FAK
Freight All Kinds, as a general description of the goods on a master B/L covered under the one freight rate regardless of the nature of the individual goods.

FCL
Full Container Load, generally but not always indicating that goods in the container are from one seller who packed the container, going to one buyer who will unpack the container.

Flat Rack
A device which is designed for cargos which will not fit into containers to be shipped on container ships. Consists of a base and two ends of the same dimensions as an ISO container.

Force Majeure
A clause in a contract which protects both parties in the event that part of the contract cannot be complied with due to causes outside the control of the parties and could not have been avoided by exercising due care.  For example, floods, earthquakes, civil unrest and so on.

Freight Forwarder
A person or corporation who arranges transport of goods on behalf of either the seller or buyer. In many cases the freight forwarder will also consolidate several small shipments into one larger one to take advantage of better freight rates. In most cases the freight forwarder will assume the legal liabilities of acting as a carrier

Gross Weight
The total weight of a shipment of goods, including their packaging such as crates, pallets etc.

Groupage
see Consolidation

Hazardous Goods
Certain cargoes, as prescribed by the UN, such as explosive, radioactive, poisonous and flammable goods etc, which must be declared to the carrier before being loaded onto ships or aircraft. The penalties for mis-declaring or failing to declare hazardous or dangerous cargo are extremely high.