Knowledge Center

ICPO: Irrevocable Corporate Purchase Order. A buyer stating formally what they want to buy and on what terms. Despite the name it binds nobody — its value is that a buyer willing to put a requirement on letterhead is more serious than one who will not.
SCO: Soft Corporate Offer. A seller's response indicating availability and price on the buyer's stated terms. Not binding, and not evidence that the seller controls the cargo.
FCO: Full Corporate Offer. A firmer offer with complete commercial terms, usually issued once the parties have exchanged procedures and agreed a broad shape.
SPA: Sale and Purchase Agreement. The contract itself. The first document in the sequence that actually binds either party.
POP: Proof of Product. Documents evidencing that the cargo exists and the seller can deliver it. Commercially sensitive because it names the terminal and often the supplier, which is why it is normally exchanged against a live financial instrument rather than on request.

NCNDA: Non-Circumvention, Non-Disclosure Agreement. Binds the parties not to bypass the intermediary who introduced them, nor disclose what they learned. On this platform it runs three years from the date of introduction.
IMFPA: Irrevocable Master Fee Protection Agreement. Records who is paid what commission, from which side, and in what order. Shares must total exactly 100% before an introduction can be released.

FOB: Free On Board. The seller delivers onto the vessel at the named loading port; cost and risk pass to the buyer once the cargo is on board. The buyer arranges and pays for the vessel, freight and insurance.
CIF: Cost, Insurance and Freight. The seller arranges the vessel and pays freight and insurance to the destination — but risk still passes at the loading port. The seller pays for the voyage while the buyer bears the risk during it.
CFR: Cost and Freight. As CIF, but without insurance. A buyer accepting CFR must arrange their own cover, and one who forgets is uninsured for the whole voyage.
TTO: Tank To Ocean. Transfer from a shore tank directly onto a vessel inside a terminal, without a preceding sea voyage.
TTT: Tank To Tank. Transfer between shore tanks inside a terminal, common where a parcel changes hands within a hub such as Fujairah or Rotterdam.

DLC: Documentary Letter of Credit. A bank undertakes to pay the seller against documents that conform exactly to the terms. The bank checks the paperwork, not the cargo.
SBLC: Standby Letter of Credit. A guarantee rather than a payment method — it pays only if the buyer fails to. Cheaper to establish and correspondingly weaker.
MT103: The SWIFT message type for a customer credit transfer. Frequently requested as evidence a payment was actually sent.
CAD: Cash Against Documents. The seller's bank releases shipping documents against payment. No bank undertaking to pay, so the seller carries the risk that the buyer refuses the documents.

Laycan: The window within which the vessel must arrive and be ready to load. A cargo presented outside its laycan can be rejected even if everything else conforms.
Demurrage: Compensation payable when loading or discharge exceeds the agreed laytime. Usually falls on whoever nominated the vessel — the buyer under FOB, the seller under CIF.
B/L: Bill of Lading. The document of title to the cargo. Whoever holds an original endorsed bill controls the goods, which is why originals are handled with care.

COQ: Certificate of Quality. Lists the tested parameters, the method used for each, and the result. A missing parameter is a finding, not an omission.
COO: Certificate of Origin. States where the product was produced. Matters for tariffs, for sanctions screening, and for buyers with origin restrictions.
Q&Q: Quantity and Quality. The independent inspection establishing both at load, at discharge, or both. The contract must say which figures govern payment.
Vessel Experience Factor: A correction applied to a vessel's measured quantity based on its recorded history of discrepancies. Explains part of the routine difference between load and discharge figures.

EN 590: The European standard for automotive diesel. Specifies sulphur, cetane, density, flash point and cold-flow properties. "EN590 10PPM" names both the standard and the sulphur limit.
ISO 8217: The standard for marine fuels. Grades such as RMG 380 and RMK 500 set viscosity, sulphur, water, sediment and catalytic-fines limits.
ASTM D1655: The standard for aviation turbine fuel — Jet A and Jet A-1. Sets freeze point, flash point, conductivity and acidity among others.
API Gravity: A measure of crude density relative to water. Higher API means lighter crude, which generally yields more valuable products.
TAN: Total Acid Number. Indicates the acidity of a crude, which drives refinery corrosion risk. Often the parameter a refinery buyer cares about most.
BS&W: Basic Sediment and Water. The proportion of a crude cargo that is not oil. A buyer pays for oil, so this is deducted from the payable quantity.
Catalytic Fines: Abrasive alumina and silica particles from refinery catalysts. Measured as aluminium plus silicon in ISO 8217, and the first parameter a bunker buyer checks — they destroy engines.

Party Code: The identifier a member is known by on this platform — for example EXM-P-01427. It stays with them across every listing, so a track record accumulates without a name being disclosed.
Introduction: The moment ExMart releases both identities to each other. Irreversible, permitted only once all eight conditions hold, and available to the Managing Director and CEO alone.
Sealed Bid: A tender bid no other bidder can see. Suppliers quote a net price; the buyer sees a gross price inclusive of the ExMart margin, and neither learns the other figure.
Disclosure Threshold: The minimum number of distinct parties with live listings at a location before it is named publicly. Below it, the location folds into its wider region so a lone seller cannot be identified by their port.

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