Plain-language definitions of the freight brokerage billing, back-office, compliance, and intermodal terms we work with every day. Use the jump links to find a term, or browse the full list below.
A
Accessorial charges — Extra charges earned when a load needs more time, labor, or equipment than the base rate covers, such as detention, layover, lumper fees, or TONU. They are legitimate revenue, but only if someone captures and documents them before the invoice goes out. See pre-billing revenue audit and where revenue gets lost before the invoice.
Accounts payable (AP) — What a broker or carrier owes its carriers and vendors. Clean AP means every carrier invoice is checked against the rate confirmation and supporting documents before it is paid. See carrier invoice audit.
Accounts receivable (AR) — What customers owe for delivered loads. AR is where cash flow is won or lost, because an invoice is not money until it is collected. See AR management and how to reduce DSO.
AR aging — A report that groups unpaid invoices by how long they have been outstanding, usually in 30, 60, and 90 day buckets. Rising aging is an early warning that follow-up has slipped. See AR follow-up cadence.
B
Bill of lading (BOL) — The core legal document for a shipment. It records the freight, the parties, and the terms, and it often has to match the invoice and POD before a customer will pay.
Billing cycle — The time from when a load delivers to when the invoice goes out and payment arrives. Every day of delay in that cycle adds directly to DSO. See signs your billing team is the bottleneck.
Bookkeeping (freight) — The daily work of recording, categorizing, and reconciling transactions so the accounting system stays accurate. In freight it carries extra volume from carrier payments, accessorials, and shipper invoices. See outsourced freight bookkeeping and bookkeeping vs CPA.
C
Carrier compliance — Verifying and monitoring a carrier authority, insurance, and safety rating, both at onboarding and on an ongoing basis. The risk is that a carrier looks fine at signup and lapses later. See carrier compliance monitoring and compliance gaps that create liability.
Carrier invoice audit — Checking each carrier invoice against the rate confirmation, POD, and approved accessorials before payment, to catch duplicates, overbilling, and unauthorized charges. See carrier invoice audit and how it protects margin.
Carrier onboarding — The process of vetting and setting up a new carrier before tendering a load, including verifying authority and insurance, checking the safety rating, and collecting required documents. Doing it thoroughly up front is what prevents compliance problems and fraud exposure later. See carrier compliance and compliance gaps that create liability.
Certificate of insurance (COI) — A document proving a carrier carries the required insurance. COIs expire, so they have to be tracked and refreshed before a load is tendered to a carrier whose coverage has lapsed. See why insurance costs are climbing.
Chargeback — A deduction or claim a customer applies against an invoice, often for a documentation or pricing discrepancy. Clean, well-documented invoices are the best defense.
Chassis and chassis split — A chassis is the frame that carries an ocean container on the road. A chassis split is the extra trip and fee that occurs when the chassis and the container are in different locations and have to be brought together.
Collections — The active work of pursuing payment on invoices that are due or overdue, including following up with customers, resolving disputes, and escalating aging accounts. It is the action behind the AR aging report, and consistent follow-up is what keeps DSO down. See AR management and AR follow-up cadence.
Consignee — The party that receives the freight at its destination. The consignee usually signs the POD, so a clean delivery record, including any detention or damage notes, depends on capturing that signature.
D
Days sales outstanding (DSO) — The average number of days between invoicing a load and collecting the cash. It is the single clearest measure of back-office and cash-flow health for a brokerage. See how to reduce DSO and the DSO calculator.
Demurrage — A charge from the terminal when a loaded container sits at the port or rail ramp beyond its free time. The clock runs whether or not anyone is watching it.
Detention — A charge that applies when a truck and driver are held at a shipper or consignee beyond the free time allowed for loading or unloading. It is one of the most commonly missed billable events. See how to capture detention charges.
Double brokering — When a broker or carrier accepts a load and then re-brokers it to another carrier without the shipper’s knowledge or authorization. It is a major fraud and liability risk in freight, which is exactly why carrier vetting and ongoing monitoring matter. See carrier compliance and rising freight fraud.
Drayage — The short-haul trucking of a container between a port or rail ramp and its final destination. It carries its own set of accessorials, from chassis fees to per diem.
F
Factoring — Selling open invoices to a third party (a factor) for immediate cash, in exchange for a fee. It trades a slice of margin for faster cash flow, which is why tightening DSO is often the cheaper alternative.
FMCSA authority — The operating authority the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration grants a carrier. It must be active and in good standing for a carrier to legally haul a load. See 2026 FMCSA compliance changes.
Free time — The window allowed before a charge begins: free time at the terminal before demurrage, free days on a container before per diem, and free time at the dock before detention. When it runs out, the charge starts.
