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The Fairplay
Book of
Shipping
Abbreviations
by Peter Kapoor
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The Fairplay Book of
Shipping Abbreviations
Acronyms & Abbreviations used in
Shipping & International Trade
by
Peter Kapoor
Ph.D., B.Sc.(Hons.}, Master Mariner.
Second Edition
Published and distributed by
FAIRPLAY PUBLICATIONS LT O.
20 Ullswater Crescent
Ullswater Business Park,
Coulsdon
Surrey
CR52HR,
United Kingdom
Telephone: 0816602811
Fax: 081 6602824
Telex: 884595 FRPLAY G
ISBN 0 905045 18 1
© Copyright 1980 by Peter Kapoor
First Edition June 1980
Reprinted June 1991
Second Edition April 1993
All rights reserved. Nor part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo
copying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system without
permission writing from the publisher.
Printed in Great Britain by Lightning Literature, Southend-an-Sea, Essex.
Preface to first edition
Rapid advances in commerce and technology have led to an increase in specialist subject
areas, each of which has engendered its own set of abbreviations.
When I was studying for the Associateship examination of the Institute of Chartered
Shipbrokers I had to learn the various abbreviations used in shipping and International Trade.
In order to bridge the gap I started collection the abbreviations about three years ago. I found
this to be a fascinating project of unbounded proportions. The specialist areas that I investi
gated were; Shipping, Shipbroking, Marine Insurance, Export/Import, Freight Forwarding,
Naval Architecture, Navigation Container Transport, Aviation, Customs, Banking, Marine
Sciences, Air Cushion Vehicles, Radio/ Electronics (Marine), and Marine Engineering. I have
included some entries from other disciplines which I encountered in my search.
Preface to second edition
The abbreviation explosion has continued unabated in the last decade. This second edition of
the Fairplay Book of Shipping Abbreviations has been completely revised and enlarged in
order to provide an updated listing of those in current usage. The format has been simplified
with all the abbreviations now appearing in a single alphabetical sequ~nce.
Changes in docum~nt storage, retrieval and transmission have influenced abbreviation usage
insofar as there is a trend towards the elimination of punctuation marks, ie full slops and
lower case letters. These new forms can be seen as interchangeable with the oribrlnal fOrlnats.
The first edition incorporated only those foreign abbreviations for which the full form was
available. However, at the r~qu~st of several users, foreign abbreviations have been incorpo
rat~d in this edition even if their full form is not available.
DEDICATED TO
MY PARENTS
A A.C.A.S
A
A Ampere; Area; Aft (also a); Arctic air mass (Meteorology)
a Alto (prefix); Aft {Lloyd's Regist,er} (also A)
A
Angstrom
A.A. Apparent Altitude (also App. Alt) (Navigation)
a.a. Always afloat (Chartering)
AAA Association of Average Adjusters
A&A Alexander & Alexander (U.K.)
A.A.A.C.C. Association of Asian-American Chambers of Commerce
A.A.C.L.A. Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin
America
A.&C.P. Anchors and Chains Proved
AAE Age and experience
AAEL America-Africa .. Europe Line
AAPA American Association of Port Authorities
AAPMA Association of Australian Port and Marine Authorities
AAR Aircraft Accident Report (Aviation); Association of American
Railroads
a.a.r. Against all risks (also A.A.R.; AIR) (Mari"e Insurance); All and
any risks (Mari"e Insurance)
AAR-TOES Association of American Railroads - Train Operation and
Energy Simulator
ab (Latin -From)
A.B. Able bodied seaman; American Bureau of Shipping (also
A.B.S.) (American Ship Classification Society]
ADC Anglo-Belgian Company
A-BCC Arab-British Chamber of Commerce
A.B.C.C. Association of British Chambers of Commerce
ABI Association of British Insurers; Automated Broker Interface to
US Customs (U.S.A.) (EDl)
ADP Associated British Porls
A.8.S. American Bureau of Shipping (also A.B.) [American Ship
Classification Society]
ASBA T ANKVOY Association of Shipbrokers and Agents Tanker Voyage
Charterparty
Abt. About (also abt.)
