A

 

ABC ANALYSIS

Methodology used to classify the items purchased or sold by a company. The ABC analysis is an application of the Pareto Principle (or 20/80 rule) according to which 20% of the items account for 80% of the global value or turnover of an enterprise.

 

ACCESSIBILITY
Whole of possibilities to access a transportation network.

 

ACCOMPANIED COMBINED TRANSPORT

Transport of a complete road vehicle, accompanied by the driver, using another mode of transport (for example ferry or train).

 

ACTIVITY BASED COSTING (ABC)

A method of measuring the cost and performance of activities and cost objects. Assigns cost to activities based on their use of resources and assigns cost to cost objects based on their use of activities. ABC recognizes the causal relationship of cost drivers to activities

.

 

ADVANCED PLANNING & SCHEDULING (APS).

A subcomponent of supply chain planning, typically contextually describing manufacturing planning and scheduling.

 

AIR CARGO

Total volume of freight, mail and express traffic transported by air. Includes the following: Freight and Express-commodities of all kinds, includes small package counter services, express services and priority reserved freight.

 

AIR CONTAINER

Container conforming to standards laid down for air transportation.

 

AIRPORT
1) An area of land or water that is used or intended to be used for the landing and takeoff of aircraft, and includes its buildings and facilities, if any; 2) Facility used primarily by conventional, fixed-wing aircraft; 3) A facility, either on land or water, where aircraft can take off and land. Usually consists of hard-surfaced landing strips, a control tower, hangars and accommodations for passengers and cargo; 4) A landing area regularly used by aircraft for receiving discharging passengers or cargo.

 

AIRTRUCK
Road transport of air unitised cargoes from an airoport to another one.

 

AIR WAY BILL (A.W.B.)

Shipping document used by the airlines for air freight. It is a contract for carriage that includes carrier conditions of carriage including such items as limits of liability and claims procedures. The air waybill also contains shipping instructions to airline, a description of the commodity, and applicable transportation charges. Air waybills can be used by many truckers as through documents for coordinated air/truck service. Air waybills are not negotiable. The airline industry has adopted a standard formatted air waybill that accommodates both domestic and international traffic. The standard document was designed to enhance the application of modern computerized systems to air freight processing for both the carrier and the shipper.

 

ALGORITHM

A procedure or formula for solving a problem. The word derives from the name of the mathematician, Mohammed ibn-Musa al-Khwarizmi, who was part of the royal court in Baghdad and who lived from about 780 to 850. Al-Khwarizmi's work is the likely source for the word algebra as well.

 

ALLOCATING COSTS

The process of assigning costs to individual products, processes and departments.

 

ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY

The situation in which all the resources in an economy are fully and efficiently employed.

 

ANCHORAGE DUES

Rights of anchorage.

 

ANNUAL CAPITAL COST

An equal, or uniform, payment made over the useful life of a project, which has the same present value as the initial investment expenditure. The annual capital cost of an asset essentially reflects the opportunity cost to the investor of owning the asset.

 

APPLICATION SERVICE PROVIDER (ASP)

An application service provider (ASP) is a company that offers individuals or enterprises access over the Internet to applications and related services that would otherwise have to be located in their own personal or enterprise computers.

 

APPRAISAL

The process of defining objectives, examining options and weighing up the costs and benefits and risks and uncertainties before a decision is made.

 

APPROVAL

The process through which a project is recommended for support.

 

ARTICULATED TRUCK

A vehicle consisting of a prime mover having no significant load carrying area but with a turn-table device which can be linked to a trailer.

 

ASSEMBLE TO ORDER (ATO)

A manufacturing environment where the final product is assembled based on the receipt of a customer order (instead of to stock). The assembly is normally performed using standard components, modules and subassemblies that are already stocked based on forecasts developed from past usage history. An ATO environment allows each customer order to specify a custom combination of previously-defined standard options. 

 

ATA
Air Transport Association of America.

 

AUCTION
A method of selling real estate or personal property in a public forum through open and competitive bidding. Also referred to as: public auction, auction sale or sale.

