Trucking Vocabulary

Shipper
The person that requires freight transportation services and then pays the carrier to transport the freight.

Carrier
A trucking company

Trailer
The part of the vehicle used to haul goods and hooked up to an engine powered tractor

Fifth Wheel
A coupling device used to connect a semi-trailer and tractor.

Jack knife
To place the trailer at a very sharp angle to the tractor

Lowboy (Low-bed trailer)
Open truck trailer constructed to provide a low platform height.

Tractor
A cab; the engine-powered vehicle used to pull a trailer

Lumper
Person who can load/unload the truck

Route
The course or direction that a shipment moves

Landing gear
Retracting legs which support the front of a semi trailer when it is not coupled to a tractor

Dead-Heading
Operating a truck without cargo

Tanker
An enclosed cylinder- shaped tank used for hauling bulk quantities of liquid

Belly Dump
A dump with a funnel- shaped floor for unloading through the bottom