Compliance
7 termsBonded Carrier
A carrier authorized by U.S. Customs to move in-bond freight that has not yet cleared customs.
CARB Compliance
Meeting the California Air Resources Board's clean-truck rules required to serve California ports and rail yards.
FMCSA SAFER
FMCSA's public system for looking up a carrier's operating authority, insurance, and safety record by USDOT or MC number.
SMS BASIC Score
FMCSA's Safety Measurement System percentile scores that rank a carrier's safety performance across seven categories.
TWIC
The federal Transportation Worker Identification Credential that a driver needs to enter secure port facilities.
UIIA
The industry-standard interchange agreement a motor carrier must sign to legally pick up and drop off intermodal equipment.
USDOT Number
The unique federal identifier assigned to a motor carrier, used to track its safety, authority, and compliance records.
Core
4 termsDrayage
Short-haul trucking that moves a container the first or last mile between a port, rail ramp, or yard and a nearby facility.
Intermodal Drayage
The truck leg that connects a container to or from a rail intermodal ramp.
Port Drayage
Drayage that specifically moves import or export containers to and from an ocean marine terminal.
TEU
Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit — the standard way to measure container volume and terminal throughput.
Costs
3 termsDetention & Demurrage
Two related charges for holding containers or equipment too long — demurrage on the container at the terminal, detention on the equipment or driver.
Free Time
The grace period during which a container can sit at a terminal or be used before demurrage, detention, or per-diem charges begin.
Per Diem
A daily charge for keeping a container or chassis beyond its allotted free time — the "rent" on the equipment itself.
Equipment
3 termsChassis
The wheeled steel trailer frame a shipping container is mounted on so a truck can haul it over the road.
Chassis Pool
A shared fleet of chassis that participating carriers draw from and return, rather than each owning their own.
Chassis Split
When the chassis must be picked up from a different location than the container, forcing an extra, costly trip.
Operations
4 termsBobtail
Driving a tractor with no trailer or chassis attached — non-revenue movement that carriers try to minimize.
Last Free Day (LFD)
The final day a container can be picked up from the terminal before demurrage charges begin.
Street Turn
Reusing an emptied import container directly for an export load instead of returning it to the terminal first.
Transloading
Transferring freight from an ocean container into domestic trailers or another container to optimize the inland move.
Oversize & overweight
13 termsAxle Spacing
The distance between axles, measured centre to centre — the input the bridge formula runs on, and the reason two rigs at the same gross weight can differ on legality.
Federal Bridge Formula
The federal calculation that caps the weight on any group of two or more consecutive axles, based on how far apart the outer axles of that group are.
Fifth Wheel
The coupling that connects a semitrailer to the towing tractor, leading trailer, or dolly.
Grandfather Rights
A state allowance to keep truck weight limits that were lawful before the federal standards were adopted — held by 37 states and DC.
GVW (Gross Vehicle Weight)
The total combined weight of the vehicle and its load — capped at 80,000 lb on the Interstate System, above which an overweight permit is needed.
Kingpin to Rear Axle (KPRA)
The distance from the fifth-wheel kingpin to the centre of the rear axle group — a limit in its own right in several states, and not derivable from trailer length.
LCV (Longer Combination Vehicle)
A tractor with two or more trailers running above 80,000 lb on the Interstate System — frozen in place by federal law since 1991.
National Network (NN)
The federally-designated highway system on which states may not set truck width, or minimum trailer length, away from federal standards.
Non-Divisible Load
A load that cannot be broken down without ruining it, destroying its value, or taking more than 8 work hours to dismantle — the federal test for whether an oversize or overweight permit is available at all.
Pilot Car (Escort Vehicle)
A certified escort vehicle running ahead of or behind an oversize load — routinely the largest single line on an oversize move.
Route Survey
A physical or engineering check of the intended route before a permit is issued — triggered by dimension in most states, and priced separately from the permit.
Superload
A move a state will not issue over the counter — priced only after an engineering and route review. It is not "anything over 80,000 lb".
Tandem Axle
Two axles spaced more than 40 and not more than 96 inches apart, limited to 34,000 lb between them on the Interstate System.
Port fees
1 termSpecialized
2 termsReady to move a container?
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