Shipping Abbreviation : Glossary with Explanation ( 2022 )

This is a ultimate glossary to shipping abbreviation and terminology.

( Last updated in May 2020 ) .

It took me nearly 120 hours to collect, classify and sort out all these most common used 1200 pieces of content in the topic of shipping from China.

And I’m pretty confident that this is the most overall and easy to obtain shipping knowledge you can find on the Internet.

One the way to a shipping veteran,  you’ll love this comprehensive glossary.

Enjoy.

Shipping Terms,trade terms or Incoterms to be exact,

is always the first topic for every importers when comes to import and shipping.

In fact, we face and talk it everyday and for every shipment. 

Different shipping terms means different responsbilities to take and costs to pay.  

Question is what’s the meaning of these three-letter abbreviation ?

Air freight is the most convenient shipping method. 

It involves tons of codes which simplify the industry. 

Among that airlines code and airport codes are most frequently used. And I also collect the most used air cargo abbreviations in practice.

Why should you learn ?

To obtain the quote timely, save cost, and make your shipping in control.

It’s no doubt that sea freight is more comlicate than air shipping. 

But when we break up it into several parts : shipping lines, dimensions for calculation, price ( which will talk in next chapter ), etc . Things can be much easier to understand. 

All you need to do is go throught this topic abbreviations. 

Now here we go.

It’s important to understand all your freight options so you can make an informed decision. 

And the shipping price is a major determinant in making decision. 

With that, you will need every break down shipping cost. 

i.e the quote or price must be transparent.  And you want to know every dollar you pay for. right ? 

Take the shipping charge item abbreviation list:

It could be incomplete if without a shipping documentation abbreviation.

Besides 5 common documents required for air shipping from China, there are other documents play a important role in shipping. 

So let’s briefly cover them:

Strictly speaking, there is no need for a importer to know the organizations related to shipping. 

You must never heard of most of them if you are not in international logistics industry. 

Then why I list it as a special chapter ? 

Because I want you to pay more attention to shipping safety. 

The rules and regulations made by the shipping organizations make this industry and business in order.

And of course you must follow them. 

In the era of e-commerce, everybody wants to receive the order as soon as place the order. 

But it is impossible in international trading, at least for now. 

It takes time, no matter what shipping method you choose. 

And here is the time-related abbreviation list which you can meet when tracking.  

International logistics involves a lot of participants. 

We are dealing with different people. 

Shipping is game from one place to another. 

We use Port to Port or Door to Door to make it easy for you to understand, 

But in fact, the places are varies.

So what’s included ? 

Transaction is a key link during the whole shipping process. 

And you must be pretty clear about the payment terms and conditions. 

After all, this is where divergence happens. 

International shipping is really a complicated thing. 

In order to simplify the abbriviation shipping knowledge,  I have get all of them classified. 

But some can’t be defined specifically, so here I gather them all.

Now it is time to show you how the shipping terminology like and used in practice. 

Specifically, it comes from a real example freight invoice which issued last month. 

So without further ado, let’s get right into this case study.