Reference
Freight & Delivery Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the construction- and AV-freight terms this site uses — will-call, hotshot, drayage, LTL and FTL, liftgate, advance warehouse and more. Each one describes what the term means and links to the page that covers it in depth.
Terms
Getting material to the site
- Will-call pickup
- Will-call pickup is when a buyer collects a staged order from a supplier's counter or yard rather than having it delivered. In construction, a will-call run can be handed to a carrier so the counter pull happens inside the delivery — the branch, the account and the PO or pickup number are sent, and the pull and the run to the jobsite are handled as one job.Will-call pickup vs. supplier delivery
- Jobsite delivery
- Jobsite delivery is the transportation of construction material from a supplier, warehouse or another site to an active jobsite. It is planned around the site's receiving window and access, and the material is handed off to the site contact — the point of the service is to keep field crews on the work instead of running for material.Construction material delivery
- Hotshot delivery
- Hotshot delivery is an expedited, direct run for a schedule-critical load — a single run for one shipment, dispatched rather than held for the next scheduled route, and frequently on an open deck. On this site it is used as a synonym for expedited, time-critical delivery; same-day and expedited service is a Tampa Bay offering.Hotshot vs. box-truck delivery
- Same-day delivery
- Same-day delivery is a run picked up and delivered inside the same working day. Whether it is achievable depends on the pickup location, when the origin releases the load, the distance and the site's access window, so it is confirmed at quoting rather than promised in advance. Same-day is a Tampa Bay service; longer lanes are planned, not same-day.Same-day vs. scheduled delivery
- Multi-stop run
- A multi-stop run is a single coordinated trip with more than one pickup or drop — several suppliers feeding one project, or one load split across sites. It is quoted against all its legs, and on a long corridor it is often more efficient than several separate trips.Multi-stop delivery
Terms
How a load moves
- LTL vs. FTL
- LTL (less-than-truckload) means a shipment shares a trailer with other freight and pays for the space it uses; FTL (full-truckload) means a shipment takes the whole trailer. The choice follows the load: a partial load that can wait may move LTL, while a time-critical, large or delicate load usually moves as a dedicated run. Which fits is confirmed when the run is quoted.
- Liftgate
- A liftgate is a powered platform at the back of a truck that raises and lowers a load between the truck bed and the ground, used where there is no dock or forklift to unload. Whether a run needs one is decided from the load and the site's unloading method, and it is one of the access questions asked when a run is quoted.
- Dock-high
- Dock-high describes a delivery point — a loading dock at trailer-bed height — where a truck backs in and freight rolls straight off, no liftgate needed. A dock at both ends keeps the truck's time on site short; a site with no dock is a different unloading problem, which is why how a load comes off is part of qualifying the run.
- Palletized vs. loose
- Palletized freight is banded or shrink-wrapped onto pallets so it loads and unloads with a forklift in minutes; loose freight is hand-stacked boxes, bundles or lengths that take longer to load, secure and unload. How material is packaged changes the handling time, so it is one of the factors a delivery is quoted against.What drives a delivery quote
- Securement
- Securement is how a load is restrained so it rides safely — straps, blocking, bracing or banding matched to the material. It matters more the farther and faster a load travels: a pallet crossing town is a different securement problem than bundled lumber riding a highway lane for hours, which is confirmed when the run is loaded.
Terms
Trade-show & AV freight
- Drayage
- Drayage — also called material handling — is the on-site move of exhibit and AV freight from the venue dock or marshalling yard to the booth, and back out after the show. At a trade show or convention it is controlled by the show's official service contractor, NOT by the over-the-road carrier. Capital Site Logistics coordinates the freight leg to the show; the drayage inside the show is the show contractor's.How AV equipment transportation is coordinated
- Advance warehouse
- The advance warehouse is a show's designated receiving location that accepts exhibit and AV freight in the weeks before the event, stores it, and moves it to the booth for move-in. Shipping there buys timing margin at the cost of a storage-and-handling step, versus shipping direct to the venue on move-in day. The over-the-road leg to either target is what a carrier coordinates.Advance warehouse vs. direct-to-show
- Direct-to-show
- Direct-to-show shipping delivers exhibit and AV freight to the venue during the show's move-in window itself, rather than to the advance warehouse ahead of time. It has fewer steps but no timing buffer if a truck or the marshalling yard runs late, so it is planned around drive time and the target move-in slot.Trade show freight & exhibit shipping
- AV equipment transportation
- AV equipment transportation is the coordinated movement of audiovisual and production equipment between warehouses, venues and suppliers — warehouse-to-venue, venue-to-venue and return runs. It is transportation coordination: the load is quoted per run, an authorized carrier hauls it, and the equipment is loaded and unloaded by the crew or the venue — the carrier does not handle, set up or place the gear.Audiovisual equipment transportation
Terms
How the run is arranged
- Property broker
- A property broker is a company licensed by the FMCSA to arrange the transportation of freight by matching a load to an authorized motor carrier — it owns no trucks and employs no drivers. Capital Site Logistics is a licensed property broker: it quotes, sources, schedules and coordinates the run, and the FMCSA-authorized carrier performs the physical haul.Freight broker vs. 3PL vs. carrier
- Receiving window
- A receiving window is the span of time a jobsite or venue can actually take a delivery — set by the gate hours, the equipment or crew available to unload, the space to stage the material, and the other work in the same area. It is fixed by the site, and a run is planned backward from it so the load leaves the origin early enough to arrive inside it.Planning deliveries around receiving windows
- Quote-qualified
- Quote-qualified means a run is reviewed and priced against its specifics before it is accepted — submitting a request is not a booking, a reserved vehicle, or a committed time. Availability, vehicle fit and timing are confirmed when the run is quoted, against the cargo, the route, the timing and the access at each end.
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