• Ocean Freight Terms and Abbreviations

Terms, codes, and abbreviations define many industries. Ocean Freight container shipping is no different. One of the most difficult things to navigate in ocean shipping is understanding the basic everyday terms experienced professionals take for granted. For people new to the ocean freight industry this can be as confusing as rocket science. So without further ado, here is a guide for new shippers to ocean freight terms and abbreviations.

• CY/CY

CY/CY means Container Yard to Container Yard. This is when the ocean carrier is contracted to ship the container from their designated container yard at origin, to their designated container yard at destination. All costs for transport to and from these container yards are not included in the contracted price.

• Port/Port

Similar to CY/CY, the term Port/Port (or sometimes read as “Port to Port”) means that the ocean carrier is contracted to move the container from the port of loading to the port of discharge. All costs for transport to and from these ports, including terminal charges, are not included in the contracted price.

• FCL

The abbreviation FCL stands for Full Container Load. Shippers who contract under FCL terms will pay term for the entire container movement from point to point. A FCL container will have one shipper per container.

• LCL

The abbreviation LCL stands for Less than Container Load. Sometimes a shipper will not need a full container. In these cases, the shipper will book a portion of the container or LCL. Under these terms the shipper is charged for only that portion of the container the freight uses. In most cases the cost of shipping LCL is significantly less than a full box. However, there are other shippers in the container, and LCL shipping tends to take more time, as there is coordination with multiple shippers to fill an entire container.