FTL (full truckload) — A shipment that fills, or is priced as, an entire truck and moves directly from origin to destination. It is the natural pair to LTL, where a load shares trailer space with other freight.
Fuel surcharge — A variable charge added to a base rate to offset changing fuel costs. It needs to be calculated correctly on each invoice, because errors here repeat across every load.
I
Intermodal — Freight that moves on more than one mode, typically a container traveling by ocean or rail and then by truck. Each leg adds documents, accessorials, and deadlines to the billing file.
L
Layover — A charge that applies when a driver has to wait overnight because a pickup or delivery is delayed. Like detention, it is billable only when it is documented.
Load margin — The spread between what the shipper pays and what the carrier is paid on a load. Missed accessorials and overpaid carrier invoices both eat directly into it.
LTL (less than truckload) — A shipment too small to fill a trailer, so it shares space with other freight and is priced by weight, freight class, and space used. LTL billing carries extra accessorials and class-based pricing that are easy to get wrong.
Lumper — Third-party labor that loads or unloads freight at a warehouse. The lumper fee is usually a passthrough that should be billed back to the customer, and it is easy to miss if the receipt never reaches billing.
M
MC number — The motor carrier number the FMCSA assigns to a carrier or broker operating in interstate commerce. It identifies the company in FMCSA systems and has to be active and in good standing to legally move freight. See 2026 FMCSA compliance changes.
P
Per diem — A daily charge from the steamship line for the use of a container beyond the allowed free days. It can keep running after the container leaves the terminal, while it is being unloaded or waiting to be returned empty.
POD (proof of delivery) — The signed document confirming a load was delivered. Many customers will not pay until the POD is attached to the invoice, so slow POD retrieval directly delays cash. See POD retrieval and POD chase best practices.
Pre-billing audit (revenue recovery) — A review of the shipment file for missed billable charges, such as detention, per diem, or accessorials, before the customer invoice goes out. Catching them up front is far easier than rebilling later. See pre-billing revenue audit and the pre-billing audit checklist.
Q
Quick pay / early pay — A program that pays a carrier sooner than standard terms in exchange for a small fee or discount. It helps carriers with cash flow, and for a broker it is one lever to weigh against factoring and DSO.
R
Rate confirmation (rate con) — The document that fixes the agreed rate and terms between the broker and the carrier. It is the baseline every carrier invoice should be audited against.
Rebill (re-invoice) — Sending a corrected or additional invoice after the original already went out, usually to capture a charge that was missed the first time. Rebilling is harder to collect and invites disputes, which is why a pre-billing audit that catches the charge before the invoice goes out is the better path. See pre-billing revenue audit and where revenue gets lost.
Reweigh — Re-weighing freight, often at a scale. A weight discrepancy between the BOL and the actual weight can change the freight class and the rate, and the invoice has to be adjusted to match.
S
Settlement — Paying carriers or owner-operators for completed loads, with the backup to support each payment. Accurate settlement depends on a clean invoice audit upstream.
Shipper billing — Invoicing the customer accurately and on time, with the correct rate, references, and documents attached. A clean invoice is the difference between getting paid on schedule and chasing a balance. See shipper billing.
Street turn — Reusing an imported container directly for an export load instead of returning it empty first. It saves a trip and can reduce per diem exposure when it is coordinated well.
Surety bond (BMC-84) — The bond every freight broker must carry, currently $75,000, filed with the FMCSA as the BMC-84. It protects carriers and shippers if the broker fails to pay, and a lapse can suspend the broker authority.
T
Third-party logistics (3PL) — A provider that manages logistics for shippers across multiple modes, carriers, and warehouses. 3PLs carry extra billing complexity from customer-specific rules and multi-party moves. See back-office support for 3PLs.
TMS (transportation management system) — The software a broker, 3PL, or carrier uses to manage loads, carriers, documents, and billing. ClearLane works inside your existing TMS rather than replacing it, so your data and workflow stay where your team already operates.
TONU (truck ordered not used) — A fee owed to a carrier when a booked load is canceled after a truck has already been dispatched. If the broker does not flag it, the carrier gets paid but the shipper never gets billed.
U
USDOT number — The unique identifier the US Department of Transportation assigns to a registered carrier, used to track safety, inspections, and compliance. It often appears alongside the MC number when verifying that a carrier is authorized and in good standing. See carrier compliance.
W
Working capital — The cash a business has available to operate. For brokers and 3PLs it is tied directly to DSO, because carriers and vendors often need to be paid before customers pay. See the cost of carrying back-office work in-house.
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