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Logistics & Supply Chain vocabulary · Transport Modes

LTL

Meaning in logistics & supply chain, with examples

abbreviationCommon term

In logistics & supply chain, LTL means: Short for less than truckload: a road shipment too small to fill a truck, so it travels with other customers' goods and is priced by space or weight.

In Turkish: parsiyel yük, parsiyel taşıma, LTL

How it is used

The standard term in North America; in Europe and Turkey people more often say groupage or part load. LTL shipments usually pass through terminals or hubs, so transit times are longer and there is more handling than with FTL.

Example sentences

  1. Four pallets is a typical LTL shipment for us.

  2. LTL is cheaper for small orders, but the goods are handled several times on the way.

Common collocations

  • LTL shipment
  • LTL carrier
  • LTL rates
  • LTL and FTL
  • FTLShort for full truckload: a road shipment that uses a whole truck or trailer for one customer's goods and goes directly from pickup to delivery.
  • consolidationCombining several small shipments, often from different shippers, into one larger load, such as a full container or truck, to lower the cost per unit.
  • road freightThe transport of goods by trucks and trailers on roads, used for domestic deliveries and for international routes over land.
  • LCLShort for less than container load: a small sea shipment that shares a container with goods from other shippers and pays only for the space it uses.
  • palletA flat wooden or plastic platform on which goods are stacked so that they can be lifted by a forklift and moved, stored or shipped as one unit.

More terms: Transport Modes

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