The fundamentals of trade and transport, explained in plain language with interactive charts and calculators.
I wrote this guide for students of logistics and international trade and for people who are new to the industry. The topics were chosen from the subjects that feature most in logistics and foreign trade programmes in Türkiye: delivery terms, the parties and documents in a shipment, containers and transport modes, logistics costs, payment methods, liability and customs.
Each topic starts with the core concept and then covers the mistakes most often made in practice, with practical tips. I cite sources for figures and label typical values clearly as 'typical'.
The parties to international trade and the delivery rules.
The 11 delivery rules: where do risk and cost change hands?
A guide with interactive charts showing where risk, cost, insurance and customs responsibility pass from seller to buyer under each Incoterms® 2020 rule.
Exporter, forwarder, NVOCC, shipowner, agent, customs broker: who does what, and which document do they issue?
The roles of the parties in an export shipment, the contracts between them and the documents they issue, with an interactive map of the parties.
Bills of lading, container equipment, the shipment timeline, packing, reefers and dangerous goods.
Receipt, evidence of contract and document of title: types of bill of lading, originals, telex release and sea waybills.
The three functions of a bill of lading, MBL vs HBL, order and straight bills, clean and claused bills, and delivery against originals, telex release or sea waybill, with a clickable sample bill and a release method finder.
20', 40', High Cube, reefer, open top, flat rack: which cargo goes in which container?
Internal dimensions, door openings and weight capacities of the 10 most common container types, with a pallet loading calculator.
From booking to empty return: cut-offs, VGM and the 24-hour rules.
A step-by-step timeline of an FCL export: booking, empty pick-up, stuffing, VGM and document cut-offs, gate-in, departure, transshipment, arrival and delivery, with interactive shipment steps.
Weight distribution, securing, moisture and the CSC plate: the basic rules of the CTU Code.
The centre of gravity in a container, cargo securing (lashing), filling voids, moisture and condensation, wood packaging and the CSC plate, with an interactive centre of gravity calculator.
Set point, ventilation, PTI and airflow: what to watch with temperature-controlled cargo.
How a reefer container works, frozen vs chilled cargo, set point, ventilation and humidity settings, PTI, correct loading and where the cold chain breaks, with an interactive pre-loading checklist.
9 classes, UN numbers, packing groups and declarations: how are dangerous goods shipped?
The 9 classes of dangerous goods, UN numbers, packing groups, the IMDG (sea), ADR (road), RID (rail) and IATA DGR (air) rules, the dangerous goods declaration and the consequences of misdeclaration, with an interactive class explorer.
Vehicle types and loading metres.
Curtainsider, mega, reefer, jumbo: which vehicle, how many pallets, how many tonnes?
Typical dimensions and capacities of the vehicles used in international road freight, with a loading metre (LDM) calculator.
Freight calculation, surcharges, demurrage and detention.
Fill a container yourself or share one? How is chargeable weight worked out?
The difference between FCL and LCL, W/M, volumetric weight in air freight and chargeable weight in road freight, with calculators and an FCL–LCL break-even chart.
BAF, THC, PSS, LSS, ETS: how to read an ocean freight quotation line by line, and who pays what?
What the basic freight and surcharges in an ocean freight quotation mean, local charges, all-in rates and which line falls to the seller or the buyer under each Incoterms rule, with an interactive quotation splitter.
While a container waits, which clock is running and who gets paid?
The difference between container delay charges (demurrage and detention) and terminal storage, with a timeline and a cost calculator.
Payment methods, carrier liability, insurance and customs.
Cash in advance, letter of credit, documentary collection, open account: who carries the risk?
A risk comparison of the five basic payment methods from the exporter's and the importer's side, and an interactive step-by-step walkthrough of the letter of credit (L/C) process.
Hague-Visby, CMR, Montreal: how much of a loss does the carrier pay, and why do you need cargo insurance?
Carriers' limited liability under international conventions, SDRs, per-package and per-kilogram limits, the Institute Cargo Clauses (A), (B) and (C) and general average, with an interactive liability limit calculator.
How to read a 12-digit Turkish tariff code (GTİP), and what are the eight customs procedures?
The structure of the Turkish tariff code GTİP (Harmonized System, Combined Nomenclature, national and statistical digits), binding tariff information, the eight customs procedures in Türkiye, customs value and origin documents, with an interactive code breakdown.
Terms and abbreviations used in the industry.
From B/L to VGM, from demurrage to HS codes: the terms used every day in the industry, with their Turkish equivalents.
A searchable English–Turkish glossary of trade, ocean, road and air freight, customs, freight charges and payment terms, organised by category.
This guide is for educational purposes and reflects the author's personal views, not those of KINAY. For contract, customs and finance decisions, consult current official sources and specialists. Incoterms® is a registered trademark of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).