Glossary

Shipping and tracking glossary

Plain definitions of the terms on an Evergreen tracking page — the document, the numbers, the dates, the route and the containers — and of how bexy uses them.

Documents and numbers

Bill of Lading(B/L): The transport document an ocean carrier issues for a shipment. It is the carrier's receipt for the cargo and evidence of the contract of carriage, and a negotiable original is also a document of title. One Bill of Lading can cover several containers. Its number identifies the shipment: an Evergreen number starts with EGLV, followed by Evergreen's own document number, usually twelve digits. bexy tracks Evergreen shipments by this number.; Track a shipment Bill of Lading prefix lookup
B/L document type: Evergreen's tracking page names the document in its Basic Information heading. bexy reads four labels there — Sea Waybill, Original B/L, Original B/L (E-mail Release) and i-B/L — and reads the shipment the same way under each; the tracking page does not show which one applies. Under any other label, the Basic Information block (places, service mode, on-board date, weights) is not read.
Sea Waybill: A non-negotiable transport document. Unlike an original Bill of Lading it is not a document of title, so the cargo is released to the consignee named on it without a paper original being handed over.
Original B/L: A Bill of Lading issued as paper originals. It is a document of title: the consignee normally has to hand over an original to collect the cargo. "Original B/L (E-mail Release)" is the label Evergreen shows when release has been arranged by e-mail instead of by presenting a paper original.
i-B/L: One of the document labels on Evergreen's tracking page, alongside Sea Waybill and Original B/L. bexy reads these shipments the same way as the others; for how cargo is released under an i-B/L, ask Evergreen or your forwarder.
Booking number: The carrier's reference for a reservation, issued before the Bill of Lading. It is usually a different number from the Bill of Lading number.
SCAC(Standard Carrier Alpha Code): A two-to-four-letter code identifying a transport company, assigned by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) in the United States. Many ocean carriers use theirs as the prefix of their Bill of Lading numbers — EGLV for Evergreen, MAEU for Maersk — so the first four letters usually tell you which line issued a Bill of Lading.; Bill of Lading prefix lookup
BIC code(container owner code): The first four letters of a container number: a three-letter owner code registered with the Bureau International des Containers (BIC), followed by the equipment category letter — U for freight containers, J for detachable freight-container equipment, Z for trailers and chassis. It names the company that owns the box, which need not be the line carrying it: containers owned by Evergreen Group companies include those starting with EGHU, EGSU, EMCU, EISU, EITU, HMCU, IMTU, LTIU, UGMU, EGMU, EVGU or EMEU.; Evergreen container owner codes Bill of Lading prefix lookup Container number check
Container number: The eleven-character ISO 6346 identifier on every shipping container: the four-letter BIC code, a six-digit serial number and a check digit, for example CSQU 305438 3. A container normally keeps its number for life and travels under many Bills of Lading; searched on bexy, a container number opens the latest voyage bexy holds for it; once that voyage is over (within an hourly limit on such lookups), or when bexy has not seen the container yet, Evergreen's container search names the Evergreen (EGLV) Bill of Lading it travels on now.; Container number check Track a shipment
Check digit: The eleventh character of a container number, calculated from the first ten under ISO 6346. Each character gets a value (digits as themselves, letters from A = 10 upwards, skipping multiples of 11), each value is multiplied by 2 raised to its position, and the remainder of the sum divided by 11 is the check digit, with 10 written as 0. A mismatch almost always means a mistyped number.; Container number check

Dates

ETD(estimated time of departure): When the cargo is expected to leave. On a bexy tracking page the ETD is the on-board date in Evergreen's record: the date for loading the cargo on board at the port of loading.
ETA(estimated time of arrival): When the cargo is expected to arrive. bexy shows Evergreen's Estimated Date of Arrival at Destination, the carrier's estimate for the end of the journey on the Bill of Lading: the latest dated one bexy has read. Evergreen can revise it as the voyage goes on; bexy reads it again once that date has passed, about every 12 hours while someone watches the shipment for email alerts, and, within an hourly limit, when someone searches for a shipment bexy last read 6 hours ago or more, unless a status already reports it at its final destination or bexy has taken its final reading of it. While Evergreen has given no dated ETA ("To be advised") since bexy first read the record, the tracking page shows the last dated stop in the Plan Moves instead, and bexy re-checks the shipment once that planned arrival has passed; a "To be advised" read later does not erase an ETA bexy already holds. A shipment with neither date is re-checked only while someone watches it or when someone searches for it.; Evergreen ETA guide
Loaded-on-board date: Evergreen's Estimated On Board Date: the date for loading the cargo on the vessel at the port of loading. Every transit time on bexy starts from this date.; Methodology

