Maritime Logistics Dictionary

Cargo-handling: Movement of cargo in and around a port. Includes marshalling services

and stevedoring services.
Charterer: Person or organisation who hires a ship to move goods from one place to
another.
Deck crane: Crane placed on ships and ports used for handling operations or ship
unloading.
DWT: Deadweight tonnage. Maximum weight a ship can carry, including the weights of
cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provisions, passengers and crew.
EPA: Environmental Protection Agency. A government organization in the US that protects
human health and the environment.
Flat-rack containers: Container with no side walls but end walls used for heavy, bulky,
over height, over width items.
Freight forwarders: Companies that serve both to shippers and carriers by organizing
and coordinating the transportation of goods.
Forklift: Small industrial vehicle which can be inserted under loads to lift and move them.
General purpose containers: Mostly used container type. Suitable for the carriage of dry
cargoes.
Hammerhead crane: Crane designed to use in shipyards to support the battleship
construction. The crane has the ability to lift up to 350 tons.
Hanger containers: Designed to hold garments on hanger.
High cube containers: Containers designed at 9.5 feet (3 meters) that can hold more
cargo.
IMDG: International Maritime Dangerous Goods. International code for the maritime
transport of dangerous goods in packaged form in order to enhance and harmonize the
safe carriage of dangerous goods and to prevent pollution to the environment.
IMO: International Maritime Organization. Agency that maintains a comprehensive
regulatory framework for shipping which include safety, environmental concerns, legal
matters, technical cooperation, maritime security and efficiency of ships.
Incoterms: International Commercial Terms. Rules and terms that buyers and sellers use
in international and domestic trade contracts.
LCL: Less Container Load. The shipper does not contract for a full container since the
quantity of shipment is not adequate to contract for a full container.
Liner shipping: Kind of shipping which prefer a constant rate rather than fluctuating
market rate, regular services.
Logistics: Process of planning, implementing and managing the movement of products
and information from one point to another.
Long-term forecast: Forecast more helpful in setting up strategies for 20-25 years.
Medium-term forecast: Forecast used in seasonal fluctuation planning (time horizon
between 6 months and 5 years) and in investment decisions (5-10 years periods).
Open-top containers: Container used for cargoes that are too large to fit throught the
door of a regular container and therefore must be loaded from the top. That container have
no roof but have movable or removable tarpaulin.
Pilotage: Service provided by a pilot with local knowledge and skills wich enable him to
conduct the navigation and maneuvering of the vessel in and approaching the harbor.
Portal crane: Crane used in bulk ports for handle loads with heavy weight and high
height, lifting, laying down and luffing during the operating process.
Reefer containers: Refrigerated container. Designed to hold cargo at a constant
temperature. Suitable for the carriage of perishable goods.
Ship agents: They represent the shipowner, ship manager or charterer to help them
complete some ship-related declarations and other shipping agent work.
Ship brokers: Specialist intermediaries or negotiators between shipowners and charterers
who use ships to transport cargo.
Shipbuilders: A person or company whose job or business is the design and construction
of ships.
Ship owner: A natural or legal person who operates his own or a rented ship.
Shippers: A person or company whose job is to organize the sending of goods from one
place to another.
Shipyard: Place where ships are built or repaired.
Short-term forecast: 3-6 months period forecast, performed to determine the supply
times and order size.
Stevedores: A person who works at a port, putting goods onto and taking them off ships.
Tank containers: To carry hazardous or non-hazardous liquids.
TEU: Twenty-foot equivalent units, standard size of a container.
Towage: Service provided by tug boats which move larger ships that either should not or
cannot power themselves.
Tramp shipping: Kind of shipping which in the long run does not have a fixed itinerary,
and which carries mainly bulk cargoes over relatively long distances and from one or more
ports to one or more ports by any vessel with a tonnage of 4000 dwt or above.
Tyre crane: Crane used in large ports for loading and unloading and hoisting bulk cargo.
Very short-term forecast: Forecast carried out every day, every week or even every hour
for the purpose of stock control, preparing job tasks and work assignments and workloads
in logistics. Also called momentary forecast.
VIM: Vendor managed inventory. Stock management method that a supplier of products is
responsible for optimizing the inventory held by a distributor.