ABTA Association of British Travel Agents
AC Advisory Circular (FAA]
Ac Admiralty Coefficient (Naval Architecture); Altocumulus
(Meteorology)
A.C. Alternating Current (also A/C; a.c.); Admiral's Cup (Yachtillg)
AlC Account Current (Banking); Alternating Current (also A.C.;
a.c.)
ale Account (also A I c; acct.)
ACAs Accession Compensatory Amounts (of the European Commu
nity] (also A.C.A.) (CI4stoms)
A.e.A.S. Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service
1
AeB ADM
ACB Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne (France)
ACC Approved Container Condition (Container Transport)
Ace. Acceptance; Accepted
ACCATLO Actual and / or Constructive and lor Compromised and / or
Arranged Total Loss (Marine Ins"rnncc)
ACCEL Accelerometer (Aviation)
ace •. Account (also a I c; A I c)
ACE African Container Express
ACES Automated Cargo Expediting System [New York and New
Jersey Port Authorities) (£DI)
ACG Auxiliary Coast Guard
ACH Automated Clearing House (Banking; EDl)
A.C.I.B. Associate of the Corporation of Insurance Brokers
A.C.I.I. Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute
A.C.J.L.A. Associate of the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters
ACL Associated Container Line; At1antic Container Line
ACMI Air Combat Manoeuvring Instrumentation (Aviation)
ACOPS Advisory Committee on Pollution of the Sea (U .K.)
ACOS Australian Chamber of Shipping
A.C.P. African, Caribbean and Pacific countries
ACP80 Air Cargo Processing in the Eighties
ACP90 Airport Cargo Processing in the Nineties
ACQ Acquire (Aviation)
ACS Australian Customs Service; Automated Customs System
(U.S.A.) (EDT); Atlantic Cargo Services (Sweden)
A.C.S. Automatic Control System (Air Cushion Vcllic1cs)
ACT Associated Container Transportation Ltd.
A.C.T. Advance Corporation Tax
A.C.T.A. Associated Container Transportation (Australia) Limited
ACVs Air Cushion Vehicles (also A.C.Vs.)
A.D. Anno Domini (lAti" - In the year of our Lord)
AID Alternate Days; After date (also a / d); Analogue to Digital
(Aviation)
ADB Asian Development Bank [UN Agency]; African Development
Bank (also Af DB) (UN Agency]
ADC Air Data Computer (Aviation)
Add. Addres5ed
A.D.D. Association for Distribution Development
ADE Above Deck Mounted Equipment (Radar)
ADGLC Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company
ADDR. Address (also Addr.) (Aviation)
Addtl. Additional
ADF Airborne Direction Finder (Aviation)
a.d.f. Additional duty on f10ur (Customs)
ADI Attitude Direction Indicator (Aviatiotr)
ADIA Abu Dhabi Investment Authority
A.D.I.S. Automated computer based Data Interchange System (EDJ)
Adk Awning deck {Lloyd's Register}
A.D.L. Automatic Data Logging
ADM Amsterdamsche Droogdok-Mij NV (Dutc1, - Am"terdam
Drydock Company)
2
AdlU-Opco AGARD
Adnu-Opco Abu Dhabi Marine Areas Operating Company
ADNOe Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
ADOC Association of Offshore Diving Contractors
ADP Automatic Data Processing
ADPC Abu Dhabi Petroleum Company
ADR Airways and / or Advisory Route (Aviation)
ADS Automatic Dependant Surveillance (AviatiotJ)
a.d.s. Additional duty on sugar (Customs)
ADSp AlIgemeine Deutsche Spediteurbedingung~n (German -
General Freight Forwarding Conditions)
(Adv.) Advancement of Special Survey {Lloyd's Register}
Ad. val. Ad valorem (LAtin -According to value) (also ad. val; A/V)
Advt. Advertisement
AEA Association of European Airlines
AECl Anglo-European Container Line
A.E.C.S. Australia Europe Container Service
A.E.F. Amalgamated Union of Engineering and Foundry Workers
[Some Marine Engineers are members]
AEI Automatic Equipment Identification (U.S.A.) (Contai"er Transport)
A.E.O.S. Astronomical, Earth and Ocean Sciences (U.S.A.)
