I

IA
See Independent Action

ICC
See
(1) Interstate Commerce Commission
(2) International Chamber of Commerce

Identification
The unique data, e.g. name, number or code, determining a certain object or person.

Idle Time
The amount of ineffective time whereby the available resources are not used e.g. a container in a yard.

Ignition
Setting on fire or catching fire.

Immediate Exportation
An entry that allows foreign merchandise arriving at one port to be exported from the same port without the payment of duty.

Immediate Transport
Abbreviation : IT
The document (prepared by the carrier) allows shipment to proceed from the port of entry in the U.S. to Customs clearing at the destination. The shipment clears Customs at its final destination.
See In-Transit Entry.

Implants
Focal points of detached personnel situated within customers' premises to co-ordinate and advise on the customers' logistics activity, often replacing in-house functions and resource.

Import
To receive goods from a foreign country.

Import License
A document required and issued by some national governments authorizing the importation of goods.

In Bond
Cargo moving under Customs control where duty has not yet been paid.

In Gate
The transaction or interchange that occurs at the time a container is received by a rail terminal or water port from another carrier.

In Personam:
Legal action against a person.

In Rem:
Legal action against an object or the owners thereof (eg. action naming the ship).

In Transit
The status of goods or persons between the outwards customs clearance and inwards customs clearance.

Incentive Rate
A lower-than-usual tariff rate assessed because a shipper offers a greater volume than specified in the tariff. The incentive rate is assessed for that portion exceeding the normal volume.

INCOTERMS
Trade terms in coded form as established by the International Chamber of Commerce Terms of Sale in 1953, whereafter they have been regularly updated. (Last update 2000). The terms represent a set of international rules for the interpretation of the principal terms of delivery used in trade contracts.

Indemnification
Compensation for a loss and/or the expenses incurred.

Indemnity:
Liability of an insurer for loss under a policy.

Indemnity Bond
An agreement to hold a carrier harmless with regard to a liability.

Independent Action
Abbreviation : I/A
The right of a conference member to publish a rate of tariff rule that departs from the Agreement's common rate or rule.

Independent Demand
A demand which is unrelated to demand for other products. Demand for finished goods, parts required for destructive testing and service parts requirements are examples of independent demand.

Independent Tariff
Any body of rate tariffs that are not part of an agreement or conference system.

Indirect Damage:
Damage caused by an insured peril but not proximately caused thereby.

Indirect Route
Any route other than the direct route.

Inducement
Placing a port on a vessel's itinerary because the volume of cargo offered at that port justifies the cost of routing the vessel.

Inert Gas System
A system of preventing any explosion in the cargo tanks of a tanker by replacing the cargo, as it is pumped out, by an inert gas, often the exhaust of the ship's engine. Gas-freeing must be carried out subsequently if worker have to enter the empty tanks.

Inflammable Liquids
Liquids liable to spontaneous combustion which give off inflammable vapors at or below 80 degrees F. For example, ether, ethyl, benzine, gasoline, paints, enamels, carbon disulfide, etc.

Infrastructure
System of roads, waterways, airfields, ports and/or telecommunication networks in a certain area.

Inherent Vice
An insurance term referring to any defect or other characteristic of a product that could result in damage to the product without external cause (for example, instability in a chemical that could cause it to explode spontaneously). Insurance policies may exclude inherent vice losses.

Inland Carrier
A transportation line that hauls export or import traffic between ports and inland points.

Inland Clearance Depot
Abbreviation: ICD
Inland location where cargo, particularly containerised cargo, may be cleared by customs.

Inland Point Intermodal
Abbreviation : IPI
Refers to inland points (non-ports) that can be served by carriers on a through bill of lading.

Inland Waters
Term referring to lakes, streams, rivers, canals, waterways, inlets, bays and the like.

Inner Berth

Inland Waterways Bill of Lading
Transport document made out to a named person, to order or to bearer, signed by the carrier and handed to the sender after receipt of the goods.

Inspection Certificate
A certificate issued by an independent agent or firm attesting to the quality and/or quantity of the merchandise being shipped. Such a certificate is usually required in a letter of credit for commodity shipments.

Installment Shipments
Successive shipments are permitted under letters of credit. Usually they must take place within a given period of time.

Institute Cargo Clauses:
Standard insurance conditions for policies covering goods in transit overseas.

