Cargo
- Breakbulk
- Cargo that is loaded piece by piece rather than in a container or pumped as bulk. Steel coils, pipe, bagged goods, machinery and vehicles are typical. Each piece is counted and tallied individually, which is why the paperwork on a breakbulk vessel is heavier than on a container ship.
- Project cargo
- Cargo moving as part of a single capital project, usually oversized and time-sequenced: turbines, transformers, reactors, modules, cranes. It arrives on a schedule tied to a construction site rather than a repeating trade lane, so the handling requirement is one-off and the delivery window matters more than the freight rate.
- Heavy lift
- A piece too heavy for standard shoreside equipment, typically handled by a vessel crane, floating crane or specialist gear. Heavy lift is a capability statement about the equipment, not about the commodity.
- Over-dimensional cargo (OOG)
- A piece that exceeds the dimensions of standard equipment or road and rail clearances in at least one axis. Also written out-of-gauge. Over-dimensional pieces drive route surveys, permits and escorts, which is usually where the cost and the schedule risk live.
- Bulk
- Homogeneous cargo carried loose and measured by weight or volume rather than counted: grain, ore, aggregate, liquids. Distinguished from breakbulk, where individual pieces are tallied.
Terminal operations
- Laydown
- Open area used to set cargo down and stage it before onward movement. Laydown is sold by area and time rather than by piece, and its availability is often the real constraint on whether a terminal can take a project.
- Transload
- Moving cargo directly from one mode to another, such as vessel to rail or vessel to truck, without an intermediate storage cycle. Priced per unit moved, and the economics depend heavily on how much of the handling can be done in one touch.
- Berth
- The section of quay where a vessel ties up. Berth time is a scheduled and charged resource, so a terminal quoting a job is implicitly quoting how long the berth will be occupied.
- Gang
- A crew assigned to work a vessel or a hatch, sized by the job and the labor agreement. Terminal labor cost is usually built from gang hours rather than individual headcount.
- Hatch
- An opening in the vessel deck giving access to a hold. Tally sheets record which hatch or hold a piece came out of, because discrepancies get traced back to a specific working area.
- Shift
- A defined working period under the labor agreement. Shift boundaries determine when straight time ends and overtime begins, which is why overtime rates are stored rather than derived.
- Stevedore
- The company or crew that physically loads and discharges the vessel. Depending on the port, stevedoring may be provided by the terminal operator or contracted separately.
- Lashing and dunnage
- Securing cargo for transit. Lashing is the chains, straps and welded stoppers that hold a piece in place; dunnage is the timber and packing that spreads load and stops movement. Both are consumables that belong in a cost model.
Documents and records
- Tally sheet
- The running count of cargo worked, recorded piece by piece as it comes off or goes on. It captures the bundle or piece number, marks, weights and condition, and it is the source record everything downstream reconciles against. Still handwritten on a clipboard at most terminals.
- Mate’s receipt
- The document issued when cargo is received aboard, acknowledging quantity and apparent condition. It is generated from the tally and precedes the bill of lading, so an error in the tally propagates into it.
- Bill of lading (B/L)
- The carrier’s document of title, receipt for the goods and evidence of the contract of carriage. Cargo details on it are expected to match the tally.
- Warrant
- A document identifying a specific stored lot, used to track and transfer cargo held in a warehouse or yard. Warrant numbers are how relocation sheets identify what moved, which is why a mistyped warrant number is an expensive error.
- Relocation sheet
- The record of cargo moved between positions inside a facility: date, warrant number and destination bay. Terminals use it to keep an accurate picture of where stored cargo actually is.
- Heat number
- An identifier stamped on steel linking a piece to the batch it was produced in. Recorded on tallies for steel cargo because traceability follows the heat rather than the piece.
- Marks
- Identifying text or symbols painted or stencilled on a piece, used to match cargo against manifests and consignees when there is no barcode.
- Cargo manifest
- The vessel’s list of everything aboard, by consignment. Used to plan the discharge and to reconcile what was actually tallied.
Commercial terms
- Tariff
- A terminal’s published schedule of charges for standard services. Project and breakbulk work is often quoted outside tariff because the handling does not fit a standard line item.
- Free time
- The period cargo may occupy the terminal at no storage charge before demurrage or storage begins. Free time is a negotiated commercial term and directly changes the economics of a storage-heavy job.
- Demurrage
- A charge for detaining equipment or occupying space beyond the agreed free time. Distinct from storage revenue in that it is a penalty for exceeding an agreement rather than a price for a service.
- Wharfage
- A charge assessed on cargo crossing the dock, typically per ton or per unit, for use of the wharf itself rather than for labor or equipment.
- Straight time and overtime
- The two labor rate bases set by the applicable agreement. Overtime is not reliably a fixed multiple of straight time, so a cost model that derives one from the other will produce numbers a customer can dispute.
- Break-even price
- The price at which a job’s revenue exactly covers its total annual cost, including fixed cost that does not scale with volume. Usually sits above per-unit direct cost, which is why pricing at cost can still lose money.
- Laytime
- The time allowed under the charter party for loading or discharging before demurrage accrues against the vessel. A terminal’s working speed determines whether laytime is met.
Keep reading