Shipping and customs glossary

Last reviewed: 1 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.
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: Having a local agent purchase an item on your behalf because the seller requires a domestic payment method, a local phone number or a local delivery address. Also called a Buy For Me service.
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.
Declared value: The value you state for a shipment, which sets both the customs assessment and the maximum insurance payout. Declaring low to save duty means being underpaid on a loss claim, and is illegal besides.
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

Chargeable weight: The figure your air freight is billed on: the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight. For air, volumetric weight is length x width x height in centimetres divided by 6,000.
Volumetric weight: A weight derived from a shipment's size rather than its mass, used because light bulky cargo consumes space an aircraft or courier cannot sell twice. Also called dimensional weight.
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 charged at both origin and destination and is never included in an ocean freight rate.
Incoterms: Standard three-letter trade terms, such as EXW, FOB, CIF 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 stated otherwise.
DDP: Delivered Duty Paid: the seller carries all cost and risk to the buyer's door, including destination duty and tax. It gives the buyer one price with no surprise customs bill.
Rollover: When a booked container is not loaded onto its scheduled vessel and waits for the next one, most often at a transshipment hub. It typically costs a week on Europe lanes routed via Singapore.

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: the US USD 800 Section 321 relief was suspended from 29 August 2025, and the EU EUR 150 duty exemption ended 1 July 2026 in favour of EUR 3 flat duty per eligible customs line on low-value B2C parcels (goods ≤ EUR 150) 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.
Green Line: A Thai Customs e-Customs outcome where an entry is released on documents alone with no physical inspection. Green Line import entries filed before 14:00 typically release the same day.
Red Line: A Thai Customs e-Customs outcome requiring physical inspection before release. Red Line selection can add time before cargo is released.
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.
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.

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