Institute of London Underwriters:
An association representing company underwriters and interest in the London insurance market.

Institute Time Clauses:
Standard insurance conditions for policies covering ships for a period of time.

Institute Warranties:
A set of express warranties for use in policies covering ships. Mainly these are navigational warranties restricting the ship's navigational areas. Breach of the warranties is held covered subject to payment of an additional premium and change of policy conditions, if required by the underwriters.

Insulated Container
Thermal container without the use of devices for cooling and/or heating.

Insulated Container Tank
Container frame holding one or more thermal insulated tanks for liquids.

Insurable Interest:
The interest one has in relation to property exposed to peril whereby one may lose financially by the loss of, or damage to, such property or may incur a liability in respect thereof. A person who effects a marine insurance contract without an insurable interest or a reasonable expectation of acquiring such interest is guilty of an offence under English law.

Insurance
A system of protection against loss under which a party agrees to pay a certain sum (premiums) for a guarantee that they will be compensated under certain conditions for loss or damage.

Insurance All-risk
This type of insurance offers the shipper the broadest coverage available, covering against all losses that may occur in transit.

Insurance Certificate
Proof of an insurance contract. Insurance Company The party covering the risks of the issued goods and/or services that are insured.

Insurance, General-Average
In water transportation, the deliberate sacrifice of cargo to make the vessel safe for the remaining cargo. Those sharing in the spared cargo proportionately cover the loss.

Insurance, Particular Average
A Marine insurance term to refer to partial loss on an individual shipment from one of the perils insured against, regardless of the balance of the cargo. Particular average insurance can usually be obtained, but the loss must be in excess of a certain percentage of the insured value of the shipment, usually three to five percent, before a claim will be allowed by the company.

Insurance with Average-clause
This type of clause covers merchandise if the damage amounts to three percent or more of the insured value of the package or cargo. If the vessel burns, sinks, collides, or sinks, all losses are fully covered. In marine insurance, the word average describes partial damage or partial loss.

Insured Value:
The value of property as expressed in a policy of insurance.

Integrated Logistics Support
The systematic approach applied to simultaneous management and acquisition of equipment and related logistics support, in order to provide the customer with a desired level of availability. Resulting in an optimum life cycle cost and to maintain this level through the entire life cycle.

Intergrated Tug Barge
A large barge of about 600 feet and 22,000 tons cargo capacity, integrated from the rear on to the bow of a tug purposely constructed to push the barge.

Integrity
The prevention of unauthorised modification of information.

Interchange
Reciprocal exchange of e.g. information between two or more parties.

Interchange Point
A location where one carrier delivers freight to another carrier.

Intercoastal
As opposite to coastal water operations, intercoastal refers to water transport carried out between coasts or domestic shipping rutes serving more than one coast (e.g. between Pacific and Atlantic coasts).

Intercontainer
A co-operative formed by 19 European Railways, for the management of international rail container traffic in Europe.

Interline
Two or more road transport companies joining operations to bring cargo to a certain destination.

Interline Carrier
A carrier with whom another carrier has an interline agreement.

Interline Freight
Freight moving from origin to destination over the Freight lines of two or more transportation carriers.

Intermediate Point
A point located en route between two other points.

Intermodal
Used to denote movements of cargo containers interchangeably between transport modes, i.e., motor, water, and air carriers, and where the equipment is compatible within the multiple systems.

Intermodalism
The concept of transportation as a door-to-door service rather than port-to-port. Thus efficiency is enhanced by having a single carrier coordinating the movement and documentation among different modes of transportation.

Intermodal Transport
The movement of goods (containers) in one and the same loading unit or vehicle which uses successively several modes of transport without handling of the goods themselves in changing modes.

International Air Transport Association
Abbreviation: IATA
An international organisation of airlines, founded in 1945, with the aim of promoting the commercial air traffic. Parties should achieve this by co-operation between the parties concerned and by performance of certain rules, procedures and tariffs, regarding both cargo and passengers.

International Association of Classification Societies
Abbreviation: IACS
An organisation in which the major classification societies, among others American Bureau of Shipping, Lloyd's Register of Shipping and Germanischer Lloyd, are joined, whose principal aim is the improvement of standards concerning safety at sea.

International Carriage
Carriage whereby the place of departure and any place of landing are situated in more than one country.

