Glossary of container freight terms

The booking platform used by Australian container terminals. An operator with active 1-Stop status books its own truck timeslots directly.

See also VBS Slot

Australian Dangerous Goods Code. The national rules for classifying, packing, marking and carrying dangerous goods by road and rail. It sets the classes, the UN numbers and the Limited Quantity thresholds.

See also DG DG class UN number LQ

Chain of Responsibility. Australian law making every party in the transport chain — including the consignor — responsible for mass, load restraint, speed and fatigue compliance.

See also Gross weight VGM

Returning an empty container to a nominated empty park after unpacking, within the shipping line's free time.

Planning the empty return

See also Empty park Free time Detention

A shipping line charge for a container still sitting at the terminal beyond its free time. Used loosely for any waiting charge, but on an invoice it is the one attached to the box before it leaves the wharf — storage is the terminal's own charge for the same delay.

See also Detention Storage Free time

A shipping line charge that runs once a container has left the terminal and is not back at an empty park inside the free time allowed. It accrues per container, per day, and it does not stop for whatever caused the delay.

Keeping detention charges down

See also Dehire Free time Demurrage

Dangerous goods. Cargo classified under the Australian Dangerous Goods Code. Aardiv carries Limited Quantity DG only.

See also ADG Code DG class LQ Placard

The hazard class, 1 to 9, describing what a dangerous good does rather than what it is: Class 3 is flammable liquids, Class 8 is corrosives, Class 9 is miscellaneous, which is where lithium batteries sit. One load can carry more than one class.

See also DG ADG Code UN number

Delivery Order. The shipping line's authority to release a container. A "clear DO" has all charges paid and no customs or quarantine holds.

What a clear DO actually means

See also EDO Slot

Electronic Delivery Order. The same authority issued electronically.

See also DO

A depot where empty containers are collected before packing or returned after unpacking.

The empty parks we are inducted at

See also Dehire Detention

Full Container Load. One consignee's cargo filling a whole container — the mode Aardiv operates in.

See also LCL

A container with no roof and no sides — a deck and two end frames — for cargo too wide or too tall to fit inside a box. It is loaded and secured from the side or from above.

Retractable trailer delivery

See also Open top

The days allowed before a charge starts running: the terminal's free time before storage, and the shipping line's before detention. The two are set separately, start on different days, and are routinely mistaken for each other.

See also Storage Detention Demurrage

The total weight of the container plus its cargo. Tare plus payload.

Guide to gross weight

See also Tare Payload VGM

High Cube. A container 2.9 m tall externally instead of 2.6 m, giving roughly 13% more volume for the same footprint.

High cube dimensions

See also TEU

Less than Container Load. Multiple consignees' cargo consolidated into one container.

See also FCL

Limited Quantity. Dangerous goods in small inner packagings, exempt from placarding below threshold quantities.

See also DG ADG Code Placard

A container with a removable tarpaulin roof instead of a fixed one, so cargo that will not go through the doors can be craned in from above.

Retractable trailer delivery

See also Flat rack

The weight of the cargo alone, excluding the container.

See also Tare Gross weight

The diamond hazard sign a vehicle must display when it carries dangerous goods above the Limited Quantity thresholds. A load needing them is a placarded load, and it needs a licensed vehicle and driver. Aardiv does not carry placarded loads.

See also DG LQ DG class

A refrigerated container with an integral unit holding a set temperature. It needs power on the wharf, on the truck and on site, and it is both heavier and smaller inside than a dry container of the same length.

See also Tare HC

A trailer with integrated hydraulic cranes that lifts a container off its own deck and places it on the ground.

Side loader delivery

See also Skeletal trailer

A trailer that is essentially a frame with twist locks — the lightest way to carry a container, requiring lifting equipment at both ends.

Standard trailer delivery

See also Side loader

A booked window at a terminal during which a truck may collect or deliver. Miss it and the booking is forfeited.

How VBS timeslots work

See also VBS 1-Stop

The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea. The instrument that made a Verified Gross Mass compulsory for packed export containers.

See also VGM Gross weight

The terminal's charge for a container still on the wharf once its free time has run out. It is the terminal's charge, not the shipping line's, and it is billed separately from detention.

See also Free time Demurrage Detention

The empty weight of the container itself, stencilled on the door.

Container weight calculator

See also Payload Gross weight

Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit. The standard measure of container volume — a 40' container is 2 TEU.

See also HC

The four-digit number identifying a specific dangerous substance — UN 1263 is paint, UN 3480 is lithium ion batteries. It appears on the dangerous goods declaration and decides how the load must be packed and carried.

See also DG DG class ADG Code

Vehicle Booking System. The terminal slot booking system, accessed through 1-Stop.

How VBS timeslots work

See also 1-Stop Slot

Verified Gross Mass. The certified total weight of a packed export container, mandatory under SOLAS before it can be loaded to a vessel.

The four container weights

See also SOLAS Gross weight Tare