By Steve, Editor at Prodoer Logistics
The short answer: this glossary collects the working vocabulary of delivered-duty-paid trade - the terms this series has used across two hundred articles, defined once, in order - because freight disputes, pricing errors, and customs surprises are, more often than anyone admits, vocabulary failures: two parties using one word for two things. Read it as the series' index and the program's legend - the terms every link of the chain should mean identically.
THE TRADE AND TERMS VOCABULARY
Incoterms - the international commercial terms, the ICC's published vocabulary for who pays and who risks what: EXW (ex works, buyer collects at seller's door), FCA (free carrier, seller delivers to the buyer's nominated carrier, export cleared), FAS (free alongside ship), FOB (free on board, the classic sea term, seller's obligation ends at the vessel's deck), CFR (cost and freight, seller pays to destination, risk transfers at loading), CIF (cost, insurance and freight, CFR plus insurance), CPT and CIP (carriage paid to / carriage and insurance paid to, the any-mode versions), DAP (delivered at place), DPU (delivered at place unloaded), and DDP (delivered duty paid, the seller's maximum: goods at the named place, import cleared, duties and taxes paid). Named place - the address-level destination the delivered terms require; risk transfer - the moment loss changes owners, which is not necessarily the moment payment or freight transfers; landed cost - the full per-unit cost of goods delivered: product, freight, duties, taxes, handling, last mile - the number every model in this series was built to compute.
THE CUSTOMS VOCABULARY
Importer of record - the party legally responsible for the entry, the duties, and the compliance; entry - the customs declaration that admits goods; classification - the tariff code a product is filed under, deciding its duty rate; valuation - the value basis duties compute on, the price actually paid plus the required adjustments; origin - where the goods are from, as the rules define it, deciding preferences and measures; preferential origin - the qualifying origin that earns reduced duty under trade agreements; de minimis - the threshold below which small imports clear without duty or tax; bond - the customs security backing the importer's obligations; ISF - the advance ocean filing regime into the United States; entry exam - the authority's physical or documentary inspection, the lottery every entry enters; query - the authority's post-entry question, answered from the file on a deadline; liquidation - the entry's final settlement, when it stops being revisable; drawback - the duty recovered on exported goods; tariff - both the rate schedule and, in current usage, the trade measure that raises it; EORI - the EU trader registration every European entry hangs on; VAT and GST - the value-added taxes layered on imports and sales, recoverable by registrants; one-stop schemes - the EU's single-registration simplifications for distance selling and imports.
THE FREIGHT VOCABULARY
Consolidation - gathering scattered shipments into one, the small operator's economics engine; deconsolidation - the destination-side split; LCL and FCL - less-than-container-load versus full container load, with the volume break between them; break-bulk - non-containerized cargo, handled piece by piece; flat-rack and open-top - the special equipment for over-gauge freight; transshipment - routing through an intermediate hub; cross-dock - the destination relay that skips storage; demurrage and detention - the port and equipment time penalties this series' calendars always padded against; free time - the allowed days before those penalties; last mile - the final delivery leg, the promise's public face; tracking milestones - the chain's visible events; POD - proof of delivery, the evidence the claims triangle starts from; weight break - the rate-card threshold where pricing steps; volumetric weight - the dimensional weight bulky-but-light freight pays on; chargeable weight - whichever of actual or volumetric is greater; surge or peak season - the calendar's capacity crunch, with its surcharges.
THE PROTECTION VOCABULARY
Marine cargo insurance - the cover for transit perils, all-risks basis with named exclusions; open cover - the annual policy that insures the program wholesale; declared value - the value stated to carrier or insurer, deciding their liability; subrogation - the insurer paying you, then pursuing the party at fault; general average - the ocean tradition where all cargo shares a vessel's sacrifice; claims triangle - this series' evidence recipe: origin condition, arrival exception, auditable number; notice of exception - the annotated receipt and its deadline; survey - the insurer's post-loss inspection; guaranteed delivery - the promise backed by a remedy; order protection - the commercial guarantee layer, a freight discipline in disguise.
HOW TO USE A GLOSSARY
The point of shared vocabulary is not vocabulary pride - it is operational: contracts written with the terms defined once; quotes naming their components in the standard words; training built on the legend; disputes settled by what the term meant, not what each side hoped. The delivered-duty-paid program is a chain of parties who never meet, cooperating through documents - and documents are just vocabulary that has learned to travel. Two hundred articles said, in the end, one thing: the program that means its words precisely, and keeps them, is the program that delivers. This glossary is those words.
WHAT A COMPLETE DOOR-TO-DOOR QUOTE CONTAINS
Use this checklist against any quote from China. Origin side: pickup and inland transport to the port or airport, export customs declaration and documentation, origin terminal handling, packing, consolidation, or inspection where applicable. Main leg: base freight, ocean or air, plus fuel and security surcharges. Destination side: destination terminal handling, the delivery order fee, import customs clearance, import duties and taxes - included only under DDP; under DAP or FOB they are yours - last-mile delivery, and storage beyond free time. Three items that are not fee lines but cost drivers all the same: the currency of the quote, its validity window, and the free time allowed at destination. A quote that expires within days, or assumes you can clear and collect within a tight window of arrival, is not priced like one with a longer runway. When you receive a quote, check every line above: present, absent, or collect. Absent lines are where surprises come from, and collect lines are where risk hides.
SIX QUESTIONS THAT EXPOSE ANY FORWARDER
Which lanes do you run most, and with which carriers? Forwarders are strong where they run volume; you want current rates and a live view of schedule reliability, not a generalist learning your lane on your budget. Who files the export customs declaration, and in whose name? The answer should be crisp - we file in China, in our name, as your export agent. Do you quote all-in or line by line, and can you show the lines? Either style is honest if the lines are visible on request. What exactly is your liability if my cargo is lost or damaged? Listen for honest limits and a clear insurance recommendation, not comfort. Can you quote DDP to my door? Even if you ship FOB, the answer maps the depth of their destination network. And what went wrong on a recent shipment, and what did you do? Every forwarder has war stories; the good ones tell them plainly with a resolution. Vague answers to two or more of these should end the evaluation, whatever the price.
THE MODE MAP, IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Air freight from China is the speed ceiling: transit counted in days, priced accordingly, right for launches, spare parts, and stock-outs. Sea freight is the cost floor: transit counted in weeks, unbeatable per unit for full containers and bulk replenishment. Rail to Europe sits in between - meaningfully faster than ocean, meaningfully cheaper than air - a natural fit for electronics and e-commerce restocking. International express is the small-parcel lane: a few cartons, minimal paperwork, premium pricing. Most importers end up using a portfolio: sea for the base load, air for the exceptions, and rail as the middle option when both extremes misbehave. The mistake to avoid is treating mode choice as an identity - we are a sea freight company - instead of a per-shipment decision driven by urgency and value density. A forwarder who runs all the modes can price the portfolio honestly; a single-mode operator can only sell you their mode.
THE GLOSSARY IS THE MAP'S LEGEND
Two hundred articles' worth of disciplines, and every one of them came down to a handful of words used precisely. Keep the legend current with a desk pairing the full vocabulary with Amazon FBA prep and shipping execution - because the terms are only as good as the freight that ships under them.
Steve is the Editor at Prodoer Logistics, a China-based freight forwarder and customs broker handling air, sea, rail, and express cargo for traders, wholesalers, manufacturers, and online sellers.