The_Dictionary_of_Transport_and_Logistics

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Dictionary of Transport and Logistics

Terms, Abbreviations and Acronyms

David Lowe

PREFACE

could handle with competence (was it a twin-steer, tri-axle, fifth-wheel bogie with a demountable, range-change, dolly gearbox? Or was it just a 3-ton bread van?). From this the idea developed that many people may wish to have a ready source of reference to such terms and many others, hence this book.

In compiling the text I have racked my brain and searched wide for suitable material but it is inevitable that some terms and abbreviations will have escaped the net, possibly even simple everyday ones. If this is the case, I would welcome hearing about them for inclusion in any future edition. Also to be noted is that many of the words or terms included have a number of meanings or other uses; here they have been defined only in the context of their usage in transport and logistics operations, leaving aside any other meanings or application they may have.

Generally, the masculine pronoun has been used in this book to avoid cumbersome language and to save space. No discrimination, prejudice or bias is intended by this. I fully recognize the key role played by the many female LGV drivers, staff, managers and senior executives in transport and logistics.

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In this dictionary

The terms, abbreviations and acronyms included herein cover:

nheavy vehicle technology;

nroad haulage and own-account transport operations;

npassenger vehicle and public service operations;

nlegal aspects of transport;

nlogistics;

nsupply-chain management;

nfreighting by rail, air, sea and inland waterway;

npassenger transport by rail, sea and air;

ntransport policy and planning;

nrelated business, accounting and information technology.

An asterisk (*) is used to denote a cross-referenced entry.

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Preface

Originally published in 1991 by Headlight magazine as a small dictionary of transport terms and abbreviations, this new edition has been updated and expanded to include many additional terms found in distribution, logistics, supply-chain operations, shipping, rail and air freighting, in passenger transport and in related transport planning, business and information technology functions. Thus with some 3,000 terms, abbreviations and acronyms now included, this becomes the most comprehensive dictionary of its type currently available and hopefully will prove to be a boon to readers from all sectors and at all levels, from students and junior staff to top management, all of whom may need to source the meaning or relevance of industry terms not generally found in standard English language dictionaries.

But why is such a dictionary needed at all? The answer lies in the fact that road haulage operations particularly and the broader aspects of freight and passenger transport and logistics as a whole have become so technically sophisticated that a whole language of technical and generic terms, jargon, abbreviations, acronyms and management buzzwords, to say nothing of legal terminology and definitions, has been generated.

For example, in the same way that a vacuum cleaner is almost always referred to as a ‘Hoover’ (have people never heard of other makes of carpet cleaners?), so in most people’s minds a van is always a ‘Transit’, most curtain-sided vehicles and trailers are called ‘Tautliners’ although many of them are not of this make, and lorry-mounted cranes from a variety of manufacturers are invariably referred to as ‘Hiabs’, all of which provides excellent, and free, publicity for the respective manufacturer concerned.

But this is by no means all; there are many other conundrums such as why the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions (as this ‘super ministry’ is now called) is still referred to as the ‘Ministry’ and its enforcement officers as ‘Ministry men’, but is this really who they are? Answer, no. These days they are examiners from the Vehicle Inspectorate, an agency offshoot of the DTLR.

Similarly, demountable vehicle bodies are frequently called ‘swop (or swap) bodies’, but are these one and the same? And does everybody really know for sure that a ‘fifth-wheel’ is part of an articulated vehicle, or could

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PREFACE

it be something else? And what on earth is a ‘towing dolly’, or a ‘composite trailer’? And what is the legal definition for each of these? What is a ‘peripheral’ or indeed a ‘tri-axle bogie’? What do ‘liberalization’ and ‘harmonization’ mean in transport terms? Who or what is AETR, or TIR, or RHA? Where does the word ‘derv’ come from? What is a ‘TREMCARD’ and who would want one? What is a ‘floppy disc’, or come to that a ‘hard disc’, and who might use one? And what is that word ‘DEKRA’ featured so prominently on Michael Schumacher’s cap when he wins yet another Grand Prix?

The list seems endless and covers every aspect of transport and logistics. New terms are added, old ones fall into disuse, many are overtaken by ever-newer technological developments, and from time to time organizations change their names (and the initials or acronyms by which they are commonly known), and new ones appear.

For anybody unconnected with transport or the wider fields of logistics and supply-chain management these terms and abbreviations present a bewildering language of ‘in-words’ and jargon; they must sound to the uninitiated like pure gobbledegook. Also, there must be many people already working in or associated with the industry who may not be familiar with all the terms or who may wish to know what a particular abbreviation stands for or what organization it represents.

The purpose of this dictionary is to identify these terms and abbreviations and to explain, in simple language, just what they mean or who they represent, or to give, translated into plain language, the legal definition. Where appropriate, company or product names (especially where they are becoming generic terms) are identified and official organizations are named.

As a work of reference this dictionary should be of interest and use to those with only an ancillary interest or involvement with the world of transport and logistics as well as to those wholly occupied with the business, for example anybody who is a member or intends becoming a member of the Institute of Logistics and Transport. It should also be of interest to newcomers to the industry, to those in the business who have only limited technical understanding and to anybody else who wants to become more knowledgeable in this area, particularly students at universities and colleges of further education undertaking logistics and transport-related studies. It goes without saying that those engaged in the practical operations of road haulage and/or road passenger transport would find the book to be an essential source of reference in preparing for the professional competence examinations in either or both of these disciplines.

The original idea for this dictionary came from discussions with a driver agency firm, whose young employees were regularly subjected to attempted bamboozles by boastful temporary drivers as to the type of vehicle they

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