar to a general purpose container, but specially designed for carriage of cargo where ventilation, either natural or mechanical (forced), is necessary.

Combined Transport

Intermodal transport where the major part of the journey is by one mode such as rail, inland waterway or sea and any initial and/or final leg carried out by another mode such as road.

Combined Transport Bill of Lading

See Bill of Lading

Combined Transport Document (CTD)

Negotiable or non-negotiable document evidencing a contract for the performance and/or procurement of performance of combined transport of goods.
Thus a combined transport document is a document issued by a Carrier who contracts as a principal with a Merchant to effect a combined transport often on a door-to-door basis.

Combined Transport Operator (CTO)

A party who undertakes to carry goods with different modes of transport.

Commodity Box Rate

A rate classified by commodity and quoted per container.

Commodity Code

Code used in the Harmonised System for the classification of goods.

Commodity Item Number

Specific description number required in air transport to indicate that a specific freight rate applies.

Congestion

Accumulation of vessels at a port to the extent that vessels arriving to load or discharge are obliged to wait for a vacant berth.

Connecting Carrier

A carrier to whose services the cargo is to be transferred for onward connecting transport (air cargo).

Consignee

The party such as mentioned in the transport document by whom the goods, cargo or containers are to be received.

Consignment

A separate identifiable number of goods (available to be) transported from one consignor to one consignee via one or more than one modes of transport and specified in one single transport document.

Consignment Instructions

Instructions from either the seller/consignor or the buyer/consignee to a freight forwarder, carrier or his agent, or other provider of a service, enabling the movement of goods and associated activities. The following functions can be covered:

Movement and handling of goods (shipping, forwarding and stowage).

Customs formalities

Distribution of documents.

Allocation of documents (freight and charges for the connected operations).

Special instructions (insurance, dangerous goods, goods release, additional documents required).

Consignment Note

A document prepared by the shipper and comprising a transport contract. It contains details of the consignment to be carried to the port of loading and it is signed by the inland carrier as proof of receipt.

Consolidate

To group and stuff several shipments together in one container.

Consolidated Container

Container stuffed with several shipments (consignments) from different shippers for delivery to one or more consignees.

Consolidation

The grouping together of smaller consignments of goods into a large consignment for carriage as a larger unit in order to obtain a reduced rate.

Consolidation Point

Location where consolidation of consignments takes place.

Consolidator

A firm or company that consolidates cargo.

Consortium

Consortium is a form of co-operation between two or more carriers to operate in a particular trade.

Consular Invoice

An invoice covering shipment of goods certified by a consular official of the destination country, and used normally by customs or officials concerned with foreign exchange availability to ascertain the correctness of commercial invoice values.

Container

An item of equipment as defined by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) for transport purposes.

It must be of:
- a permanent character and accordingly strong enough to be suitable for repeated use.
- specially designed to facilitate the carriage of goods, by one or more modes of transport without intermediate reloading.
- fitted with devices permitting its ready handling, particularly from one mode of transport to another.
- so designed as to be easy to fill and empty.
- having an internal volume of 1 m3 or more.
The term container includes neither vehicles nor conventional packing.

Container Bolster

A container floor without sides or end walls which does not have the ISO corner fittings and is generally used for Ro/Ro operations.
Note: A bolster cannot be handled either full or empty by a container spreader without special gear.

Container Chassis

A vehicle specially built for the purpose of transporting a container so that, when container and chassis are assembled, the produced unit serves as a road trailer.

Container Depot

Storage area for empty containers.

Container Freight Station (CFS)

A facility at which (export) LCL cargo is received from merchants for loading (stuffing) into containers or at which (import) LCL cargo is unloaded (stripped) from containers and delivered to merchants.

Container Load Plan (CLP)

A list of items loaded in a specific container and where appropriate their sequence of loading.

Container Manifest

The document specifying the contents of particular freight containers or other transport units, prepared by the party responsible for their loading into the container or unit.

Container Moves

The number of actions performed by one container crane during a certain period.

Container Number

Identification number of a container consisting of prefix and serial number and check digit. (e.g. KNLU 123456-7)
See also: Container Serial Number and Container Prefix

Container Terminal

Place where loaded and/or empty containers are loaded or discharged into or from a means of transport.

Container Yard (CY)

A facility at which FCL traffic and empty containers are received from or delivered to the Merchant by or on behalf of the Carrier.
Note: Often this yard is used to receive goods on behalf of the merchant and pack these in containers for FCL traffic.

Containerised

Indication that goods have been stowed in a container.

Contract of Affreightment

An agreement to carry goods by sea. They take a variety of forms but traditional division is between those embodied in charter parties and those evidenced by Bills of lading.

Contractual Port of Loading

A port at which an ocean vessel does not call, but which is equalised with the actual port of call and upon which inland haulage services and inland tariffs are based.
Note: Generally speaking it is seen as the port to be mentioned on the B/L from which cargo is accepted (e.g. delivered by the consignee for sea transport).

Convention Internationale Concernant le Transport des Marchandises par Chemin de Fer� (CIM)

International agreement, applied by 19 European railway companies, setting out conditions for international transport of goods by rail and the liabilities of the carrier(s).

Convention Relative au Contrat de Transport International de Marchandise par Route� (CMR)

Convention for the international carriage of goods by road, setting out the conditions of carriage and the liabilities of the carrier.
Note: Adherence to this set of regulations reflects a desire to standardise items such as documentation and rules on the carriers liability.

Conventional Cargo

See Break Bulk Cargo

Currency Adjustment Factor (CAF)

Adjustment applied by shipping companies to freight rates to offset losses or gains for carriers resulting from fluctuations in exchange rates of tariff currencies.

Customs

The department of the Civil Service that deals with the collection of duties and taxes on imported goods from foreign countries and the control over the export and import of goods

Customs Broker

An authorised intermediary specialised in customs clearance procedures on account of importers/exporters.

Customs Clearance Agent

Customs broker or other agent of the consignee designated to perform customs clearance services for the consignee