Expertise Library
Freight, explained without the jargon.
Straight answers to the questions shippers actually ask — how quotes are built, which Incoterm protects you, what that surcharge means. Written by the people who move the freight.
Fundamentals
Incoterms 2020, decoded for the person actually shipping
All eleven terms, the two mental models that make them click, and the four you will actually use — who arranges freight, who pays, and where your risk ends.
FCL vs. LCL: where the real break-even sits
A full container is priced per box; loose freight is priced per cubic meter. Somewhere around 13–15 CBM the cheaper option flips — here is how to find your line.
How to read a freight quote, line by line
Base rate, surcharges, and the accessorials that show up on invoice day — what each line means, and which ones a low headline rate is hiding.
Dangerous goods
What is Class 9, and why so much freight ends up in it
The dangerous-goods catch-all class — lithium batteries, dry ice, machinery with fuel. Why "ordinary" products are regulated, and what that changes.
Shipping lithium batteries: UN3480, UN3481 and the rules that trip people up
Alone or in equipment, ion or metal, sea or air — the four things that decide how a lithium battery ships, plus the 30% state-of-charge rule for air.
Dangerous goods documentation: what has to match, and why one line holds the shipment
The DGD, the SDS and the commercial docs have to tell the same story. Here is the chain, the fields that get checked, and where DG bookings actually fail.
Shipping vehicles and powered equipment as dangerous goods
An excavator, a scooter, a generator — anything with a battery or a fuel system is Class 9. The UN numbers for vehicles and machinery, and what carriers require.
Drayage & port
Drayage explained: the short move that decides your whole import
The truck leg between the port and your dock is a shipment of its own — priced separately, full of accessorials, and where demurrage is won or lost.
The drayage accessorials that surprise shippers — and what each one means
Chassis splits, pre-pulls, detention, overweight, bobtails. A field guide to every line that can appear on a drayage invoice, and which ones you can avoid.
Demurrage and detention: the two clocks, and how to beat them
The costliest fees in importing are meters, not rates — and they run on time, not distance. What starts each clock, and the moves that stop them.
Port congestion and the true cost of a cheap ocean rate
The lowest rate into a backed-up port can be the most expensive shipment you book. How congestion turns into dwell, demurrage and surcharges — and how to price it in.
Project & heavy
Project cargo explained: when your freight does not fit in a box
Machinery, plant, heavy equipment — too big to containerize and too complex to book routinely. What makes freight "project cargo" and why one coordinator has to own it.
OOG shipping: flat rack, open top, breakbulk or RoRo — choosing the method
Once cargo won’t fit a standard box, four methods compete. What each is for, how they price, and the dimensions and weight that decide between them.
Heavy haul inland: permits, escorts and route surveys
Getting an oversized machine from the port to the site is its own project. Why permit lead time — not the truck — is usually the real constraint on your schedule.
Trade show and expo logistics: from the port to the booth
Show freight has a deadline that does not move and a venue that runs on windows. How heavy equipment gets from an ocean vessel onto a show floor, on time.
Free download · PDF
The Dangerous Goods Shipping Checklist
Eleven pre-booking checks — SDS, UN number, proper shipping name, mode, lithium state of charge, DGD — on one printable page. Distilled from our dangerous-goods guides.
Get the checklist →
Free download · PDF
The Incoterms 2020 Cheat Sheet
All eleven terms in their two families, the E/F/C/D letter logic, and the cost-vs-risk trap that catches importers out — on one printable page.
Get the cheat sheet →Glossary
Every fee and term, in one line each.
Demurrage, THC, telex release, HS codes — the vocabulary of a freight invoice, defined plainly.
- Demurrage
- Detention
- Per diem
- Free time
- Terminal handling charge (THC)
- Bunker adjustment factor (BAF)
- Currency adjustment factor (CAF)
- FCL (full container load)
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