Forty-foot Equivalent Unit - two TEU. Often used when reporting cargo volumes rather than vessel capacity.

Example Annual volume of 4,000 FEU on the trade.

See also TEU

A container with no sides or roof, used for cargo too wide, long or heavy for a standard box.

Example Machinery loaded by crane, secured with lashings.

See also Open Top, Out of Gauge

Cargo that exceeds the dimensions of the container carrying it, requiring special stowage and attracting surcharges.

Example A load overhanging a flat rack by half a metre each side.

See also Flat Rack, Breakbulk

A refrigerated container with its own machinery, used for temperature-controlled cargo. It needs power on the quay, on the vessel and on the truck.

Example Set point -18C for frozen seafood.

See also Cold Chain, Genset

The weight of the empty container itself, stencilled on the door. It is deducted from the gross to establish the payload actually carried.

Example A 40' HC at roughly 3,900 kg tare.

See also Payload, VGM

Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit, the standard way of counting container volumes. A 20' box is one TEU, a 40' is two.

Example A vessel of 18,000 TEU capacity.

See also FEU, Slot

Verified Gross Mass: the certified total weight of a packed container and its contents, which the shipper must declare before loading under SOLAS rules.

Example No VGM, no loading - the box stays on the quay.

See also Tare Weight, SOLAS