The words of the trade, defined one by one.
The vocabulary of freight forwarding often discourages the people who need it most. These are the terms we use every day with shippers, explained without adding more jargon.
Customs
Customs and regulation
- Detailed declaration
- The act by which an authorised person states the customs regime to be assigned to goods and provides the required particulars: classification, origin, value, quantity. It engages the signatory's liability.
- Licensed customs broker
- An operator holding a licence issued by the customs administration authorising them to complete clearance formalities on behalf of others. It is the only status permitting declarations for a third party.
- Declarant
- The individual authorised to sign declarations in the customs system under their employer's licence. Their signature commits them on the accuracy of the particulars declared.
- Customs regime
- The regulatory destination assigned to goods: release for home use, exportation, transit, warehousing, temporary admission, processing. It determines the fiscal treatment and the monitoring obligations.
- Release for home use
- A definitive regime under which duties and taxes are assessed and paid. The goods lose their status as foreign goods and circulate freely on the territory.
- Suspensive regime
- A regime that defers the payment of duties and taxes while keeping the goods under customs control. It requires a guarantee, stock accounting and discharge within the prescribed deadlines.
- Storage warehouse
- The customs regime allowing goods to be stored with duties and taxes suspended. Duties become payable only on exit, and only on the quantities released for home use.
- Temporary admission
- A regime authorising the temporary stay of goods intended to be re-exported as they are or after use. The duration depends on the authorisation granted by the administration.
- Inward processing
- A regime allowing inputs to be imported with duties suspended for processing on the territory, with the output destined for export.
- Transit
- A regime allowing goods to move between two customs offices with duties, taxes and prohibitions suspended, under a bond or a document provided for by convention.
- TRIE
- Inter-State road transit. A convention authorising the road carriage of goods with duties and taxes suspended between customs offices of member States, within the UEMOA and ECOWAS frameworks.
- Discharge of a regime
- The operation closing a suspensive regime by establishing that the goods received the intended destination. Without discharge, the guarantee is called and the suspended duties become payable.
- Assessment
- The administration's calculation of the duties and taxes payable in view of the regime requested, the tariff classification and the declared value.
- Customs value
- The basis for calculating ad valorem duties. It includes the price paid or payable and the elements to be added, notably freight and insurance up to the place of introduction.
- Tariff classification
- The code assigned to goods in the customs nomenclature derived from the Harmonised System. It determines the applicable duties and any control measures.
- BSC — Cargo tracking note
- A traceability document required for goods shipped to Côte d'Ivoire by sea, administered by the Office Ivoirien des Chargeurs and issued online. It conditions clearance on arrival.
- RFCV — Final classification and valuation report
- The document issued after the documentary inspection preceding clearance, ruling on tariff classification and value. It is required for imports with an FOB value above one million CFA francs.
- GUCE-CI
- Côte d'Ivoire's Single Window for Foreign Trade. A single entry point through which operators submit the information and documents required for import, export and transit formalities.
- SYDAM
- The automated goods clearance system of the Ivorian customs administration, in which declarations are entered and processed.
- Bank registration
- The formality by which a foreign trade operation is attached to an approved bank, which opens the corresponding foreign exchange file.
Port
Port and maritime operations
- Carrier
- Owner or operator of the vessel, and owner of the containers made available to shippers. The carrier invoices demurrage and detention.
- Shipping agent
- The carrier's representative at the port. The agent files the manifest, collects the shipping line's charges and issues the delivery order. They do not represent the shipper.
- Manifest
- The summary statement of goods carried by a vessel, filed by the shipping agent on arrival. With no manifest recorded, no declaration can be attached to the goods.
- Bill of lading
- A document issued by the ocean carrier serving as contract of carriage, receipt for the goods and document of title. Its presentation conditions release of the cargo.
- Delivery order
- A document issued by the shipping agent, once the shipping line's charges are settled, authorising physical release of the goods or the container.
- Port call
- The period during which a vessel is at the port for its commercial operations. Its length depends on the volume to handle, the resources mobilised and how smoothly cargo is evacuated inland.
- Berth
- The position assigned to a vessel alongside the quay for loading and discharge operations.
- Stevedore
- The operator responsible for handling cargo between the vessel and the yard or shed, and for reception and tallying operations.
- Breakbulk handling
- The handling of cargo that does not travel in containers: bagged goods, bulk, rolling equipment and heavy lift. It mobilises different equipment depending on the cargo type.
