Glossary—shipper

GISTnet Glossary—shipper

(dangerous goods) The person (or shipper's agent) who tenders a shipment for transportation. The term includes persons who prepare packages for shipment, and offer packages to a carrier for transportation by signature on the shipping paper.

(general usage) A term referring to the party, typically the cargo owner, which may be a seller or buyer of goods, who enters a contract of carriage with a transportation carrier to move goods from a stated origin point to a stated destination point. The "shipper" is the party shown in the "shipper" block of the transport document (e.g., bill of lading, waybill, air waybill). With respect to carrier liability, cargo insurance, and certain government regulations, the "shipper" can be the cargo owner (party with beneficial interest in the goods), and because cargo ownership may change during the progress of transportation, the "shipper" may change from the consignor to the consignee shown on the transport document.

When a freight forwarder arranges the transportation, the "shipper" is also the party that is typically (but not always) the freight forwarder's customer (principal).

See also definitions for beneficial interest, consignor, exporter, nominal shipper, project shipper.

(U.S. FMC) Per FMC Regulations, 46 CFR 520.2, "Shipper means: (1) a cargo owner; (2) the person for whose account the ocean transportation is provided; (3) the person to whom delivery is to be made; (4) a shipper's association; or (5) an NVOCC that accepts responsibility for payment of all charges applicable under the tariff or service contract."

(U.S. TSA) For the purposes of the Indirect Air Carrier Standard Security Program (IACSSP), the shipper is defined as "the person or entity that originates and tenders cargo for air transportation, excluding air carriers and indirect carriers."