 

AUTOPORT
Terminal infrastructure for road transport.

 

AVERAGE COST

The total cost of supplying a given output, divided by the number of units of output delivered in a given period of time. Where there are multiple outputs, the issue of adding them up has to be addressed (see joint costs).

 

AVOIDED COSTS

The value of any savings in labour, energy or materials inputs, relative to the base case, resulting from operating the project.

 

AVERAGE DISTANCE

Average kilometric value turning out by the ratio of Passengers-km (or Tons-km) to number of passengers (or tons) transported.

 

 

B

 

B/N

Maritime transport booking note.

 

BACK-END SYSTEMS

Legacy enterprise systems that handle order processing, inventory, and receivables management for both buyers and suppliers. To deploy a digital trading platform, companies must often integrate new technologies with these older systems, which can include mainframe or ERP applications.

 

BACKHAUL

Return transportation movement, usually at less revenue than the original move; to move a shipment back over part of a route already travelled.

 

BALANCE

The amount of money (or the size of the deficit) in an account at a particular time; an amount of money remaining to be paid.

 

BALANCE OF TRADE

The difference between a country's total imports and exports; if the exports exceed the imports, a "favorable" balance of trade exists.

 

BALANCED SCORECARD

A Balanced Scorecard is a method of measuring and managing business performance giving a balanced view of financial and operational perspectives to accelerate the management process.

 

BALANCE OF PAYMENTS

The difference between what a country pays for its imports and receives for its exports.

 

BALANCE OF TRADE

The difference between the money values of a country's visible imports and exports.

 

BALANCE SHEET

Financial statement which shows a company's financial condition (amount of debits and credits) on the last day of an accounting period.

 

BAR CODE

A combination of parallel lines of bars and spaces that communicate data about the product or shipping container to which it is affixed. The data elements can be read by an electronic scanner.

 

BASE YEAR

In the context of processing time-dependent data such as costs or emissions, the base year is the year selected for assembly of the raw input data. The base year may also serve as the year from which projections of the base case are made.

 

BASKET WAGON

A rail wagon with a demountable sub-frame, fitted with devices for vertical handling, to allow the loading and unloading of semi-trailers or road vehicles.

 

BEAM

The width of a ship.

 

BELT LINE

A switching railroad operating within a port or other commercial area.

 

BENCHMARKING
The benchmarking process measures a company's current operation profile against other companies with similar operations that are considered to be “best-in-class.”

 

BERTH

A place in which a vessel is moored or secured; place alongside a quay where a ship loads or discharges cargo.

 

BERTHAGE

Charges for the use of a berth.

 

BERTH TERM

Shipped under a rate that does not include the cost of loading or unloading.

 

BILL OF EXCHANGE

A written order instructing someone (usually an importer) to pay someone else (usually an exporter) a certain sum on a given date.

 

BILL OF LADING

A document by which the Master of a ship acknowledges having received in good order and condition (or the reverse) certain specified goods consigned to him by some particular shipper, and binds himself to deliver them in similar condition, unless the perils of the sea, fire or enemies prevent him, to the consignees of the shippers at the point of destination on their paying him the stipulated freight. A bill of lading specifies the name of the master, the port and destination of the ship, the goods, the consignee, and the rate of freight.

 

BILL OF MATERIAL

A listing of all the subassemblies, parts and raw materials that go into the parent assembly. It shows the quantity of each raw material required to make the assembly.

 

BIMODAL SEMI-TRAILER (RAIL-ROAD)

A road semi-trailer that can be converted into a rail wagon by the addition of rail bogies.

 

BONDED WAREHOUSE

Port of a vessel’s initial customs entry to any country; also known as first port of call.

 

BOND PORT

Port of a vessel’s initial customs entry to any country; also known as first port of call.

 

BREAK BULK

Loose, non-containerised cargo stowed directly into a ship’s hold; to unload and distribute a portion or all of the contents of a container.

 

BREAK EVEN POINT

Production or sales volume at which a company covers its costs.