- Quay-to-shed transfer
- Known in French as extra-portage, the movement of cargo from the berth to a shed inside the port estate. It clears the quay during discharge and determines the pace of the operation.
- Transit shed
- The immediate storage point inside the port estate, intended to receive discharged cargo and relieve the quay.
- Stuffing
- The operation of loading cargo into a container, generally on export or during consolidation.
- Unstuffing
- The reverse of stuffing: emptying a container of its contents. It is the step preceding the return of the empty container.
- Bagged cargo
- Goods packed in bags — cereals, cement, fertiliser, sugar. Handling is repetitive and labour-intensive, with breakage limitation as the central issue.
- Bulk
- Unpackaged goods, solid or liquid, handled by grab crane, suction or pumping. The main issue is consistency between the quantity loaded and the quantity received.
- Ro-ro
- A vehicle or machine that loads and discharges under its own power or by towing, via a ramp. The main risk concerns the condition of the equipment, not the handling.
- Heavy lift
- A single piece of high mass or out of gauge, requiring a lift plan, identified lifting points and often dedicated inland transport.
- TEU
- Twenty-foot equivalent unit, the unit of measurement for containerised traffic. A forty-foot container counts as two TEU.
- Open storage yard
- An uncovered surface within the port estate or a logistics site, used for storing containers or cargo that withstands the open air.
Containers
Containers and immobilisation
- Free time
- The period during which the carrier applies no demurrage. Its length is contractual and varies with the booking, the container type and the destination.
- Demurrage
- Charges owed to the carrier for keeping a full container on the terminal beyond free time. The meter stops when the container leaves the terminal. Schedules are generally tiered.
- Detention
- Charges owed to the carrier for retaining its container after gate-out, until the empty is returned to the designated depot. Not to be confused with demurrage.
- Port dwell charges
- Charges owed to the port authority or terminal operator for occupying space, under their own schedule. They are independent of demurrage and can run at the same time.
- Empty return
- Hand-over of the emptied container to the depot designated by the carrier. This act, and this act alone, stops the detention count.
- Empty positioning
- Making an empty container available at the client's site, with a view to stuffing it for export.
- Empty transfer
- Movement of empty containers between yards, depots or terminals, to rebalance equipment availability.
- Pre-carriage
- Inland transport performed before the main sea leg, from the shipper's site to the port of loading.
- On-carriage
- Inland transport performed after the main sea leg, from the port of discharge to the consignee's site.
- Empty container depot
- The site designated by the carrier for handing back and collecting empty containers. It may differ from the initial pick-up point and vary with the type of equipment.
- Low-bed trailer
- A trailer with a reduced or adjustable deck height, allowing the carriage of particularly large or bulky cargo.
- Self-loading trailer
- A vehicle fitted with equipment allowing it to load and unload containers on its own, without external lifting gear.
Trade
International trade
- Shipper
- The party entrusting goods to transport. Depending on the sales contract, this may be the seller or the buyer.
- Freight forwarder
- A company organising the movement of goods. The term has no strict legal definition: it covers operators with their own resources as well as pure organisers.
- Incoterms
- Codified rules defining how costs, risks and documentary obligations are shared between seller and buyer in an international sale.
- FOB
- Free On Board. The seller delivers the goods on board the vessel at the named port of loading; costs and risks pass to the buyer from that point.
- CIF
- Cost, Insurance and Freight. The seller bears freight and insurance to the agreed port of destination, but risk transfers as soon as the goods are on board.
- EXW
- Ex Works. The seller makes the goods available at their premises; the buyer bears all operations and risks from that point onwards.
- DAP
- Delivered At Place. The seller delivers the goods ready for unloading at the agreed place of destination, without completing import formalities.
- Cargo insurance
- Insurance covering the goods carried, as opposed to hull insurance covering the vessel. It forms part of the customs value.
- Certificate of origin
- A document attesting the origin of the goods. It conditions the application of preferential tariff treatment where such treatment exists.
- Packing list
- A document detailing the contents of each package, gross and net weights and dimensions. Its agreement with the invoice and the bill of lading is the first thing customs checks.
- Disbursement
- A sum advanced by the provider on the client's behalf and re-invoiced at cost, against supporting documents. A disbursement with no document attached is not one.
Cargo to move?
Let's talk today.
Type of goods, origin, destination, volume: four details are enough for a first quote.