Terms and Concepts

Before you use Transportation Management, you should be familiar with these terms:

Accessorial charges: Charges for a service other than the actual transportation of goods. Examples include notification before delivery, inside delivery, or levitate service.
Ambient temperature: The temperature of a liquid product when you load the product onto a vehicle. This temperature affects the volume of the product that is loaded on the vehicle. Contrast with standard temperature.
Billable freight charges: The amount of freight that is charged by the shipper to the customer when the freight terms are prepaid.
Bulk products: Product, such as gasoline, which is shipped in bulk containers or compartments.
Carrier zone: A code that identifies the geographic region for rating shipments.
Connected vehicle: Two or more vehicles that are physically connected, such as two interconnected trailers or a group of rail cars.
Delivery: A single delivery of one or more shipments to the same customer. For the purpose of rating a shipment, the system assigns a single delivery number to multiple shipments on a single manifest, load, or master bill of lading, and that are destined t o the same customer location.
Delivery confirmation: A confirmation that an order or orders have been delivered to a customer. This confirmation includes information about the specific product and the exact quantity that was delivered.
FAK (freight of all kinds): Freight of all kinds. This is an attribute of a carrier, route, or rate table in which all freight is accepted and rated the same way, regardless of the freight classification code.
Freight category: A user-defined code that is assigned at the item level and that you can use to determine a freight charge.
Freight classification code: A code that classifies freight according to product density, packaging, and other characteristics that affect transportation costs. For example, a fully assembled bicycle has one code, whereas a bicycle requiring assembly has a different code. The common standard for the United States is the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) code.
Gain/loss: Temperature differences between standard temperature and ambient temperature can result in a gain or loss to inventory on a load. The system accounts for this gain or loss as additional journal entries to inventory.
Lead time: The time specified in days that is required to secure a transportation resource.
Load: Shipments, not necessarily to the same customer, that have been combined for delivery.
Load confirmation: A confirmation that products have been placed onto a vehicle for shipment. This confirmation includes information about the specific product and quantity and, in some cases, the specific location or compartment on the vehicle.
Load lines: For bulk trailers, load lines account for differences in the density or temperature of a product, which helps you avoid exceeding restrictions while loading.
LTL (Less Than Truckload): A shipment or load that does not require an entire truckload. LTL shipments are generally less than 20,000 pounds, but exceed the maximum weight for a parcel carrier.
Mode of transport: The method for transporting a shipment. Examples include air, rail, and parcel.
Multiple drop load: A load that contains shipments that are to be delivered to multiple destinations.
Multiple pickup load: A load that contains shipments that are picked up from different locations.
NMFC (National Motor Freight Classification): An organization in the United States that establishes codes for all items. Carriers use these codes to rate shipments.
Options: Additional services or requirements for a shipment, such as inside delivery. Options are often associated with accessory charges.
Payable freight charges: The amount of money that is charged by the carrier to the shipper when the freight terms are prepaid, or charged to the customer when the freight terms are collected.
Pooled shipments: Multiple orders that have been combined onto a load as one shipment for delivery to a hub or distribution center to reduce freight costs.
Prepaid: Freight terms in which the shipper is responsible for paying the carrier. The shipper might, in turn, assess a billable freight charge to the customer.
Routing entry: A record in the F4950 table that specifies an origin and destination, both of which are served by a specific carrier and mode of transport. The routing entry also identifies the rate schedule that the system uses to calculate the freight charges, and the required lead time and transit time.
Shipment: A movement of goods from a single origin to a single destination.
Shipment confirmation: A confirmation that an order or orders have been shipped to a customer. A confirmation includes information about the specific product and exact quantity shipped.
Shipment container: A container that you use to ship one or more shipment pieces.
Shipment piece: A single part of a shipment, usually a parcel or carton.
Shipment routing step: An intermediate step of a shipment from a single origin to a single destination. An intermodal shipment contains multiple shipment routing steps.
Standard temperature: For liquid products, you set a standard temperature for the shipping depot to account for changes in inventory due to temperature variances. Contrast with ambient temperature.
Transit time: The time, specified in business days, that is required to send a shipment to its final destination. The system calculates the promised shipment dates by subtracting the transit time from the promised delivery date.
Trip: The planned or scheduled transportation of shipments that use a specific vehicle.
Zone: A code that is assigned to a customer and generally associated with a geographic location.