 

BROKER

A person who arranges for transportation of loads for a percentage of the revenue from the load.

 

BUDGET

A financial operating plan showing expected income and expenditure.

 

BUFFER STOCK

A quantity of goods or articles kept in storage to safeguard against unforeseen shortages or demands.

 

BUILD-OPERATE-TRANSFERT (BOT)

A form of concession wherein a private party or consortium agrees to finance, construct, operate, and maintain a facility for a specified period and then transfer the facility to a government or other public authority. The concessionaire bears the commercial risk of operating the facility.

 

BUILD-OWN-OPERATE (BOO)

A form of project wherein a private party or consortium agrees to finance, construct, operate, and maintain a facility previously owned and/or operated by a public authority. The concessionaire retains ownership of the facility. The concessionaire bears the commercial risk of operating the facility.

 

BULK CARRIER

Ship designed with a single deck and holds for the bulk carriage of loose dry cargo of a homogenous nature.

 

BULK TERMINAL

A purpose-designed berth or mooring for handling liquid or dry commodities, in unpackaged bulk form, such as oil, grain, ore, and coal. Bulk terminals typically are installed with specialized cargo handling equipment such as pipelines, conveyors, pneumatic evacuators, cranes with clamshell grabs, and rail lines to accommodate cargo handling operations with ships or barges. Commodity-specific storage facilities such as grain silos, petroleum storage tanks, and coal stock yards are also located at these terminals.

 
BULK VESSEL

All vessels designed to carry bulk cargo such as grain, fertilizers, ore, and oil.

 

BUNKERS

Fuel used aboard ships.

 

BUSINESS LOGISTICS

Process of planning, implementing and controlling the efficient and cost-effective flow and storage of raw materials, in-process inventory, finished goods and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption, for the purpose of conforming to customer requirements (Council of Logistics Management's definition). Therefore logistics includes the area both of material management and physical distribution.

 

BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING (BPO)

It is the procurement of particular services that involve ongoing outsourcing of specific business processes. In certain industries, design, manufacturing, inspection, and logistics may be outsourced.  More recently, BPO has come to include internal, “back-office” functions such as internal audit, finance, billing, accounting and other operations support.  BPO “front office” functions may include customer relationship management, with sales, call centres and fulfilment services.

 

BUSINESS PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING (BPR)

A systematic, disciplined improvement approach that critically examines, rethinks, and redesigns, and implements the redesigned mission-delivery pro-cesses to achieve dramatic improvements in performance in areas important to customers and other stakeholders. BPR is also referred to by such terms as business process improvement (BPI) or business process development, and business process redesign.

 

BUSINESS TO BUSINESS (B2B)

A business conducting e-commerce with another business or businesses.

 

BUSINESS TO CONSUMER (B2C)

A business conducting e-commerce with a consumer or consumers.

 

 

C

 

CABOTAGE

Transport between two terminals (a terminal of loading/embarkment and a terminal of unloading/disembarkment) located in the same country irrespective of the country in which the mode providing the service is registered.

 

CAPITAL COSTS

Capital costs comprise the consumption of fixed capital and interest payments, and usually represent a high proportion of infrastructure costs. They differ from annual capital expenditure that may or may not cover all the capital costs. If annual expenditure is less, then the quality of the transport assets will deteriorate.

 

CAPITALISM

Economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange.

 

CAPITAL RECOVERY FACTOR

A factor used to calculate the annual capital costs of an project. A capital recovery factor may equally be used to determine the equivalent annual cost of the stream of annual cash outflows (i.e. the initial investment expenditure and the series of “net” annual operating and maintenance costs) incurred over the useful life of an project.

 

CARFLOAT

A barge equipped with tracks on which railroad cars are moved by water.

 

CARGO INTERCHANGE MESSAGE PROCEDURES (IMP)

ATA/IATA Cargo Interchange Message Procedures, developed by the Member Airlines of the Air Transport Association of America and the International Air Transport Association.

 

CARRIAGE COLLECT

Freight and charges be paid by the consignee.

