Shipping Glossary

The shipping industry is full of abbreviations. Below you will find the most common abbreviations explained:

BAF
Bunker Adjustment Factor. The BAF is reviewed on a monthly basis and the level is based on the average price for the range between the 15th and 14th of the two preceding months. See how Unifeeder calculates BAF.

BSR
Baltic Sea Region

CSR
Corporate Social Responsibility. Unifeeder has a clear CSR policy

Containerisation
Globalisation of production and consumption patterns have been greatly facilitated by the increased use of container transportation. This is largely because of the numerous technical and economic advantages containerisation possesses over traditional methods of transportation.

EDI
Integrated Electronic Data Inter-change. A powerful way of business communication.

Feedering
On transoceanic routes, international container shipping lines use large container ships with capacities of up to 18,000 TEU. The cargo is discharged at large transshipment ports (hubs) and reloaded on smaller vessels (feeders) for further transport to the actual port of destination.

HSSE
Health, Safety, Security and Environment

IMDG
International Maritime Dangerous Goods. A code regulating the transport of dangerous goods at sea.

IMO
International Maritime Organisation

Intermodal
Movement of goods (in one and the same loading unit or a vehicle) by successive modes of transport without handling of the goods themselves when changing modes. Intermodal transport is, therefore, a particular type of multimodal transport.

ISO
International Organisation for Standardisation

ISPS
International Ship and Port Security

MARPOL
Marine pollution. MARPOL conventions are negotiated within the IMO framework.

Multimodal
Carriage of goods by at least two different modes of transport.

PSSA
Particularly Sensitive Sea Area

SECA
Sulphur Emission Control Area

Shortsea
When intra-European cargoes are carried from door-to-door, seaborne transport is combined with rail and/or road into an integrated multimodal transport chain that optimises the whole supply chain rather than each individual link.

TEU
One TEU represents the cargo capacity of a standard intermodal container, 20 feet long and 8 feet wide. See the varieties of containers Unifeeder handle.