Common Freight Tracking Acronyms

Confused by some freight tracking acronyms? Here are some common tracking acronyms and their meanings:

DEL or On Board – This means the goods are out for delivery or delivered.

LOD –  Left on the dock, generally because the consignment has arrived into the depot too late for delivery on that day’s delivery run.

LID – Left in the depot, same as LOD

CA – Check the address, the driver is querying the delivery address

CL – Card left, the driver has attempted delivery and left a card because there wasn’t anyone at the delivery address to sign for the goods.

RTS – the goods have been returned to Sender

ETD - Estimated time of departure

ETA - Estimated time of arrival

T/A - Terminal handling charges

Demurrage - A fee charged for storage of cargo beyond the free period granted by the carrier

Detention - A fee charged for keeping cargo beyond the free period granted by the carrier

EDI - Electronic Data Interchange - the exchange of business documents between computers in a standard format

BOL - Bill of lading - a document issued by a carrier that lists the details of a shipment and serves as a contract of carriage

Cargo manifest - A document listing the details of a shipment

Truck order - A document issued by a shipper to a trucking company, authorizing the pickup and transport of freight

POD - Proof of delivery - a document confirming that a shipment has been delivered

LTL - Less than truckload - a shipment that is too small to fill an entire truck trailer

FTL - Full truckload - a shipment that is large enough to fill an entire truck trailer

RFP - Request for proposal - a document issued by a shipper in order to solicit bids from carriers for the transport of freight

RFQ - Request for quotation - a document issued by a shipper in order to solicit bids from carriers for the transport of freight

COA - Certificate of Analysis

CBM - Cubic Meter

COD - Cash on Delivery

DDP - Delivered Duty Paid

DIM - Dimensions

FDA - Food and Drug Administration

FOB - Free On Board

HTS - Harmonized Tariff Schedule

LCL - Less than Container Load

MWT - Minimum Weight Tolerance

PCS - Pieces

UCS - Uniform Commercial Code

VGM - Verified Gross Mass, the declared weight of a shipment including packaging and dunnage

W&M - Weights and Measures

While this is not an exhaustive list, it covers some of the most commonly used freight tracking acronyms.

Familiarizing yourself with these terms will help you better understand the shipping process and make sure your shipments are tracked correctly.

Do you have any freight tracking question? Contact us, we can help!