 

CARRIAGE PAID

Incoterm meaning that the seller pays the freight for the carriage of the goods to the named destination. However, the risk of loss of or damage to the goods, as well as of any cost increases, is transferred from the seller to the buyer when the goods have been delivered into the custody of the first carrier and not at the ship's rail. The term can be used for all modes of transport including multi-modal operations and container or “roll on-roll off” traffic by trailer and ferries. When the seller has to furnish a bill of lading, waybill or carrier's receipt, he duly fulfils this obligation by presenting such a document issued by the person with whom he has contracted for carriage to the named destination.

 

CARRIER

Any person  or entity who, through a contract of carriage, undertakes to perform or procure the performance of carriage by rail, road, sea, air, inland waterway, or by a combination of modes.

 

CARTAGE

Intra-port or local hauling of cargo by drays or trucks; also referred to as drayage.

 

CATEGORY MANAGEMENT

The management of product categories as strategic business units. The practice can empower a category manager with full responsibility for the assortment decisions, inventory levels, shelf-space allocation, promotions and buying. With this authority and responsibility, the category manager may be able to judge more accurately the consumer buying patterns, product sales and market trends of that category. By emphasizing profits and sales for entire product groups rather than individual items or brands category management can encourage a longer-term, joint retailer-supplier focus in marketing and merchandising.

 

CEMAT
FS-controlled company who manages the combined transports in Italy.

 

CFS/CFS (PIER TO PIER)

The term CFS/CFS refers to cargo delivered at origin in less-than-containerload quantities to a container freight station (CFS) to be loaded into containers and to be unloaded from the container at destination CFS.

 

CFS CHARGE (CONTAINER FREIGHT STATION CHARGE)

The charge assessed for services performed at the origin or destination for loading or unloading of cargo into/from containers at a CFS.

 

CFS RECEIVING SERVICE

The service performed at the loading port in receiving and packing cargo into containers from CFS to CY or shipside.

 

CHARTER

Originally meant a flight where a shipper contracted hire of an aircraft from an air carrier, but has usually come to mean any non-scheduled commercial service.

 

CHASSIS

A rectangular steel frame, supported by springs and wheeled axles constructed to accept mounting of containers for over-the-road transport.

 

CITY LOGISTICS

Urban Logistics.

 

CITY LOGISTICS CENTER

Logistic infrastructure utilized for urban deliveries through light and low environmental impact vehicles.

 

CLASSIFICATION YARD

A railroad yard with many tracks used for assembling freight trains.

 

CLIENT-SERVER

A common form of distributed system in which software is split between server tasks and client tasks. A client sends requests to a server, according to some protocol, asking for information or action, and the server responds. This is analogous to a customer (client) who sends an order (request) on an order form to a supplier (server) who despatches the goods and an invoice (response). The order form and invoice are part of the protocol used to communicate in this case. There may be either one centralised server or several distributed ones. This model allows clients and servers to be placed independently on nodes in a network, possibly on different hardware and operating systems appropriate to their function, e.g. fast server/cheap client.

 

COLLECT FREIGHT

Freight which is payable to the carrier when the merchandise arrives at the port of discharge named in the bill of lading.

 

COLLECTIVISM

Economic system in which the means of production are owned by the state, which plans the economy, sets prices and output levels, etc.

 

COMBINATION VESSEL

A type of ship that accommodates both container and break-bulk cargo. It can be either self-sustaining or non-self sustaining. Also known as a Container/Break-bulk Vessel.

 

COMBINED TRANSPORT

Intermodal transport where the major part of the European journey is by rail, inland waterways or sea and any initial and/or final legs carried out by road are as short as possible.

 

COMMON CARRIER

A transportation company that provides service to the general public at published rates.

 

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

The element that makes one company better than its competitors: a better product or service, lower prices (due to economies of scale), etc.

 

CONCESSION

An arrangement whereby a private party (concessionaire) leases assets from a public authority for an extended period and has responsibility for financing specified new fixed investments during the period and for providing specified services associated with the assets; in return, the concessionaire receives specified revenues from the operation of the assets; the assets revert to the public sector at expiration of the contract.

