Glossary

Peak Season Surcharge (PSS) is a short-term extra charge that carriers impose on top of base rates during periods of high demand.

Airline Terminal Fee (ATF) is a cargo handling fee for air cargo processing at the airline terminal bonded warehouse.

A pallet exchange fee is imposed in the case where a trucker does not bring pallets for exchange when picking up palletized freight.

The airline storage fee is incurred when an air freight shipment is not picked up within the allowed free time period.

A per diem fee is charged by the carrier for each additional day that a container remains away from port beyond the allowed “free” days.

Bunker Adjustment Factor (BAF) represents the adjusted price level of fuel in ocean freight shipping, and is updated on a quarterly basis.

Bonded goods refers to shipments with unpaid customs fees that are stored in customs-controlled warehouses until the shipments are cleared.

Yard storage refers to the storage of containers kept in a trucker’s fenced yard rather than a terminal.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is an agency of the Department of Homeland Security that oversees foreign trade and travel into the U.S.

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is a public official responsible for overseeing American international negotiations on foreign trade, commodities, and direct investment policy.

Customs exam may be applied to any import cargo based on a targeting system of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that marks which cargo will be subjected to additional inspection.

An intensive customs exam is a physical exam conducted in a centralized examination station (CES) by officers of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

A customs exam fee is a processing fee incurred when a shipment is detained for a customs examination process.

A bonded warehouse is a customs-controlled facility to store goods with unpaid duties until they are paid or until they can be legally released.

Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection program to improve the security of global supply chain networks.