Logistics & Delivery Terms Explained

A 26 tonne rigid takes 16 standard UK pallets. A Luton van takes six. Getting that right at the quote stage is the difference between a job that runs and a wasted collection, and most of the confusion in road transport comes down to a handful of terms that get used loosely.

Here is what we mean by them, and what the rest of the industry means by them. Terms are grouped by subject and listed alphabetically within each group.

Delivery and service types

The names for delivery services overlap, and two operators can price the same words very differently. These are the distinctions that change what you pay and when your goods arrive.

Term	What it means
Abnormal load	A load that goes beyond the weight or dimensional limits set for standard vehicles, so it needs a specialist trailer and, in most cases, advance notice to the police and highway authorities. Quickline move abnormal loads on request.
AOG (Aircraft on Ground)	An aviation term for a grounded aircraft waiting on a part. AOG jobs run to the tightest deadlines in transport, because every hour on the ground costs the operator money.
Backload	A load carried on a vehicle’s return leg, once it has delivered its outbound job. It is cheaper than a dedicated run because the vehicle is already heading that way. The trade-off is that you take the operator’s timings rather than setting your own.
Co-loading	Putting more than one customer’s goods on the same vehicle. It keeps the price down and it adds handling points, extra stops and more opportunities for something to go wrong. Our dedicated service does not co-load.
Consolidation	Combining several smaller consignments into one larger movement, usually to fill a vehicle and cut the cost per pallet. See also groupage.
Contract haulage	An ongoing arrangement where a haulier commits agreed vehicles and drivers to a customer’s regular volumes, rather than pricing each job on its own. Useful where volumes are predictable and capacity matters more than the spot rate.
Courier	An operator moving smaller consignments, usually in vans, usually direct from collection to delivery. The line between a courier and a haulier is about vehicle size and load type, not distance.
Dedicated delivery	One vehicle and one driver assigned to your job alone. Nothing else goes on board and the vehicle runs straight from your collection point to your delivery point, with no depot in between.
Direct delivery (point to point)	Collection to delivery with no hub, depot or sortation stage in the middle. Fewer touch points means fewer chances of damage or misrouting.
Economy delivery	A slower service priced below next day, typically two to five working days, usually moving through a pallet network.
Express delivery	Any service faster than the standard network option. In practice it means same day, or a next-day delivery to a fixed morning slot.
Freight forwarding	Arranging and managing a shipment on your behalf across road, sea and air, including the documentation and the customs process. A forwarder co-ordinates carriers rather than necessarily carrying the goods on its own vehicles the whole way.
Full load (FTL)	A consignment that fills a vehicle, so nothing else travels with it. Our FAQ page reads FTL as Full Trailer Load. You will also see Full Truck Load used for the same thing elsewhere in the trade.
General haulage	Everyday boxed and palletised goods on standard curtainsiders and box bodies, with no temperature, hazard or dimensional complication attached.
Groupage	Several customers’ consignments combined onto one vehicle for a shared trunk, then separated for final delivery. Cheaper per pallet than a full load, slower, and it involves handling at both ends.
Haulage	The road movement of goods in bulk, normally on vehicles above 3.5 tonnes and normally palletised or containerised. Logistics is the planning function around it. Haulage is the moving.
Haulier	The company or operator that physically carries the goods.
Just in time (JIT)	A production model where parts arrive at the line shortly before they are used, so the manufacturer holds very little stock. It strips out warehouse cost and puts the pressure on transport. A late delivery stops the line.
Multi-drop	One vehicle making a planned series of deliveries on a single route, in a set sequence.
Next day delivery	Collection today, delivery on the next working day. Cut-off times, delivery windows and Saturday coverage vary between operators, so check all three before you compare prices.
Onward distribution	Breaking a bulk delivery down at a depot or distribution centre and sending the parts on to their final destinations.
Overnight delivery	Goods travel through the night for a morning delivery, usually trunking between depots on a pallet or parcel network.
Pallet delivery	Palletised goods moved as single pallets or in small numbers, usually through a network so a part load can be priced sensibly.
Part load	More than a pallet or two, less than a full vehicle. You pay for the space you take rather than for the whole trailer.
Same day delivery	Collection and delivery on the same day, direct, with no overnight leg. We collect within 40 to 60 minutes of booking and run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Time critical	Any consignment where a missed deadline carries a real cost: a production line stopping, a court deadline passing, a theatre list running short.
Timed delivery	A delivery booked into a specific window rather than a general “by end of day” commitment.
Weekend delivery	Saturday and Sunday collections and deliveries. Weekend collection is typically within 60 to 120 minutes, depending on your location.

