Freight recovery glossary
The terms that show up on a 9 p.m. call, defined in plain English.
Cross-dock
- Transferring freight from an inbound trailer directly to an outbound trailer with little or no storage in between.
Rework (load rework)
- Unloading, restacking, re-wrapping and re-labeling freight that has shifted, leaned or been rejected so it can be delivered and accepted.
Restack
- Rebuilding pallets to the receiver’s specification, often after a load shift or a pallet failure.
Transload
- Moving freight between modes or equipment types, such as an ocean container to a 53-foot trailer, or a flatbed to a dry van.
Lumper
- Labor hired to load or unload a trailer. A mobile lumper crew travels to the trailer instead of the trailer coming to a warehouse.
OS&D
- Over, Short and Damaged. The function, and the team, that handles freight that arrives with an overage, a shortage or damage.
Rejected load
- Freight the receiver refuses to accept, usually for damage, temperature, timing, overage or wrong product.
Shifted load
- Freight that has moved inside the trailer during transit, leaving pallets leaning, crushed or fallen.
Detention
- A charge for keeping a driver and trailer waiting at a shipper or receiver beyond the agreed free time.
Drop trailer
- Leaving a loaded or empty trailer at a facility or yard for later pickup rather than live loading or unloading.
Reefer
- A refrigerated trailer. A reefer breakdown is a failure of the cooling unit, which puts the product at risk.
Temperature excursion
- A period when product moved outside its required temperature range. Usually documented by the reefer download or a facility log.
Certificate of destruction
- A document from a disposal facility confirming that product was destroyed, used to support insurance and shipper claims.
Salvage
- Recovering value from damaged or rejected product by selling, donating or reprocessing it rather than destroying it.
Chain of custody
- The documented sequence of who handled freight, when and in what condition. Essential for recovered, high-value or claimed freight.
BOL (bill of lading)
- The contract and receipt for a shipment. A signed BOL at each handoff keeps the claims trail clean.
Floor-loaded
- Freight loaded loose on the trailer floor rather than on pallets. Takes more labor to unload or transload.
GMA pallet
- The standard 48 by 40 inch pallet used in grocery and consumer goods distribution.
Per diem
- A daily charge for holding an ocean container beyond the free time. Transloading near the port avoids it.
Axle weight
- The weight carried by each axle group. A load can be legal on gross weight but overweight on one axle, which is fixed by redistributing freight.
On-demand warehousing
- Warehouse space, labor and services bought by the job or the day without a long-term contract, usually through a network like WarehouseNow.
Hours of service
- Federal limits on how long a driver can drive and work before resting. A driver out of hours cannot legally move the load.
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