 

CONFERENCE

An affiliation of shipowners operating over the same route(s) who agree to charge uniform rates and other terms of carriage. A conference is “closed” if one can enter only by the consent of existing members of the conference. It is “open” if anyone can enter by meeting certain technical and financial standards. Conference members are common carriers.

 

CONGESTION

Congestion arises when traffic exceeds infrastructure capacity and the speed of traffic declines.

 

CONGESTION COSTS

Congestion costs comprise direct costs, including opportunity costs of time lost to third parties due to delays, and social costs (e.g. environmental costs).

 

CONGESTION PRICING

A broad term used to identify user fees that are charged to manage traffic and avoid congestion.

 

CONNECTIVITY
Physical possibilities to use a transportation network in order to optimise the realizable routes.

 

CONSIGNEE

The individual or company to whom a seller or shipper sends merchandise and who, upon presentation of necessary documents, is recognized as the merchandise owner for the purpose of declaring and paying customs duties.

 

CONSIGNOR

A term used to describe any person who consigns goods to himself or to another party in a bill of lading or equivalent document. A consignor might be the owner of the goods, or a freight forwarder who consigns goods on behalf of his principal.

 

CONSIGNMENT

Freight sent under a single contract of carriage. In combined transport, this term may be used for statistical purposes, to measure loading units or road vehicles. The grouping together of several consignments into a full load is called consolidation or groupage.

 

CONSIGNMENT NOTE

Document prepared by the shipper and comprising a transport contract. It contains details of the consignment to be carried to the port of loading and it is signed by the inland carrier as proof of receipt.

 

CONSOLIDATED SHIPMENT

Also called “groupage”, it is a method of shipping whereby an agent (freight forwarder or consolidator) combines individual consignments from various shippers into one shipment made to a destination agent, for the benefit of preferential rates. The consolidation is then de-consolidated by the destination agent into its original component consignments and made available to consignees. Consolidation provides shippers access to better rates than would be otherwise attainable.

 

CONSOLIDATION
The grouping together of smaller consignments of goods into a large consignment for carriage as a larger unit in order to obtain a reduced rate.

 

CONSOLIDATION POINT

Location where consolidation of consignments takes place.

 

CONSOLIDATOR
A firm or company which consolidates cargo.

 

CONSTANT PRICES

See real prices.

 

CONSUMER GOODS

Goods that are bought and used by the public, rather than being used for manufacturing further goods.

 

CONSUMER MARKET

The individuals and households that buy products for their own personal consumption.

 

CONTAINER

A large standard size stackable metal box into which cargo is packed for shipment aboard specially configured oceangoing containerships and designed to be moved with common handling equipment enabling high-speed intermodal transfers in economically large units between ships, railcars, truck chassis, and barges using a minimum of labor. The container, therefore, serves as the transfer unit rather than the cargo contained therein.

 

CONTAINER FREIGHT STATION (CFS)

An arrangement whereby a private party (concessionaire) leases assets from a public authority for an extended period and has responsibility for financing specified new fixed investments during the period and for providing specified services associated with the assets; in return, the concessionaire receives specified revenues from the operation of the assets; the assets revert to the public sector at expiration of the contract.

 

CONTAINER POOL

An agreement between parties that allows the efficient use and supply of containers; a common supply of containers available to the shipper as required.

 

CONTAINERSHIP

A cargo vessel designed and constructed to transport, within specifically designed cells, portable tanks and freight containers which are lifted on and off with their contents intact. There are two types of containerships full and partial. Full containerships are equipped with permanent container cells with little or no space for other types of cargo. Partial containerships are considered multi-purpose container vessels, where one or more but not all compartments are fitted with permanent container cells, and the remaining compartments are used for other types of cargo. This category also includes container/car carriers, container/rail car carriers, and container/roll-on/roll-off vessels.