Vehicles and load specifications

Every figure below is for our own fleet. Load space is the usable internal space, and payload is what is left for your goods once the weight of the vehicle itself is taken off.

Vehicle	Load space (L x W x H)	Payload	Standard UK pallets
Small van (SV)	120 x 100 x 100cm	400kg	1
Short wheel base (SWB)	240 x 100 x 120cm	800kg	2
Long wheel base (LWB)	340 x 120 x 180cm	1,200kg	3
Extra-long wheel base (XLWB)	420 x 120 x 180cm	1,000kg	4
Luton	400 x 200 x 200cm	1,000kg	6
7.5 tonne	600 x 240 x 220cm	2,500kg	10
12 tonne	600 x 240 x 220cm	5,000kg	12
18 tonne	700 x 240 x 250cm	9,000kg	14
26 tonne	800 x 240 x 250cm	15,000kg	16
Artic	1360 x 250 x 260cm	26,000kg	26

Term	What it means
3.5 tonnes	The dividing line between van and lorry. Above 3.5 tonnes gross weight a vehicle needs an operator’s licence, a tachograph and a driver with HGV entitlement. Vans between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes used on international journeys also need an operator’s licence.
Artic (articulated lorry)	A tractor unit coupled to a separate trailer. The two pivot against each other, which is where the name comes from. Our artics carry up to 26,000kg and 26 standard UK pallets.
Box body	A rigid, enclosed body. Secure and weatherproof, but loaded from the rear only, so it suits hand-balled or tail-lifted goods more than forklift work.
Curtainsider	A rigid frame with retractable curtains down each side, so a forklift can load from the side as well as the back. The most common trailer type on UK roads.
Euro pallet	1200mm x 800mm. The standard footprint across most of mainland Europe. It fits a trailer differently to a UK pallet, which is why pallet counts change on European work.
Flatbed	An open trailer with no sides or roof, for loads that are craned on or too awkward for an enclosed body. Everything has to be strapped and sheeted.
Gross vehicle weight (GVW)	The maximum legal weight of the vehicle including the vehicle itself, its fuel, the driver and the load. Payload is what remains for your goods once the vehicle’s own weight is deducted. A 7.5 tonne lorry does not carry 7.5 tonnes of freight.
HGV and LGV	Heavy goods vehicle and large goods vehicle. They mean the same thing. LGV is the current licensing term, HGV is what the industry still says.
Load dimensions	The usable internal length, width and height of the load space, not the outside of the vehicle. Always work from the internal figures when you are checking whether something fits.
Low loader	A trailer with a deck close to the ground, used for tall or heavy plant that would break height limits on a standard trailer.
Luton van	A van with a box body extending over the cab, adding cubic capacity for light bulky goods. Ours carry 1,000kg and up to six standard UK pallets, with box, curtain and tail lift options.
Payload	The weight of goods a vehicle can legally carry, once its own weight is taken off its gross vehicle weight. This is the number that matters when you are booking.
Rigid	A vehicle where the cab and load body sit on one chassis, with no separate trailer. The 7.5, 12, 18 and 26 tonne vehicles in our fleet are rigids.
Skeletal trailer	A bare trailer frame fitted with twist locks, built to carry a shipping container and nothing else. Usually shortened to a skelly.
Standard UK pallet	1200mm x 1000mm. The default footprint for UK domestic freight and the basis for every pallet figure in the table above.
Tail lift	A powered platform at the back of a vehicle that raises a pallet from ground level to deck height. You need one wherever there is no forklift or loading dock at either end. Flag it at the booking stage, not on the day.
Temperature controlled (reefer)	A vehicle with a refrigeration unit holding the load at a set temperature throughout the journey. Used for food, pharmaceuticals and some chemicals.
Tilt trailer	A flatbed with a removable frame and a sheeted cover. Common on European work because it can be sealed for customs.
Tractor unit	The powered front section of an articulated lorry, containing the engine and cab, which couples to a trailer.
Trailer (13.6m)	The standard UK articulated trailer length. Our largest vehicles carry loads up to 26,000kg on a 13.6m trailer.
Wheelbase (SWB, LWB, XLWB)	Van sizes described by the distance between the front and rear axles. A longer wheelbase means a longer load space, though not always a higher payload, so check both figures.

