Author name: The Alibaba.com Team

The Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF) is a fee imposed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on freight shipments imported through U.S. ocean ports.

Wharfage is the cost incurred when using a wharf at a port terminal to unload freight cargo.

A general rate increase (GRI) is a market rate increase that carriers may adopt over a specific timeframe for all or certain ocean routes.

Emergency Bunker Surcharge (EBS) is introduced by ocean carriers to deal with energy price hikes that are beyond expectation.

A cargo ready date (CRD) is the date when a shipment is expected to be ready for pick up at a specified location.

A single customs bond is a type of one-off entry custom bond that acts as a legal contract to guarantee all import duties, taxes, and fees are paid.

A container yard (CY) cut-off date is the last day that the shippers must gate-in their loaded containers before any scheduled departure.

The continuous customs bond is similar to a single customs bond but is renewable, and covers multiple entries within one year at different costs.

Customs disbursement service fees are charged by freight forwarders and customs brokers to freight customers who do not make duty payments directly to the customs authorities.

Cubic meters (cbm) is a volumetric unit used to determine the chargeable weight for shipments.

Transloading is a cargo transfer process between various modes of transportation as it proceeds to a final destination.

Deconsolidation is the separation of originally consolidated freight such as in the case of LCL shipments that need to be separated before final delivery.

A unit loading device (ULD) is a device equipped with restraining and loading mechanisms that is used to load goods aboard an aircraft.

Pallet dimensions refers to the measurement of a pallet that is used to stack cartons and facilitate easier loading and unloading.

A pre-pull happens when a trucker pulls an FCL container from the port terminal and stores the container at the trucker’s container yard before making a final delivery.