 

CONTAINERISATION

Refers to the increasing and generalized use of the container as a means of freight transport. As a standard and versatile means, the container has greatly contributed to intermodal transportation of merchandise and its widespread use, therefore, is responsible for profound mutations in the transport sector. Through reduction of handling time, labor costs, and packing costs, container transportation allows considerable increases in speed of rotation along a circuit and thus entails a better optimization of time and money.

 

CONTAINER ON RAILROAD FLATCAR (COFC)

Container-based land and maritime coordination of freight handling.

 

CONTAINER TERMINAL

An area designated for the stowage of cargo in containers, usually accessible by truck, railroad, and marine transportation, where containers are picked up, dropped off, maintained, and housed.

 

CONTAINER YARD

A materials handling/storage facility used for completely unitized loads in containers and/or empty containers.

 

CONTINUOUS REPLENISHMENT (CRP)

The practice of partnering between distribution channel members that changes the traditional replenishment process from distributor-generated purchase orders, based on economic order quantities, to the replenishment of products based on actual and forecasted product demand.

 

CORNER FITTING

Fixed points usually located at the top and bottom corners of a container into which twistlocks or other devices engage to enable the container to be lifted, stacked, secured.

 

CORRIDOR

Broadly defined transport connections that carry people and goods between two locations. Within corridors there are specific transport links, for example road and rail links.

 

CO-SOURCING

A strategic partnering strategy which provides an alternative to a pure “make” or  “buy” decision by establishing an agreement where both parties exchange traditional and “non-traditional” assets, both tangible and intangible, in fulfillment of the agreement.

 

COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS (CBA)

An analysis of the benefits and costs to society of some action. It aims to value benefits and costs in monetary terms and provide a summary indication of the net benefit.

 

COST CURVE

The cost curve is a graph of total costs of production as a function of total quantity produced.

 

COST DRIVER

A characteristic of any activity or event which results in a incurrence of costs by that activity.

 

COST INSURANCE FREIGHT (CIF)

Cost including Insurance and Freight is the value declared by the importer to Customs. It represents the Free on Board (FOB) cost ex foreign ports, plus shipping and insurance.

 

COST RECOVERY

This is an approach to infrastructure charging whereby fixed and variable costs are recovered in full or in part.

 

COVER NOTE

A document that provides short-term evidence of insurance cover before the policy and certificate have been issued.

 

CRANE

Conventional lifting crane where the load is suspended by cable via a jib. The handling of ITUs requires the cable to be connected to the ITUs’ corners.

 

CRITICAL PATH METHOD (CPM)

A network analysis technique used to predict project duration by analyzing which sequence of tasks has the least amount of scheduling flexibility.

 

CROSS DOCKING

A distribution system in which merchandise received at the warehouse or distribution centre is not put away, but instead is readied for shipment to retail stores. Cross docking requires close synchronization of all inbound and outbound shipments. By eliminating the put-away, storage and selection operations, it can significantly reduce distribution costs. In pallet-level cross docking, entire pallets are received from the vendor and moved directly to the outbound trucks without further handling. In case level cross docking, cases are transferred into a conveyer system, if one is available, which routes them to the appropriate outbound staging area for delivery to the store.

 

CROSS-SUBSIDIZATION

Cross-subsidization involves supplying transport services to one group of consumers (users) at a loss, which is made up by profits on services provided to other consumers (users). It can be viewed as a particular way of allocating rents associated with the transport activity.

 

CROSS-TRADE SEA TRANSPORT

International sea transport performed by a seagoing vessel registered in a third country.

 

CURRENT PRICES

See nominal prices.

 

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM)

A marketing and fulfilment system that usually includes a call centre, data bases, software and marketing strategy.  Like ERP, CRM initiatives are complex, involve redesign of internal business process and retraining. Successful contracting for CRM outsourcing requires attention to business as well as technology and legal issues.

 

CUSTOMIZATION

Tailoring a product or service to individual requirements.

 

CUSTOMS

A governmental body authorized to regulate the movement of goods into and out of a country and to collect import and export duties.

 

CUSTOMS BROKER

A person or firm, licensed by the customs authority of their country when required, engaged in entering and clearing goods through customs for a client (importer).

