Freight and road transport terms are the operational vocabulary of freight transactions — the words that name the parties in a shipment, the documents that govern the movement, and the processes that complete delivery. In European road freight, these terms are standardised under the CMR Convention (Geneva, 1956), which governs cross-border road freight contracts across 55 member countries including all EU member states.
What are freight and road transport terms?
Freight and road transport terms cover the vocabulary of freight transactions — naming the parties (sender, receiver, freight carrier), the documents (waybill, proof of delivery), and the movements (drayage, consignment) that define how a cargo shipment is contracted, carried, and completed.
The CMR Convention is the reason these terms are consistent across Europe. A Belgian exporter and a Romanian haulier working on the same consignment use identical freight vocabulary — consignor, consignee, CMR waybill, proof of delivery — because both are bound by the same international framework standardising road freight contracts across all 55 member countries. Freight terms fall into three functional categories: party terms that name the people and businesses involved, document terms that describe the records governing the movement, and movement terms that describe what physically happens between collection and delivery. The Go Trans logistics glossary covers all three categories across 8 clusters — freight and road transport terms form the cluster closest to the day-to-day transaction.
What freight and road transport term pages are covered in this cluster?
The following pages cover each freight and road transport term in detail — with European legal context, CMR Convention connections, and Go Trans operational applications.
Drayage — short-distance road transport of a container between a port, rail terminal, or warehouse and the next point in the supply chain. Drayage connects a long-haul sea or rail movement to the final or intermediate distribution point — the road leg that follows container discharge at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges or arrival at an inland rail terminal.
Sender / Receiver — the consignor (sender) and consignee (receiver) — the two primary parties on every CMR consignment note, waybill, and commercial invoice across European road freight.
Proof of Delivery — the document signed by the receiver confirming the consignment reached the named consignee in the stated condition. Under CMR Article 30, unconditional signature closes the carrier's liability for visible damage.
Freight Carrier — the company that physically transports cargo using its own vehicles — road hauliers, shipping lines, and airlines are all freight carriers, each distinct from a freight forwarder or logistics broker who arranges transport without owning vehicles.
Waybill — a non-negotiable transport document confirming the carrier's receipt of cargo and specifying the delivery destination. In European road freight, the CMR waybill is the standard form — issued in three copies for the sender, carrier, and receiver.
Upcoming terms publishing soon:
Groupage — consolidation of multiple smaller consignments from different shippers into one vehicle, with transport cost shared proportionally
Transit Time — the elapsed time between collection at the origin address and delivery at the destination address
Consignment — a quantity of goods dispatched by a sender to a named receiver under a single freight contract, covered by one set of shipping documents
Freight Invoice — the billing document issued by the carrier to the shipper after successful delivery, itemising the base freight rate, fuel surcharge, and any applicable tolls or accessorial charges
How does Go Trans coordinate these freight terms?
Go Trans coordinates every freight term in this cluster as part of arranging road freight across Europe — confirming the consignor and consignee at booking, matching the consignment to the correct carrier, and monitoring proof of delivery.
Go Trans is a logistics broker — not a freight carrier and not a freight forwarder. At booking, Go Trans confirms the sender (consignor) and receiver (consignee) details, selects the carrier from DSV, DHL, DPD, UPS, or FedEx based on load type and destination, and coordinates the CMR waybill before collection. At delivery, Go Trans monitors proof of delivery confirmation — the signed document that closes the transaction.
The CMR consignment note, commercial invoice, and packing list all carry the freight terms defined in this cluster — the shipping documents cluster covers each document's legal function, required fields, and CMR Convention obligations. The freight carrier named on the CMR waybill operates a specific vehicle configuration — tautliners for palletised general cargo, low loaders for heavy plant, Edscha bodies for crane-loaded freight — all covered in the vehicle types cluster. Go Trans arranges freight services across Europe for FTL and LTL consignments where all of these freight terms are applied from the first booking confirmation to the final signed delivery.