Letter of Credit Forum

Hello

straight out of a book...

Container Freight Station Dependent on the country in question, these depots have different names. These commonly are Container Freight Station expressed CFS, Container Yards expressed CY, Inland Freight Stations expressed IFS and Inland Container Depots expressed ICD. Grouping these together under this one entry is by virtue of CFS’s alphabetic priority only.These phrases or abbreviations are used to describe places where containers are handled, where cargo to be containerised is received and/or where containers to be unpacked are positioned and worked.The phrase Container Yard is used extensively and the letters CY may be reflected on a transport document. When it is, CY not only identifies the point of receipt but further serves to indicate that the shipper loaded and sealed a full container load (FCL), which was delivered into the carrier at the carrier’s preferred handling depot. This place is usually an inland point or a place outside of the seaport area. Container Freight Station is also a very common expression and when expressed on a transport document by the letters CFS it is the alternative to Container Yard, above. Container Freight Station means that the shipper delivered loose cargo into the carrier’s care and thereafter the carrier containerised the cargo. This might result in a full container load but would – more commonly – refer to a part load or less than container load shipment (LCL.)Using the expressions Container Freight Station and Container Yard – or their abbreviations CFS and CY – it is possible to replicate container service indicators, the entry for which you are encouraged to refer to.The phrase Inland Freight Station or IFS is a term that is also sometimes expressed FS (freight station.) It is a more general term than Container Yard or Container Freight Station in that it indicates that the cargo was handed over to the carrier at a depot or place of receipt other than a seaport. However it does not indicate if the handover was as a full container load or as loose cargo.

The letters ICD stand for Inland Container Depot, sometimes expressed as being an Inland Container Base (ICB) or simply a containerbase (one word.) Each of these is synonymous with Inland Freight Station, above, but they are not in common use.

 Roll On / Roll Off This is a reference to a type of seafreight operation where the vessel is loaded using ramps and the cargo is driven in and out of the vessel by way of these ramps. It is very common to see the system expressed by the abbreviated term ro/ro.The ramps used are sometimes part of the vessel, i.e. part of the vessel’s hull which opens downwards to form a ramp, or they may be separate structures available at the port or which may sometimes travel with the vessel from port to port. The advantage of a roll-on/roll-off operation is that no specialised lifting equipment need be used in either the port or on the vessel, but this advantage is countered by the disadvantage that the cargo has to have ‘wheels’. It may be that the cargo has wheels as part of itself e.g. trucks and harvesters. But if this is not the case, then the cargo must be loaded onto wheeled vehicles, which then run up the ramp and in to the vessel. The trailer to this vehicle must then be left on board with the cargo although the tractor-motor is uncoupled and remains in the port of loading. At the discharge port, a tractor-motor located there then drives in to the vessel and is coupled to the trailer and the discharge process is a reverse of the loading process. The roll-on/roll-off vessels are normally referred to as being ro/ro vessels, offering a ro/ro service. Note that some vessels offer a combination of ro/ro and conventional or containerised capacity.The way freight rates are calculated for roll-on/roll-off services are often different than other types of carriage. The basis for calculation is frequently the linear metre, meaning that the freight rate is ‘x’ per metre length of the ‘rolled-on’ object.Roll-on/roll-off vessels can make use of many ports that other vessels cannot – because ‘lifting equipment’ is not a requirement, but if the trailer has to remain coupled to the tractor-motor – in cases where the arrival port may not have available equipment – then the operation can become very expensive. Given also that ro/ro vessels often do not make use of the weather deck (the top deck) anyway, freight charges are normally at a premium to begin with. 

cheers

phill doran

"...in armour bright, the merchant men..." 

Further info can also be seen at http://shippinginsouthafrica.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/container-service-types/ 

Regards

Hariesh Manaadiar

http://theworldofshipping.wordpress.com

http://shippinginsouthafrica.wordpress.

CY/CY concerns container loadings. There are four possible meanings. The first letter group describes the handling in the port of loading the second letter group (the one behind the "/") the handling in the port of discharge.

There are four letter groups commonly used:

CFS = Container Freight Station - equal to LCL = Less container load: The container was filled/unloaded in the relevant port - used for smaller deliveries or smaller amounts exceeding a paralel FCL-loading.

CY = Container Yard - equal to FCL = Full container load: The container enters/leaves the relevant port without ned to be handled in the relevant Container Freight Station. This mode will be used in order to minimize the handling costs and speed up the delivery of full containers.

With .../FCL  or .../CY containers make sure you have no "part of containers" as this would mean all B/Ls belonging have to be presented in order to release the container.

ETA means Estimated time of arrival

ETD means Estimated time of departure

ETP type mismatch of ETD???

RO/RO means Roll on Roll of. This is used with trucks when only the trailer is loaded abord the ship and the tracking engine not.

Hope this was satisfying.

All the best 

 Sebi