After you’ve been working in this industry or any industry for that matter you use terminology and acronyms that are industry specific. I’ve started putting together a freight broker dictionary of terms students have asked me to define. If you hear a term you don’t understand tell me, I’ll shoot you a definition…or tell you I don’t have a clue what that means. Here are a few starter words important to understand as a freight broker:

Truck Supply or Truck Capacity – the availability of equipment for any given period.

On the fence – an empty trailer or tractor sitting on the

Loaded miles – trucks running with freight

Fuel surcharge – bonus paid to the broker then to the carrier to transport a hard to transport load.

Bid Package – forms a shipper will ask a broker to fill out to compare their rate per mile and other offerings to that of competitors. Each shipper has a unique package.

Spotted Equipment/spotted trailers – empty trailers left at a shipper’s dock door to be loaded or unloaded at a specific time (=extra warehouse space for company)

Headhauls and backhauls, and hot zones – places and cities where you can find a truck easily and places you can’t.

Moving Forward,

Jeff Roach
www.brooketraining.com