Freight, customs and European movements

Cross-border work runs on paperwork. Most border delays trace back to a missing number or a vague description rather than to the transport itself, so it is worth knowing which document does what.

Term	What it means
Air freight	The fastest route to an international destination, priced on chargeable weight, which is whichever is greater of actual weight and volumetric weight.
ATA carnet	An international customs document that lets goods enter a country temporarily without duty, then leave again. Used for exhibition stands, product samples and test equipment.
Bill of lading	The carrier’s receipt for the goods and the contract of carriage, used mainly in sea freight. In its negotiable form it is also a document of title, so whoever holds it controls the cargo.
CMR note	The consignment note for international road carriage under the CMR Convention. It records the parties, the goods and any damage noted at delivery. If a claim follows, this is the document that decides liability.
Commercial invoice	The document customs use to value a shipment. Vague descriptions and wrong values are the most common reason a load sits at a border.
Commodity code	The classification number that sets the duty rate, the VAT treatment and any licensing requirement for a product. Get it wrong and you either overpay or face a penalty.
Container haulage	Moving a shipping container by road, usually between a port or rail terminal and a customer’s site, on a skeletal trailer. The container stays sealed from origin to destination.
Cross-border	Any movement between two customs territories. Since Brexit, UK to EU road freight is cross-border and carries the paperwork that goes with it.
Customs clearance	Getting a shipment released by customs at import or export, on the strength of the declaration and its supporting documents.
Customs declaration	The formal statement to customs of what is moving, its value, its origin and its commodity code.
Duty and VAT	Import charges calculated from the commodity code, the customs value and the country of origin. Who pays them depends on the Incoterm agreed in the sale.
EORI number	The Economic Operators Registration and Identification number. Any business moving goods into or out of the UK needs one. Without it, the shipment does not move.
FCL and LCL	Full container load and less than container load. LCL means your goods share a container with other shippers’ cargo, which costs less and takes longer.
GVMS	The Goods Vehicle Movement Service, the UK system that links customs declarations to a specific vehicle so the driver can board a ferry or shuttle. It produces a goods movement reference, or GMR.
Incoterms	Standard trade terms published by the International Chamber of Commerce that define where the seller’s responsibility ends and the buyer’s begins, who pays the freight, and who carries the risk at each stage. EXW puts almost everything on the buyer. DDP puts almost everything on the seller.
Intermodal	A movement using more than one mode, such as road to rail to road, with the goods staying inside the same container throughout.
Packing list	The itemised record of what sits in each carton or on each pallet. Customs read it alongside the commercial invoice.
Road freight	Goods moved by lorry, either domestically or across borders. The default mode for UK and European work because it goes door to door without a transfer.
Sea freight	The lowest-cost option for large or non-urgent volumes, priced by container or by cubic metre. Transit times run in weeks rather than days.
T1 (transit declaration)	A document that lets non-EU goods move across EU territory with duty suspended until they reach their destination and are cleared there.
TIR carnet	An older international transit system that lets a sealed load cross several borders without inspection at each one. Still in use on routes beyond the EU.
Transit time	Door to door time, not driving time. It includes customs, the ferry or shuttle crossing and any waiting at either end.
Waybill	A document raised by the carrier showing origin, destination, route, consignor and consignee. Unlike a bill of lading it is not a document of title.