Places and routing

Place of receipt: Where the carrier takes the cargo into its care: the port of loading itself or an inland point from which the carrier moves it to the port. bexy's trade lanes start in the country of the place of receipt.
Port of loading(POL): The port where the container is loaded onto the ocean vessel.
Port of discharge(POD): The port where the container is unloaded from the ocean vessel at the end of the sea voyage.
Place of delivery: Where the carrier hands the cargo over: the port of discharge or an inland point beyond it. bexy's trade lanes end in the country of the place of delivery, and its headline estimated transit times run to the ETA there, or to the last planned arrival when Evergreen gives none.
Plan Moves: Evergreen's list of a shipment's planned stops (ports and any inland points), each with an estimated arrival date, a place and a vessel and voyage. It is the carrier's plan when bexy read the Bill of Lading and can change after booking.; Evergreen transshipment guide
Transshipment: Moving a container from one vessel to another at an intermediate port. bexy counts a planned stop in the Plan Moves after the port of loading and before the port of discharge — other than those ports and the places of receipt and delivery — as a transshipment port.; Methodology Evergreen transshipment guide
Vessel and voyage: The ship's name and the carrier's voyage number, written VESSEL/VOYAGE on Evergreen's record.

Service, containers and cargo

Service mode: The receipt and delivery terms on the Bill of Lading, written as two codes separated by a slash: how the carrier receives the cargo at origin, then how it delivers at destination. CY/CY means container yard to container yard.
CY(container yard): The terminal or depot area where full containers are received from and released to the shipper or consignee. A CY term means the cargo changes hands in a packed container.
CFS(container freight station): A warehouse where cargo from different shippers is packed into or unpacked from shared containers. A CFS term means the cargo changes hands as loose cargo, the usual arrangement for LCL shipments.
FCL(full container load): A shipment that books whole containers, each carrying one shipper's cargo. Evergreen's container list shows the service type per container, for example FCL/FCL (origin/destination).
LCL(less than container load): Cargo too small to fill a container, consolidated with other shippers' cargo in a shared container, usually at a container freight station.
Container size and type: Evergreen's container list gives each box's size and type as a length in feet followed by a type code, for example 40'/HC or 40'SD (DRY). The number is the nominal length (such as 20 or 40 feet); HC is a high-cube container, taller than standard, and SD a standard dry container. bexy shows the code exactly as Evergreen writes it.
VGM(Verified Gross Mass): The total weight of a packed container — cargo, packing and the container's own tare weight — which the shipper must declare before loading under the SOLAS convention. Evergreen lists a VGM figure for each container.
Gross weight: The declared weight of the cargo on the Bill of Lading including its packing, with its unit, for example 20,000.000 KGS.
Measurement: The declared volume of the cargo, for example 50.000 CBM (cubic metres).
Manifest quantity: The number and kind of packages declared on the Bill of Lading, for example 10 CTNS (ten cartons).
Container status: The latest event Evergreen reports for each container, in Evergreen's wording and with its date — for example On Board Vessel or Discharged (Full). It is the status as bexy last read it. When the record carries Evergreen's ETA (or, without one, a dated planned arrival in the Plan Moves), bexy re-checks the shipment after that date in hourly batches until a status reports the containers at the shipment's final destination, or until 30 days after the ETA or planned arrival. The final destination is reached on a delivery, a full container's pick-up or gate-out at destination, devanning (unpacking) or an empty container's return, or on an arrival at the place of delivery: for a shipment that ends at the port, a discharge there (not a transshipment). Shipments with neither date are re-checked only while someone watches them for email alerts, which also re-checks a shipment about every 12 hours before its ETA, or, within an hourly limit, when someone searches for one not yet reported at its final destination that bexy last read 6 hours ago or more.; How bexy reads Evergreen container statuses