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Reference

Truck dispatch glossary.

48 terms every dispatcher uses on the phone, in rate confirmations and in FMCSA rules, defined in plain English.

Accessorial
A charge on top of the linehaul rate for extra work or time, such as detention, layover, lumper, TONU or extra stops.
Backhaul
A load that brings a truck back toward its home base or a stronger market after a delivery. Planning backhauls cuts deadhead.
Bill of ladingBOL
The shipping document issued at pickup. It works as the receipt for the freight and lists shipper, consignee, commodity, weight and piece count.
BMC-84
The surety bond form a freight broker files to show FMCSA the required $75,000 of financial security. The trust-fund alternative is the BMC-85. See Freight Brokerage.
BOC-3
The FMCSA filing that names a process agent in each state who can accept legal papers for a carrier or broker. Required before authority is granted.
Bona fide agent
A person who is part of a motor carrier's normal organization and works for it under a continuing agreement, without discretion to give its freight to other carriers. Bona fide agents are not brokers (49 CFR 371.2).
Broker
A person or company that arranges truck transportation for compensation without being the carrier. Brokers need FMCSA broker authority and a $75,000 bond. See dispatcher vs broker.
Carrier packet
The set of documents a carrier sends to a new broker: authority letter, W-9, certificate of insurance and signed broker-carrier agreement.
Chassis
The wheeled frame a shipping container sits on for road transport in drayage. Chassis come from pools, steamship lines or the trucking company.
Check call
A scheduled status update on a load in transit: location, ETA, problems. Many brokers now require app tracking as well.
Consignee
The receiver of the freight at delivery.
CSACompliance, Safety, Accountability
FMCSA's safety program. Its Safety Measurement System scores carriers on categories such as unsafe driving and hours-of-service compliance.
Deadhead
Miles driven empty, with no paying load, for example from a delivery to the next pickup.
Demurrage
A daily charge for a container left inside a port or rail terminal after its free time ends. See what is drayage.
Detention
Pay for the time a truck is held at a shipper or receiver beyond the free time agreed in the rate confirmation (often two hours). In drayage, detention also means the charge for keeping a carrier's container outside the terminal too long.
Dispatcher
The person who finds loads for a carrier's trucks, negotiates rates, plans routes around hours of service and handles the paperwork. See what a dispatcher does.
Double brokering
When a carrier (or someone posing as one) accepts a load and secretly re-brokers it to another carrier without the shipper or broker's consent. A leading form of freight fraud.
Drayage
Short-distance trucking of shipping containers, usually between a port or rail terminal and a warehouse.
Dry van
An enclosed, non-refrigerated trailer, typically 53 feet, used for general palletized freight. The most common trailer in U.S. trucking.
ELDElectronic logging device
The device that automatically records a driver's driving time for hours-of-service compliance. Required for most interstate drivers.
Factoring
Selling a freight invoice to a factoring company for immediate cash, minus a fee, instead of waiting 30 days or more for the broker to pay.
Flatbed
An open trailer with no sides or roof, loaded from the side or top. Used for steel, lumber, machinery and building materials.
FMCSAFederal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
The U.S. Department of Transportation agency that registers carriers and brokers and sets the safety rules for trucking.
Free time
The time allowed before a charge starts: loading and unloading time at a facility, or days a container may stay in or out of a terminal.
Hours of serviceHOS
Federal limits on how long a truck driver may drive and work: 11 hours driving, a 14-hour window, a 30-minute break and 60/70-hour weekly limits. See the HOS guide.
IFTAInternational Fuel Tax Agreement
The agreement that lets interstate carriers file one quarterly fuel tax report that is shared among U.S. states and Canadian provinces.
Intermodal
Moving freight by more than one mode, such as ship, rail and truck, in the same container.
Last free dayLFD
The final day a container can stay in the terminal without demurrage. Missing it is one of the costliest mistakes in drayage.
Layover
Pay when a truck must wait overnight or longer because a load is not ready or a delivery is rescheduled.
Linehaul
The base rate for moving a load from origin to destination, before fuel surcharge and accessorials.
Load board
An online marketplace where brokers post loads and carriers post trucks. DAT, Truckstop and 123Loadboard are the best known in the U.S.
Lumper
A third-party worker paid to load or unload a truck at a warehouse. The lumper fee is usually reimbursed by the broker as an accessorial.
MC number
The docket number FMCSA issues with operating authority for for-hire interstate carriers and brokers. Brokers and carriers are often identified by it.
OS&DOver, short and damaged
Freight that arrives with more pieces, fewer pieces, or damage compared to the bill of lading. Must be noted on the POD.
Per diem
In drayage, the daily charge a steamship line bills when its container or chassis is kept outside the terminal past free time.
Power only
A load where the carrier supplies only the truck and driver and pulls a trailer owned by the shipper or broker.
Proof of deliveryPOD
The signed bill of lading or delivery receipt that shows the freight was delivered. Needed to invoice.
Quick pay
A broker's option to pay a carrier within a few days instead of the standard terms, in exchange for a fee.
Rate confirmationRate con
The broker's written agreement for a single load: rate, pickup and delivery details, accessorial terms and payment terms. See how to read one.
Reefer
A refrigerated trailer for temperature-controlled freight such as produce, meat and pharmaceuticals.
Shipper
The company whose freight is moving, usually where the load is picked up.
Spot rate
A one-time price for a single load at current market conditions, as opposed to a contract rate agreed for a lane over a period.
Step deck
A flatbed with a lower rear deck, used for taller freight that would exceed height limits on a standard flatbed.
Street turn
In drayage, reusing an import container for an export load without returning it to the terminal first, which saves trips.
TONUTruck ordered, not used
A flat fee paid to the carrier when a load is cancelled after the truck was dispatched.
TWICTransportation Worker Identification Credential
The TSA-issued ID card required to enter secure areas of U.S. ports without an escort.
UIIAUniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement
The standard contract between motor carriers and equipment providers that governs the use of containers and chassis in drayage.
USDOT number
The unique identifier FMCSA gives companies operating commercial vehicles in interstate commerce. Used to look up safety records.