Compliance, documentation and day-to-day operations

These are the terms that appear on your paperwork, your invoice and the rules a haulier operates under.

Term	What it means
ADR	The European agreement covering the carriage of dangerous goods by road. It sets the packaging, labelling, vehicle and training requirements, and drivers need an ADR certificate for the classes they carry.
Booking in	Reserving a delivery slot with the receiving site before the vehicle sets off. Many distribution centres will turn a vehicle away if it arrives without one.
Chain of custody	An unbroken, documented record of who held the goods and when. It matters most on high-value, legal and regulated consignments.
Consignment	One shipment, from one sender to one recipient, moving under one booking.
Consignment note	The document travelling with the goods, showing sender, recipient, contents and any special instructions. Signed at delivery, it becomes the proof of delivery.
Cut-off time	The latest a booking can be placed for the service to run that day. We do not operate one on same-day work and can despatch a vehicle within 60 minutes of booking.
Delivery window	The agreed period within which a delivery must arrive. Miss it at a distribution centre and the vehicle usually has to rebook.
Demurrage	A charge for holding a container or trailer beyond the free time allowed.
Detention	A charge for holding a vehicle and driver at a site beyond the agreed loading or unloading period. See also waiting time.
Driver CPC	The Certificate of Professional Competence. Professional lorry drivers complete 35 hours of periodic training every five years to keep theirs valid.
Drivers’ hours	The legal limits on driving and rest. A driver may drive up to nine hours a day, extendable to ten twice a week, and must take a 45 minute break after four and a half hours at the wheel. It is why a long job cannot always be done in one run.
ETA	Estimated time of arrival.
FORS	The Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme. A voluntary accreditation covering safety, efficiency and environmental standards, graded bronze, silver and gold. Some contracts and city schemes require it.
Free time	The period a vehicle or container can be held before waiting charges start.
Good Distribution Practice (GDP)	The standard governing the storage and transport of medicinal products, covering temperature control, security and record keeping.
Goods in transit insurance (GIT)	Cover for the goods while the carrier has them. Standard haulage liability under RHA conditions is capped by weight, which sits well below the value of many loads, so check the figure rather than assuming. We insure goods up to £250,000 per consignment, with additional cover available on request.
Operator’s licence (O-licence)	The licence a business needs to run goods vehicles above 3.5 tonnes. It requires a qualified transport manager, a declared operating centre, proof of finances and a maintenance regime.
Palletised goods	Goods stacked, wrapped and secured on a pallet so they can be handled with a forklift or pump truck.
POB	Package on board. Confirmation that the driver has the goods and has left the collection point.
POD	Proof of delivery. The signature, name and time recorded at the point of handover, increasingly captured with a photograph through the driver app.
RDC	Regional distribution centre. A retailer’s inbound hub, usually with strict booking-in rules and tight delivery windows.
Real-time tracking	GPS tracking on the vehicle, giving live position and an updating ETA rather than a status that only changes at depot scans.
STGO	Special Types General Order. The rules under which abnormal loads move on UK roads, covering weight, dimensions, notification and escort requirements.
Tachograph	The device that records driving time, speed and distance. Digital tachographs read the driver’s card, and the data is downloaded and checked. Tampering with one is a criminal offence.
Waiting time	Time a driver spends at a site beyond the free loading or unloading period, normally charged by the hour once it runs over.