Freight and Shipping Terms Glossary
Logistics Worldwide’s Freight and Shipping Terms Glossary helps you understand the language of transportation—from common acronyms and industry terminology to payment, credit, and supply chain terms.
Select a letter below to browse terms alphabetically. If you can’t find a term or need help understanding how it applies to your shipment, contact Logistics Worldwide.
The Freight Terms Glossary was compiled by the Georgia Institute of Technology in association with the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistics Institute.
- Validated Export License
A document issued by the U.S. government; authorizes the export of commodities for which written authorization is required by law.
- Validation
Authentication of B/L and when B/L becomes effective.
- Vanning
A term for stowing cargo in a container.
- Variable Cost
Costs that vary directly with the level of activity within a short time. Examples include costs of moving cargo inland on trains or trucks, stevedoring in some ports, and short-term equipment leases. For business analysis, all costs are either defined as variable or fixed. For a business to break even, all fixed costs must be covered. To make a profit, all variable and fixed costs must be recovered plus some extra amount.
- Ventilated Container
A container designed with openings in the side and/or end walls to permit the ingress of outside air when the doors are closed.
- Vessel Manifest
The international carrier is obligated to make declarations of the ship's crew and contents at both the port of departure and arrival. The vessel manifest lists various details about each shipment by B/L number. Obviously, the B/L serves as the core source from which the manifest is created.
- Vessel Supplies for Immediate Exportation (VSIE)
Allows equipment and supplies arriving at one port to be loaded on a vessel, aircraft, etc., for its exclusive use and to be exported from the same port.
- Viz.
Namely. Used in tariffs to specify commodities.
