Shipping and customs glossary

Last reviewed: 30 August 2026

Every term that shows up on a Thai freight quote or a customs notice, defined in one sentence you can act on. Where a term costs money, the definition says how much.

Consumer terms

Parcel forwarding: A service that gives you a receiving address in a country you are not in, accepts your domestic orders there, and ships them on to you internationally. It exists because most Thai retailers will not ship abroad.
Mailbox: A Thai Nexus receiving account with a real street address in Hua Hin or Bangkok plus your suite code. It is not a PO box. Thai couriers deliver to the door; storage follows the published mailbox plan.
Suite code: The personal identifier appended to a forwarding warehouse address so arriving parcels are matched to your account. A parcel without one has to be identified manually, which delays it.
Consolidation: Combining several separately received parcels into one outbound box to pay one international postage charge instead of several. Whether it saves money depends on dimensions, chargeable weight and destination.
Proxy buying: Buy For Me: you send product links and Thai Nexus purchases those listings. The fee is THB 20 per product variation (minimum THB 100 per request) for goods up to THB 20,000; above that, that fee plus 5 percent of order value. Shipping is separate. We buy from your links; we do not recommend shops or authenticate goods.
Declared value: The true transaction value you state on the commercial invoice, which customs uses to assess duty and tax. It is not automatically the insurance payout. Under-declaring to save duty is illegal. Standard Thai Nexus liability without Shipment Protection is THB 1,000 per shipment.
Shipment Protection: Optional cover purchased at booking: 3.5 percent of declared value (Goods plus Freight). It can raise the recoverable limit to declared value for physical loss or damage, subject to the Standard Trading Conditions and exclusions. Without it, standard liability is THB 1,000 per shipment.
Landed cost: The full cost of getting goods to your door: item price plus shipping plus duty plus VAT or GST plus any carrier presentation fee. It is the only number worth comparing between shipping options.

Freight terms

Actual weight: The scale weight of the shipment in kilograms. Chargeable weight is the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight, so dense cargo usually pays actual and light bulky cargo pays volume.
Volumetric weight: A weight derived from a shipment's size rather than its mass (also called dimensional weight). Formula: length x width x height in centimetres, divided by the carrier divisor. Thai Nexus express quotes use 5,000. Air cargo typically uses 6,000.
Chargeable weight: The figure your air or courier shipment is billed on: the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight. Express calculator quotes use volumetric divisor 5,000. Most air-cargo quotes use 6,000. The live quote shows which figure applies.
CBM: Cubic metre, the unit used to measure cargo volume for sea freight. One CBM is 100 x 100 x 100 cm. LCL is quoted on request; most lanes still bill around a one CBM minimum when you book.
FCL: Full Container Load: you book an entire container, typically 20ft, 40ft or 40ft High Cube, and it is sealed at origin and opened at destination. On most Thai lanes FCL becomes cheaper than LCL between 12 and 15 CBM.
LCL: Less than Container Load: your cargo shares a container with other shippers, consolidated at an origin CFS and deconsolidated at destination. Starts at 1 CBM on most lanes. Thai Nexus can prepare export pallets from parcel cartons before CFS handoff. Quoted on request.
CFS: Container Freight Station, the warehouse where LCL cargo from different shippers is combined into one container, and where it is split again at destination.
THC: Terminal Handling Charge, the port's fee for moving your container between the vessel and the yard. It is usually charged at both origin and destination as a separate line, not inside the ocean freight rate. Check the quote: some all-in offers fold it in.
Incoterms: Standard three-letter trade terms, such as EXW, FOB, CIF, DAP and DDP, defining where the seller's responsibility ends and the buyer's begins. Most Thai export quotes are FOB Bangkok or FOB Laem Chabang unless the line names another term.
DAP: Delivered at Place: the seller delivers to the named address; the consignee usually pays destination duty, tax and brokerage. On Thai Nexus express, treat the booking as DAP unless the quote names a DDP product (Prime DDP, Flex DDP or Priority DDP).
DDP: Delivered Duty Paid: the seller carries cost and risk to the buyer's door, including destination duty and tax, so the buyer sees one prepaid price. Thai Nexus offers DDP only on listed express products when the live calculator returns Prime DDP, Flex DDP or Priority DDP for that destination and commodity. Otherwise the shipment is DAP.
Rollover: When a booked container is not loaded onto its scheduled vessel and waits for the next sailing, most often at a transshipment hub. Extra days vary by lane and sailing; it is not a fixed one-week delay.

Customs terms

HS code: The Harmonized System code, a six-digit international product classification extended nationally to eight or ten digits. It determines your duty rate, so a wrong code means the wrong duty and a possible penalty.
De minimis: The value threshold below which a destination charges reduced or no duty, and sometimes no tax, on an imported parcel. It varies by country and changes often: US Section 321 USD 800 relief was suspended on 29 August 2025. The EU EUR 150 duty exemption ended 1 July 2026; eligible B2C goods of EUR 150 or less now pay EUR 3 flat duty per item (per eligible customs line) until July 2028.
CIF value: Cost, Insurance and Freight: the goods value plus insurance plus freight to the destination port. Thailand and most countries calculate import duty on the CIF value, not the goods value alone.
e-Customs: The Thai Customs electronic system used to file import and export declarations. Licensed brokers, including Thai Nexus, submit entries through e-Customs; Green Line or Red Line is the system's release outcome, not a separate form.
Green Line: A Thai Customs e-Customs outcome where an entry is released on documents alone with no physical inspection. Same-day release is common; it is not a guaranteed Customs rule and is not tied to a public 14:00 filing cutoff.
Red Line: A Thai Customs e-Customs outcome requiring physical inspection before release. Red Line selection can add time before cargo is released. Thai Nexus attends Red Line inspections when we file the entry.
Customs broker: A licensed agent who files customs entries on your behalf. In Thailand the broker files through the e-Customs system and is accountable for the accuracy of the declaration.
Demurrage: The daily charge for leaving a container inside the port terminal beyond its free time. It is why a slow clearance costs more than the delay itself.
Detention: The daily charge for holding the carrier's container outside the terminal beyond free time, counted until the empty is returned. Distinct from demurrage, and frequently confused with it.
Free time: The days a container may sit at the terminal or in your possession without demurrage or detention. Usually three to seven days, and the clock starts on discharge, not on your paperwork.

Documents terms

Bill of Lading: The ocean carrier's document that acts as receipt for the cargo, evidence of the contract of carriage, and, when issued as an original, a document of title: whoever holds it can claim the goods.
Air Waybill: The air cargo equivalent of a bill of lading. Unlike an original bill of lading it is not a document of title, so cargo is released to the named consignee rather than against surrender of the document.
HAWB: House Air Waybill: the forwarder's waybill issued to the shipper. The airline issues a master air waybill (MAWB) covering the consolidation. Tracking on Thai Nexus quotes usually starts from the house number or the TNX number.
Commercial invoice: The document customs uses to value your shipment. It must state the true transaction value, the goods description, the HS code, quantities and Incoterms. Under-declaring it is fraud, not a tactic.
Packing list: A document itemising what is in each carton, with weights and dimensions. Customs and warehouse staff use it to check the shipment without opening every box.
Certificate of Origin: A document certifying where goods were made. Thai FTA forms, such as Form D for ASEAN or Form AANZ for Australia and New Zealand, can reduce destination duty to zero on qualifying goods.
TNX number: The Thai Nexus shipment reference issued at booking. Public tracking at tracking.thainexus.co.th accepts a TNX number without login. Carrier waybill numbers may appear later as the shipment is handed off.

A term missing? Tell us and we will define it in the next quarterly review.