AEROSAT Aeronautical Communications Satellite
AES Aircraft Earth Station (Aviation)
A.E.S. Association of Marine Engineering Schools
AESA Astilleros Espanoles SA [Spanish Shipbuilder]
AESUMACS Africa Europe Shipping Line / Maritime Carrier Shipping
AEWL Association of Employers of Wat~rfront Labour (Australia)
A.F. Advance Freight
AFA Association of Flight Attendants (Aviation)
alf Also for [Referring to port or ports to be touched by the ship)
AFAFF Australian Federation of Air Freight Forwarders
AFBD Association of Futures Brokers and Dealers
AFCS Automatic Flight Control System (Aviation)
AFD Advanced Flight Deck (Aviation)
A.F.D. Actual Forward Distance (Mari,Je Engincering)
AIDB African Devdopm~nt Bank (also ADB) [UN Agt!ncy]
AFIA American Foreign Insurance Association
AFM Aircraft Flight Manual (Aviation)
AFR Arbel Fauvet Rail (France)
A.F.R.A. Average Frdght Rate Assessment (also AFRA)
A(ramax Average Freight Rate Ass~ssment Scale large tanker (79,999dwt
max)
A.F.R.A.S. Association For Rescue At Sea
AFS Automatic Flight System (Aviation)
Aft. Aft~r end of ship
AFTN Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunications Network (Aviation)
A.F.V.O.A. Aberd~en Fishing Vessel Owners' Association
A.G.
Aktiengesdlschaft (Germall -Joint-stock company); Arabian
Gulf (Fonnerly PIG)
A .. G Attorney-General
AGARD Advisory Group for Aerospace R~search and Development
[NATO)
3
A.g.b. aJarp
A.g.b. Any good brand
AGC Automatic Gain Control
A.G.M. Annual General Meeting
AGS Automatic Gantry Steering system (Contai,," Transport);
Automatic Gain Stabilisation (Aviation; Radio)
Agt. Agent; Against
AGVs Automatic Guided Vehicles
AIH Antwerp, Hamburg range of ports (Chartcrins)
a.h. After hatch (Chartering)
Ahd. Ahead (Shipping)
A.H.F. American Hull Fonn (Marine 'ns"rance)
AHIS American Hull Insurance Syndicate
AHRS Attitude and Heading Reference System (Navi(~atio,,)
AHST Anchor Handling Salvage Tug (Offshore)
AHT Anchor Handling Tug (Of/shore)
AHTS Anchor Handling Tug Supply Vessel (O//slrore)
AHTV Anchor-handling Tug/Supply Vessels
AI Articulation Index (Aviation)
AIB Accidents Investigation Branch (UK)
A.I.C.S. Associate of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers [Replaced
by M.I.C.S.]
AID Agency for International Development (U .S.A.)
A.I.E.D. Association Internationale d'Enterprises de Dragage (see
I.A.D.C.)
A.I.F.T.A. Associate of the Institute of Freight Trades Association;
Anglo-lri~h Free Trade Area
AIL Alexander International Limited
AIMS American Institute of Merchant Shipping (also A.I.M.S.);
Airport Income Management System
AIMU American Institute of Marine Underwriters
A.I.N. Au~tralian Institute of Navigation
AINE Asociacion de Ingenieros Navales Espanoles (Spa,,;sh -
Association of Spanish Marine Engineers)
AlP Aeronautical Information Publication (Aviat;cm)
AJ.P.C.N. Association Intemationale Pennanente des Congrl»s de
Navigation (see P.I.A.N.C.)
A.I.f.t.C:.A.1r. Automated Integrated Radar Control for Air Traffic (Aviation)
A.I.Fl.M.I.<:. Association of Insurance and Risk Managers in Ind ustry and
Commerce
AIS Aeronaulicallnfonnation Service (Aviation); Approved
International Shipping Enterprise (Singapore)
A.I.S.M. Association Internationale de Signalisation Maritime (also
AISM) (see I.A.L.A.)
AIU American International Underwriters
AJCL Australia Japan Container Line
AKA Ausfuhrkredit G.m.b.H. [Syndicate of West German banks
that discount medium-term export paper]
ALADI (Spanish -The Latin American Integration Association)
A.L.A.L.C. Associacion Latino-Americana de Libre Comercia (see LAFTA)
ALAMAR Associao6n Latino-Americana de Armadores (see L.A.S.A.)
alarp Are as low as reasonably practical (also A LA RP)
4
