Slang and jargon can be heard in almost any industry. When specific phrases are used every day, they become part of the language of the business itself. The transportation and logistics industry is no exception, and there are plenty of colorful terms and acronyms used by truck drivers, dispatchers, and warehouse workers which would sound completely alien to anyone who is unfamiliar with this type of work.
Truck drivers, in particular, are known for using a range of slang terms to describe things they encounter every day on their shifts. That’s why we’ve assembled this handy dictionary of trucker slang phrases to help you speak like a seasoned road hauler. But before you can use the lingo, you should know a bit about what a job as a truck driver entails.
The life of a truck driver is not for everyone. The hours can be long, and your day might start very early (or very late for those who drive the night shift). You might be required to spend days at a time away from home. Depending on whether or not your truck has a sleeper cabin, you may typically end up sleeping in your vehicle. It can often be a long and lonely road.
Fortunately, there are also established rules within EU countries (also followed in most other European countries) which govern things like driving times and required rest periods. These rules generally apply to all professional trucking and transportation drivers throughout Europe, although some exceptions do apply. They state that long-haul drivers can only work for 9 hours per day (twice a week up to 10 hours) and up to 56 hours per week (with a maximum limit of 90 hours every two weeks). Under the same rules, working time includes not just driving, but all road transport activities. This applies to loading and unloading of goods (or monitoring these activities), cleaning and technical maintenance of your vehicle, and administrative formalities.
The same rules also entitle a driver to an uninterrupted weekly rest period of at least 45 hours, which cannot be spent in your vehicle, so you won’t have to worry about living out of the cab of your truck (even if it may feel that way sometimes). Drivers are required to use a tachograph to register every trip, which records vehicle movement, speed, and hours of use and helps ensure that the rules are followed. Authorities can check this tachograph anytime and anywhere, whether on the roadside or on company premises.
While some parts of a transport driver’s job are specific to the type of vehicle they operate and the products or materials they haul, the basic aspects of a typical shift are the same for most truckers. For example, every trucker will be involved with the process of loading and unloading their vehicle at some point during a shift, whether they’re actually providing the labor or just making sure that a shipment is received properly and accounted for. Drivers will also usually communicate with a dispatcher for the details of their assignment, and coordinate with a company’s administrative function to provide the necessary paperwork.
These standard aspects found throughout the transportation and logistics industry have given birth to acronyms, words and phrases which may seem like a foreign language to anyone from outside of this world, but are easily recognized by those who have spent time around a shipping yard or inside the cab of a 7.5 ton truck. These are the places where you’ll most often hear trucker slang spoken.
Here is a list of common logistics terms and phrases used between truckers, along with a definition of each. Consider this a trucker slang dictionary of sorts.
Some of these are standard professional terms you’ll hear used by everyone in the industry, from a T.M. or desk jockey all the way to the messiest cab rats and seasoned trampers (read on for definitions). Other terms are funny trucker slang which you might hear uttered more often between drivers talking to each other over their radios. After all, you have to keep it interesting on some of the longer stretches of road out there.
Act of God - An act beyond human control, such as lightning, flood or earthquake
Ad Valorem - Derived from Latin, meaning “according to value”
Alligator - A blown tire on the road, which can cause a hazard
All Locked Up - A specific weigh station is closed
Anti-Dumping Duty - Tariff imposed to discourage the sale of foreign goods, subsidized to sell at low prices detrimental to local manufacturers
Asset Carrier - A shipping company that owns and operates its fleet of trucks
B.L. - Bill of Lading
Back Off The Hammer - Slow down
B.I.F.A. - British International Freight Association
Black Eye - A headlight is out
Blew My Doors Off - Passed me by at a high rate of speed
Blinders - High-beam headlights
Brush Your Teeth and Comb Your Hair - Get ready, because police are monitoring the road with a radar gun up ahead
Bulk Cargo - Loose or unpackaged cargo
Bumper Sticker - A vehicle tailgating another vehicle
Bundled Out - A vehicle that is at maximum capacity or overloaded
