Written By Mattias Hägerstrand
Last updated 6 months ago
Units, Loading meters and Pallet spaces
About Units, Loading meters and Pallet spaces
Units is a shared parameter in Proxio. Depending on the design of the tariff, units will be used for different types of units. If the tariff catalog has one parcel tariff, one pallet tariff and one container tariff the Unit parameter will be translated number of parcels, number of pallets and number of containers. Of course this implies that the tariff has one axis defined as a “Unit” axis in the imported price matrix.
If there is a pallet tariff which quantifies the price from number of pallets you need to use Units for the number of pallets. The same goes for containers.
If there is a weight-based tariff which has pay-weight as it´s price quantifier both loading meter, pallet spaces and volume can be used to calculate the pay-weight (by conversion factors) which then will be used to extract the price from the price matrix.
Pallet spaces is a specific parameter for tariffs which has number of pallet spaces as cost quantifier. It can also be used if the tariff has Loading meter as cost quantifier. If the tariff at the same time has a conversion factor from pallet space to loading meter.
A loading meter is a standard unit of measurement used to calculate the size of goods that cannot be stacked within a truck. 1 pallet space equals 0,4 loading meters. One loading meter equals 1 meter of the total space of the length of a truck. Loading meter is usually used when non-stackable good are shipped. Often it gets converted to pay-weight for calculation against a weight-based tariff.
Addons
An add-on is an extra service that the customer can choose to add when booking the shipment. In contrast to Surcharges, that the customer does not have direct control over.
Examples of add-ons:
Notifications by SMS and/or mail (avisering)
Carry-in (inbärning)
Dangerous goods (farligt gods)
Cargo insurance (varuförsäkring)
Express
Advantage calculation
Advantage calculation could be relevant for weight based tariffs when the price unit is also weight based. This usually applies to goods with freight weight exceeding the limit for bulk cargo (styckegods). Without advantage calculation, the total price per shipment would be higher for some weight ranges than for a heavier shipment.
The example diagram above shows the price for a tariff with the weight intervals 1-10, 10-20, 20-30. The price unit for the tariff is per kilogram. The price will then increase linearly as the weight increases. However, because the shipping price per kilogram in the price matrix will be lower for each higher weight range, the line will be saw-shaped. One can see that, for example, for weights of 17-20kg it will be more advantageous to send as 20kg. Advantage calculations mean that you cut the "saw teeth".
The break point (17kg in the above example) is calculated as follows: Weight-break-point = Next-weight-interval-start * Shipping-price-at-the-next-weight-interval / Shipping-price-at-current-weight-interval.
Carrier
The provider or transport services.
Carrier service or Transport Product
The service provided by the carrier.
Chargeable weight
If the carrier would charge for actual weight, the carrier might lose money if the customer fills the truck with cargo that takes up much space but does not weigh much. If the carrier would instead charge for only volume, the customer could max out the trucks weight limit with cargo that does not take up much space. The solution is to convert volume to "chargeable weight", using a conversion factor, and then charge the customer for the weight that is highest (actual or chargeable). It's not only volume that can be converted to chargeable weight, pallet spaces (pallplatser) and loading meter (flakmeter) can also be converted.
Drayage charge
The cost associated with the movement of shipments over a short distance that may be from a warehouse/rail terminal to the port or vice versa. This movement usually happens via trucking services.
Freight amount
Specifies the size/weight of the shipment. Examples of freight amount units: dimensions, volume, weight, loading meter, parcels, pallets, pallet spaces, cargo containers. Which unit that is used depends on the nature of what is being transported. The carrier will usually charge using the unit that is most beneficial for them.
Full Container Load (FCL)
In an FCL cargo, the complete goods in the said container is owned by one shipper. See also Less Container Load (LCL).
Less Container Load (LCL)
If a shipper does not have enough goods to accommodate in a fully loaded container, he arrange with a consolidator to book his cargo in an LCL shipment.
Loading meter
The number of meters of the length of a standard truck bed that is required by the shipment. For example, two pallets uses 0.8 loading meters.
Pallet
Pallets are used for easier lifting of goods. There are several types of pallets, but the EUR-pallet (EU-pall) is the most common reusable pallet in Sweden.
Other dimensions on pallets are available internationally and in Sweden .
The physical pallet is associated with a cost. Unlike a container, it has no clear owner. Instead, pallets are exchanged between shipping customers. Transporters often have a pallet transfer system (pallöverföringssystem;PÖS) for EU pallets where they find out a balance and can invoice/replace pallet differences.
Pallet spaces
The area on the truck bed that is required for one EUR-pallet is one pallet space. Since some pallets can be stacked on top of each other, the number of pallets that can fit on a truck is not always the same as the number of pallet spaces on the truck.
Relation tariff
A tariff where one axis contains both origin and destination zones. In contrast to zone tariffs, which has either the origin zones or the destination zones on one axes, or origin and destination on separate axes.
Surcharge
A surcharge is a fee that is added by the carrier as compensation for extra cost due caused by the customer, for external factors etc.
Examples of surcharges:
Fee for shipments to big cities (storstadstillägg), islands without bridges, and remote or dangerous areas
If the package could not be delivered because the customer was not home
If the cargo was larger or heavier than is allowed for the service
Fuel surcharges (drivmedelstillägg). Varies with oil prices each month.
Road tax
Environment tax for sulphur emission from ships (Marpol; svaveltillägg)
Tariff / Price list / Contract
At list of prices a carrier will charge for shipments, usually varying depending on freight amount and how far or where it should be transported. Also specifies additional cost that can be applied depending on the nature of the shipped goods, where/when/how it is being transported or what extra service the customer chooses.
Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU)
A TEU is a measure of volume in units of twenty-foot long containers. A 40-foot container equals 2 TEU.
Weight or Measurement (W/M)
Same concept as "chargeable weight", where either the weight or the measurements of the shipment is used to calculate the price, depending of which results in the highest price. Is used for sea and air freight.
For sea freight: Price per metric ton or per cubic meter, whichever is greater.
For air freight: Price per kilogram or per 7,000 cubic centimeters (1 cubic foot) whichever is greater.
Facade addons and surcharges
Facade tariffs
Merge tariffs
Sometime a price structure for a Relation A->B is complex. For example if we have a relation A->B which consists of three separate price lists: Leg A (truck), Leg B (train) and Leg C (truck).
The system can handle this scenario by creating a separate tariff for each leg. If we do this for the example in fig. 1 we will have 3 tariffs covering 3 different legs.
We want the system to combine the three prices for the three legs when the system gets the shipment A->B as a price query. To accomplish this, we need to merge the tariffs and choose the merge option “Multiple legs”. In the wizard we must configure the address for the route points (yellow dots in fig. 1) as in below.
In the UI the merged tariff will look like this: