Coworker said:
I’M GONNA HAVE MY OWN SCAC CODE ONE DAY

I said:
My BLs are gonna start with OMGWTFBBQ

SCAC is not a term for feces.  It means Standard Carrier Alpha Code.  Usually they’re 4 letters, but sometimes they differ.  They are typically registered with the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), a U.S. government body that overseas most aspects of shipping (commercial in our case).  SCAC codes are also used for truckers, but that’s a separate issue.

What’s a BL, you ask?  Sometimes these are referred to as BOL or B/L, but those all stand for Bill of Lading; it’s like the pink slip for your car and it denotes cargo ownership.  Once the BL is transferred from a seller to a buyer, the buyer can release the Bill of Lading to the carrier to claim their container (or loose cargo if it’s consolidated).

NVOCCs basically sign contracts with steamship lines to move a minimum volume of shipping containers, helping importers/exporters with their supply chain based on the requirements and services available. As you might have guessed, I work for an NVOCC and I’ll be chronicling my “adventures” here. I was with the steamship lines before my life in this industry.

What’s the point of blogging about life at an NVOCC? I haven’t really seen any blogs specifically about this industry, plus it will be a good outlet for writing. I haven’t kept a blog since I lived overseas.

I appreciate all my guests and hope you can enjoy the posts I put up here. There will not be a scheduled update timeframe, but I will definitely try to keep it up-to-date based on my experiences.