International Chamber of Shipping
Abbreviation: ICS
A voluntary organisation of national shipowner' associations with the objective to promote interests of its members, primarily in the technical and legal fields of shipping operations.

International Civil Aviation Organization
Abbreviation: ICAO
An international organisation of governments, dealing with search and rescue in distress, weather information, telecommunications and navigational requirements.

International Labour Organization
Abbreviation: ILO
An United Nations agency, based in Geneva, it is one of the oldest components of the UN system of specialized agencies and has been involved over the years in appraising and seeking to improve and regulate conditions for seafarers. In its unusual tripartite way, involving official representatives of government, employer and employee interests, its joint Maritime Commission have had in hand moves on the employment of foreign seafarer to urge the application of minimum labor standards, on crew accommodation, accident prevention, medical examination and medical care, food and catering and officers competency..

International Load Line Certificate
A certificate which gives details of a ship's freeboards and states that the ship has been surveyed and the appropriate load lines marked on her sides. This certificate is issued by a classification society or the Coast Guard.

International Maritime Consultative Organization
Abbreviation: IMCO
A forum in which most major maritime nations participate and through which recommendations for the carriage of dangerous goods, bulk commodities, and maritime regulations become internationally acceptable.

International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code
Abbreviation: IMDG Code
A code, representing the classification of dangerous goods as defined by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in compliance with international legal requirements.

International Maritime Organisation
Abbreviation: IMO
Formerly known as the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO), was established in 1958. An United Nations agency concerned with safety at sea. Its work includes codes and rules relating o tonnage measurement of vessels, load lines, pollution and the carriage of dangerous goods.

International Maritime Satellite System.
Abbreviation: INMARSAT

International Medical Guide for Ships
Abbreviation: IMGS
'The doctor at sea'.

International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund
An inter-governmental agency designed to pay compensation for oil pollution damage, exceeding the shipowner's liability. It was created by an IMO Convention in 1971 and started its operations in October 1978. Contributions come mainly from the oil companies of member states.

International Organization for Standardization
Abbreviation: ISO
A world-wide federation of national standards institutes (ISO member bodies).

International Safety Management Code
This international standard for the safe management and operation of ships prescribes rules for the organisation of a shipping company management in the context of safety and pollution prevention and requires the development and implementation of a safety management system.

International Tonnage Certificate
A certificate issued to a shipowner by a government department in the case of a ship whose gross and net tonnages have been determined in accordance with the International Convention of Tonnage Measurement of Ships. The certificate states the gross and net tonnages together with details of the spaces attributed to each.

International Waterways
Consist of international straits, inland and interocean canals and rivers where they separate the territories of two or more nations. Provided no treaty is enforced both merchant ships and warships have the right of free and unrestricted navigation through these waterways.

Intracoastal
Domestic shipping routes along a single coast.

In Transit Entry
Abbreviation: IT
Allows foreign merchandise arriving at one port to be transported in bond to another port, where a superseding entry is filed.

Inventory
1. A detailed list of goods located in a certain space or belonging to a specified object.
2. Goods available for satisfying certain demands. Inventories may consist of finished goods ready for sale, they may be parts or intermediate items, they may be work in process, or they may be raw materials.

Invoice
A document setting out in detail the goods consigned, marks and numbers, cost, any charges, and name of consignee. Inward Charges: Pilotage and other expenses incurred on entering port.

Inward Foreign Manifest
Abbreviation : IFM
A complete listing of all cargo entering the country of discharge. Required at all world ports and is the primary source of cargo control, against which duty is assessed by the receiving country.

Inwards Reporting:
The reporting of the vessel's arrival in port and the lodgement of the inwards (import) cargo manifest by the master or agent with Customs

Irrespective of Percentage:
When shown in a policy this means that particular average is not subject to the franchise expressed in the standard S.G. policy form.

Irrevocable Letter of Credit
Letter of credit in which the specified payment is guaranteed by the bank if all terms and conditions are met by the drawee and which cannot be revoked without joint agreement of both the buyer and the seller.

ISO.
International Standards Organization which deals in standards of all sorts, ranging from documentation to equipment packaging and labeling.

Issuing Bank
Bank that opens a straight or negotiable letter of credit and assumes the obligation to pay the bank or beneficiary if the documents presented are in accordance with the terms of the letter of credit.

Issuing Carrier
The carrier issuing transportation documents or publishing a tariff.

Item
Separate article or unit.