# Liner terms and common charges

> Source: https://www.fratezone.com/freight-reference/liner-terms/
> Publisher: FrateZone — ocean and air shipment tracking

Liner terms say who pays to put the cargo on the ship and who pays to take it
off. They are a commercial convention rather than a standard, and usage varies by trade —
what a term means in a bulk charter is not always what it means in a container booking.

| Term | Short | Meaning | Who pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liner In / Liner Out | LILO | The freight covers loading at origin and discharge at destination. The simplest arrangement and the usual default in container liner trades. | Carrier loads and discharges |
| Free In / Free Out | FIFO | The freight covers the sea leg only. The shipper arranges and pays loading; the receiver arranges and pays discharge. Common in bulk and breakbulk. | Merchant both ends |
| Free In / Liner Out | FILO | The shipper pays to load; the carrier’s freight covers discharge. | Merchant loads, carrier discharges |
| Liner In / Free Out | LIFO | The carrier’s freight covers loading; the receiver pays to discharge. | Carrier loads, merchant discharges |
| Free In and Stowed | FIS | As Free In, and the shipper also pays for stowing the cargo in the hold — not merely lifting it aboard. | Merchant, including stowage |
| Free In, Stowed and Trimmed | FIST | As FIS with trimming added, levelling a bulk cargo across the hold. Standard in dry bulk. | Merchant, including stowage and trimming |

## Charges on an ocean invoice

| Code | Name | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| THC | Terminal Handling Charge | The terminal’s charge for moving the container between quay and yard. Levied at both ends and quoted separately from freight. |
| BAF | Bunker Adjustment Factor | A surcharge tracking fuel price movement, so the base freight need not be reopened every time bunkers move. |
| CAF | Currency Adjustment Factor | A surcharge covering exchange-rate movement between the currency of the tariff and the currency of the carrier’s costs. |
| ISPS | International Ship and Port Facility Security charge | Recovers the cost of security measures required under the ISPS Code. |
| D&D | Demurrage and Detention | Demurrage runs while a container sits inside the terminal beyond its free time; detention runs while the box is outside the terminal and not yet returned. Two different clocks, frequently confused. |

## Notes for automated readers

- Liner terms are not Incoterms and do not substitute for them. One allocates cost
  between carrier and merchant; the other allocates cost and risk between seller and
  buyer.
- Demurrage and detention are two different clocks and are routinely confused:
  demurrage runs while the box sits inside the terminal past its free time, detention
  while it is outside the terminal and not yet returned.

## Provenance and limits

Compiled from publicly available sources: published industry standards, official code
registers and carriers' own published specifications. FrateZone is not the issuing
authority for any of it, does not warrant that any figure here is correct, current or
complete, and makes no representation that a source has not changed since it was read.
Where a specification belongs to a specific physical unit or a specific contract, that
document governs, not this page.