The Ontario Shipper's Freight Glossary: Terms Worth Knowing

Freight has a working vocabulary, and quoting, booking and receiving all go faster when both sides speak it. You don’t need the whole dictionary — a few dozen terms cover nearly every conversation an Ontario shipper will have with a carrier. This glossary collects them in plain language, grouped the way they come up: paperwork, vehicles, service levels, the freight network, handling at the door, and billing. Where a term deserves a fuller explanation, the link goes to a dedicated page.

Documents and paperwork

Bill of lading (BOL) — the foundational freight document: a receipt for the goods, evidence of the transport contract, and the record of what was tendered in what condition. Full detail in what a bill of lading is, and Ontario-specific practice in our bill of lading guide.

Waybill — the carrier’s working document for a shipment: addresses, pieces, weight, references, instructions. Lighter-weight than a BOL and standard in courier work — see what a waybill is and how a waybill differs from a bill of lading.

Proof of delivery (POD) — the signed confirmation of who received freight, and when, that closes out a shipment. The receiver’s notes on it are what make or break claims — covered in what proof of delivery is.

Consignor / consignee — the shipper the freight leaves (consignor) and the party it’s delivered to (consignee). The words on the paperwork when “sender” and “receiver” get formal.

Freight claim — the formal process for seeking recovery when freight is lost, shorted or damaged in transit; timing and documentation rules apply. See what a freight claim is.

Vehicles and equipment

Straight truck — a truck whose cab and cargo box share one rigid frame — the 26-foot box truck being the classic example, explained in what a straight truck is. Distinct from a tractor-trailer, where the trailer detaches.

Cube van / box truck / Sprinter — the mid-fleet workhorses of regional freight; the differences are payload, box size and dock compatibility. Compared in cube van vs box truck and what a Sprinter van courier is.

Tailgate (lift-gate) — a hydraulic platform on the rear of a truck that lifts freight between ground and deck height, making skid deliveries possible where there’s no dock or forklift. Request it at booking, at either end that needs it.

Pallet jack — the hand-pumped (or powered) tool that lifts a pallet a few inches and rolls it across smooth floors. The forklift’s floor-level counterpart.

Skid / pallet — the platform freight is stacked, wrapped and moved on; in practice the terms are interchangeable. Palletized freight is the backbone of regional B2B shipping.

Service levels and speed

Service level — the delivery timeframe a shipment is booked to: same-day, next-business-day, scheduled. It’s the single biggest lever on price and the subject of what a service level is in freight.

Direct service — one vehicle, your freight, straight from pickup to delivery with no terminals in between. Defined in what direct courier service means; it’s the model behind same-day direct freight.

Rush / priority dispatch — the next suitable vehicle is assigned to your shipment and goes straight there; the mode for line-down parts and hard deadlines. See what priority dispatch means.

LTL (less-than-truckload) — your freight shares the truck with other shipments moving the same direction; slower than direct, priced accordingly.

FTL (full truckload) — one shipper’s freight fills the vehicle. At regional courier scale, the analogue is a dedicated vehicle service — the whole truck, regardless of how full.

Scheduled route — a recurring run booked as a standing arrangement rather than shipment by shipment: same lanes, same days, a rhythm rather than a series of orders.

The freight network

Freight lane — a recurring origin-to-destination corridor, like Mississauga to London. Carriers price and plan around lanes; the concept is unpacked in what a freight lane is.

Cross-docking — transferring freight from inbound to outbound vehicles at a facility with little or no storage in between; how terminal networks consolidate. Explained in what cross-docking is.

First mile / last mile — the pickup leg and the final delivery leg of a shipment’s journey; in a direct regional run they collapse into one continuous trip. See first mile and last mile.

Common carrier — a carrier that offers transport to the shipping public generally, rather than serving one company under private arrangement — defined in what a common carrier is.

Freight broker / 3PL — intermediaries: a freight broker matches shipments with carriers; a third-party logistics provider manages logistics functions — warehousing, fulfilment, transport — on a client’s behalf.

Transportation partners — vetted carriers a regional company works with to cover what its own fleet doesn’t: long-haul lanes, cross-border moves, semi loads. You keep one point of contact; the partner runs the linehaul.

Handling and delivery

Dock-to-dock — freight moves between two locations that both have shipping docks (or forklifts), with no ground-level handling. The standard assumption unless someone says otherwise — see what dock-to-dock means.

Inside delivery — the driver takes freight beyond the door or dock to a point inside the building; arranged in advance because access and equipment matter. Covered in what inside delivery is.

Detention / wait time — chargeable time a driver spends waiting beyond a reasonable window at pickup or delivery — the subject of what detention and wait time are.

Shipper load and count — the shipper loads and seals the vehicle and attests to the count, limiting what the driver can verify. Appears on paperwork as SLC.

Received in apparent good order — the standard receiving language: the freight looked complete and undamaged on outside inspection. Exceptions get noted on the POD at delivery, not discovered afterward.

Measurement and billing

Dimensional (DIM) weight — a billing weight calculated from a shipment’s volume, used when freight is light but bulky; the greater of actual and dimensional weight typically prices the shipment. The arithmetic is laid out in what DIM weight is.

Cube — shorthand for the space freight occupies. A truck runs out of cube (space) or payload (weight), whichever comes first.

Accessorial — any service beyond basic dock-to-dock linehaul: tailgate, inside delivery, wait time. Accessorials are why describing the shipment fully at quoting matters.

Fuel surcharge — a variable charge tied to fuel prices, typically listed separately from the base rate.

Tender — to hand freight to a carrier; a shipment is “tendered” when the carrier takes possession. The moment most paperwork obligations begin.

Vocabulary pays off in accuracy: a shipper who can say “one skid, dock-to-dock, needs a tailgate at delivery, next-day is fine” has just written their own accurate quote request. For the deeper paperwork picture, start with our guides to B2B shipping documentation and proof of delivery.

Sonic Transport moves B2B freight across the GTA, Golden Horseshoe and Southern Ontario every day — and speaks fluent shipper. Whatever terms your shipment comes wrapped in, describe it in plain language on our quote form and a real person will translate it into the right truck at the right service level.