Useful Info

Shipping Glossary

icon COMMON SHIPPING TERMS
icon Label
  A slip of e.g. paper or metal attached to an object to indicate the nature, ownership, destination, contents and/or other particulars of the object.

   
icon Lash
  To hold goods in position by the use of, e.g., wires, ropes, chains and straps.

   
icon ShipLeasing Company
  The company from which property or equipment is taken on lease.

   
icon Less than Container Load
  Abbreviation: LCL

  A general reference for identifying cargo in any quantity intended for carriage in a container, where the Carrier is responsible for packing and/or unpacking the container

  For operational purposes a LCL (Less than full container load) container is considered a container in which multiple consignments or parts thereof are shipped

   
  Abbreviation: LTL

  A term used if the quantity or volume of one or more consignment(s) does not fill a standard truck.

   
icon Lessee
  The party to whom the possession of specified property has been conveyed for a period of time in return for rental payments.

   
icon Lessor
  The party who conveys specified property to another for a period of time in return for the receipt of rent.

   
icon Letter of Credit
  Abbreviation: L/C

  A written undertaking by a bank (issuing bank) given to the seller (beneficiary) at the request, and on the instructions of the buyer (applicant) to pay at sight or at a determinable future date up to a stated sum of money, within a prescribed time limit and against stipulated documents.

   
icon Letter of Indemnity
  Written statement in which one party undertakes to compensate another for the costs and consequences of carrying out a certain act. The issue of a letter of indemnity is sometimes used for cases when a shipper likes receiving a clean Bill of Lading while a carrier is not allowed to do so.

   
icon Liability
  Legal responsibility for the consequences of certain acts or omissions.

   
icon Lien
  A legal claim upon real or personal property to pay a debt or duty.

   
icon Liner Conference
  A group of two or more vessel-operating carriers, which provides international liner services for the carriage of cargo on a particular trade route and which has an agreement or arrangement to operate under uniform or common freight rates and any other agreed conditions (e.g. FEFC = Far Eastern Freight Conference).

   
icon Liner In Free Out
  Abbreviation: LIFO

  Transport condition denoting that the freight rate is inclusive of the sea carriage and the cost of loading, the latter as per the custom of the port. It excludes the cost of discharging.

   
icon Liner Terms
  Condition of carriage denoting that costs for loading and unloading are borne by the carrier subject the custom of the port concerned.

   
icon Lloyd's Register of Shipping
  British classification society.