 

CUSTOMS CLEARANCE

A required procedure in all countries that allows goods to enter the country.

 

CUSTOMS DUTIES

Taxes charged on most imports (except in customs unions or free trade areas like the European Union and NAFTA).

 

CUSTOMS HOUSE

The government office where duties and/or tolls are placed on imports or exports and are paid on vehicles or vessels entered or cleared.

 

CUT-OFF TIME (CLOSE TIME)

The latest time a container may be delivered to a terminal for loading to a scheduled vessel, train, or truck.

 

 

D

 

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (DBMS)

Software for data warehousing and management.

 

DECONSOLIDATION POINT

Place where loose or other non-containerised cargo is ungrouped for delivery.

 

DEEP SEA MARITIME TRANSPORT

Intercontinental transport of cargo by sea.

 

DEFLATION

A decrease in the general price level or an increase in the purchasing power of money.

 

DELIVERED AT FRONTIER (DAF)

Incoterm meaning that the seller's obligations are fulfilled when the goods have arrived at the frontier but before “the customs border” of the country named in the sales contract. The term is primarily intended to apply to goods by rail or road but is also used irrespective of the mode of transport.

 

DELIVERY DUTY PAID (DDP)

Title and risk pass to buyer when seller delivers goods to named destination point cleared for import. Used for any mode of transportation.

 

DEMURRAGE

The delay of a vessel or detention of a shipment beyond the stipulated time allowed for loading or unloading; the resulting payment to the owner for such delay or detention.

 

DELOCALIZATION

The splitting of production processes into separate parts that can be done in different locations, including in different countries.

 

DEPRECIATION

Depreciation is an accounting charge for the decline in value of an asset spread over its life.

 

DEPRECIATION CHARGE

Capital goods (e.g. installed pollution abatement equipment) are typically used up over a period of time. Each year, a portion of the usefulness of these assets expires, therefore a portion of the original investment expenditure should be recognised as an annual (capital) cost. The term depreciation refers to the systematic allocation of the cost of an asset to expense over the accounting periods making up its useful life.

 

DEREGULATION

The ending or relaxing of legal regulations or restrictions in a particular industry

 

DIRECT COSTING

Provides the average variable cost for a product, service or process (which often depends on the volume manufactured or provided).

 

DISCOUNTED (CASH FLOW) NET BENEFIT

The present value of expected future net benefits.

 

DISCOUNT FACTOR

The present value of a single unit of currency received in the future (normally one year from now). If the discount rate is r, then the discount factor is 1/(1+r).

 

DISCOUNT RATE

The rate used to discount future net benefits to their present value.

 

DISCOUNTING

The process of determining the present value of future net benefits.

 

DISECONOMIES OF SCALE

Diseconomies of scale are like economies of scale but with the implication that they are negative, so larger scale would increase cost per unit.

 

DISINTERMEDIATION

It refers to cutting out the middlemen in transactions.

 

DISPATCHING

The carrier activities involved with controlling equipment; involves arranging for fuel, drivers, crews, equipment, and terminal space.

 

DISPOSAL OF GOODS

The act of getting rid of goods.

 

DISPOSITIONING

All activities relating to the inland movement of empty and or full containers.

 

DISTRIBUTION
The set of activities which ensure the availability of goods in the desired quality, quantity, place and time for the customer.

 

DISTRIBUTION CENTRE

A warehouse for the receipt, the storage and the dispersal of goods among customers. Synonym: Branch Warehouse.

 

DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT

Outbound logistics, from the end of the production line to the end user.

 

DISTRIBUTION REQUIREMENT PLANNING (DRP-I)

The function of determining the need to replenish stock at branch warehouses.

 

DISTRIBUTION RESOURCE PLANNING (DRP-II)

The set of concepts, procedures and techniques, being an extension of DRP-I, for the effective planning and control of the physical distribution.

 

DISTRIPARK
Ultra-modern cargo distribution complex that provides comprehensive warehousing facilities within a Free Trade Zone.