Cab Fever - The urge to spend time away from your truck after spending too much time driving and sleeping in it
Cab Rat - Driver who is messy or doesn’t clean the cab of their truck
Carnet - A Customs document required for crossing some international borders
Cartage - Refers to intra city hauling on trucks
C.F.S. - Container Freight Station, where cargo is loaded into or unloaded from containers
Chicken Coop - Weigh station
C.L.E.C.A.T. - European Association for Forwarding, Transport, Logistics and Customs Services
C.M.R. Note - Standard document used when transporting goods internationally
C.O. - Certificate of Origin
Cold Store - Warehouse used for storing refrigerated goods
Consignee - The business or party who receives a shipment
Cowboy - Someone who doesn’t take their job seriously
C.R.T. - Commercial Road Transport
Customs - Government agency in charge of enforcing a country’s import and export laws
D.C. - Distribution Center
Demurrage - A penalty charge for delaying a carrier’s equipment beyond the allowed free time
Desk Jockey - Dispatcher or office worker
Devanning - Unloading of a container or cargo van
Draggin’ Wagon (Dragon Wagon) - A tow truck or wrecker
Dream Weaver - A tired driver who is weaving between, or in and out of lanes
Driver Assist - A fee charged when a driver is required to help offload cargo
Dunnage - Empty return skids, plywood or other shipping material left in a container, trailer or van
Euro-pallet - Standard European pallet (120cm x 80 cm)
Fighter Pilot - A driver who is constantly changing lanes, usually at a high speed
Fingerprinting - Unloading a trailer by yourself
Fitter - Truck mechanic
Force Majeure - A stipulation in contracts which removes a party’s liability if they are unable to deliver due to unpredictable disruption (see: Act of God)
Four Wheeler - Derogatory term for a passenger vehicle
Free Truck Wash - Rain
Go-go Juice - Diesel fuel (also sometimes called motion lotion)
Granny Lane - Slow lane
Greasy Spoon - Roadside transport cafe of questionable quality
Green Card - Motor insurance certificate
Grocery Grabber - A minivan or station wagon
Groupage - Several consignments grouped together in one vehicle to be sorted before delivery
G.V.W. - Gross Vehicle Weight
Hammer Lane - Passing lane or fast lane
Hammer Down (Drop the hammer down) - Move faster
Handball - Loading or unloading a vehicle by hand
Hazmat - Short for hazardous materials
Hole In The Wall - A tunnel
Ice Skating - Losing traction on a slippery road
Jet Pilot - Speeding vehicle
J.I.T. - Just In Time
Lead Time - Amount of time given to arrange for the shipment of a freight
Live Load/Live Unload - When a driver stays with the trailer as freight is being loaded or unloaded
Logistics - Movement and supply of goods
Lorry - Truck
L.P.G. - Liquid Petroleum Gas
L.T.L./L.C.L. - Less Than Truckload or Less Than Container Load
Lumper - Staff hired for loading and unloading at a warehouse
Mile - 1.609344 kilometers
M.S.A. - Motorway Service Area
Multi-Drop - A load which is delivered to many different areas
Nap Trap - A motel or rest stop
Nose - The front of a trailer
Odometer - Kilometer counter
Offload - To unload
Puddle Jumper - A term for a 7.5 ton HGV
Pup Trailer - A short trailer
R.D.C. - Regional Distribution Center
Re-consignment - A fee applied when a freight’s destination is changed after it is already in transit
Reefer - A refrigerated truck or trailer
Relais Routiers - French transport cafe or truck stop
Semi-trailer - A trailer without a front axle
Shipping Lane - A route that is routinely served by a carrier specific to a start and end point
Shunter - A vehicle used for maneuvering trailers around a yard
Skateboard - A flatbed trailer
Sleeper Cab - A cab with a bunk or sleeper compartment
Spanner - Wrench
Spreadover - Amount of time from the start to the end of a driver’s shift
Spy-in-the-cab - Another term for a tachograph
Tacho - Short for tachograph, a device used to monitor vehicle movement, speed, and hours of use
Tandems - The rear wheels on a trailer
Tanker - A semi-trailer designed for the transport of liquids
Tank Farm - Large storage area for liquids (usually chemicals or oil products)
Tare - Weight of an empty container or vehicle
Tilt - Covered trailer which can be sealed by Customs for international transport
T.M. - Transport Manager (the person in charge of keeping your fleet on the road - stay on their good side)
Tramper (Roamer) - Long haul driver who spends most of their week driving and sleeping their truck
Tramping - Picking up and delivering goods to any destination
Travel Agent - Dispatcher
Trunker - A driver who runs the same route every shift, typically at night
War Risk - Insurance coverage for loss of goods resulting from any act of war
Warehouse - Location for reception, delivery, consolidation, distribution and storage of goods
Wiggle Wagon - A truck with more than one trailer attached, which may wiggle a bit on the road
Yard - Area used to load freight from a warehouse onto a truck or container for shipment
Yard Jockey - Operator of a yard truck
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