Maritime & Transport Glossary: Key Terms
Maritime Terms
Cabotage: Navigation near the coast. Traffic between ports of the same country.
Catamarans: Double-hulled boats, which enables them to reach higher speeds than single-hulled boats.
Container: Metallic container with a standard size and shape used for the transport of goods, allowing fast transfer between various modes of transport.
Hydrofoil: Boats that, when browsing, are able to stand on a submerged surface (hydrofoil). This allows them to reduce the area of the hull in contact with water and achieve speeds of 40 knots or more.
Ferry: Boat designed to carry vehicles and passengers on short journeys.
Charter Flights: Non-scheduled flights, contracted in response to demand, usually to or from tourist locations in high season, often at low costs.
Regular Flights: Flights that have a frequently regulated schedule.
Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT): One of the measures of the payload of a merchant ship’s enclosed spaces, equivalent to 100 cubic feet.
Net Registered Tonnage (NRT): The capacity of a merchant boat, subtracting from the GRT the space for machinery, fuel, and crew. (Indicates the actual cargo capacity.)
Railway and Urban Transport
Railway Extensions or Antennas: High-speed passages that extend from a high-speed train station and connect with cities that do not have one.
Metro: Rail system that goes inside the city, theoretically with intervals of less than 5 minutes between trains.
Suburban Railways: Railways that cover journeys within the metropolitan area, with a range similar to the underground.
Commuter Lines: Rail lines designed to cover short distances, with trains running at short intervals.
Trade and Tourism Terms
Tour Operators: Wholesaler companies responsible for the organization of travel itineraries and accommodation for a large number of tourists.
Area of Influence: Territories whose populations are attracted by a central place where services are located.
Trade Balance: The difference between the value of exports and imports. Exchange includes goods and services. In the case of Spain, the trade balance tends to be in deficit, while the balance of payments is usually positive.
Wholesaling: The distribution of products in large quantities, usually serving the network of small businesses where citizens often shop.
Seasonality (Tourism): Characterized by a sharp increase in the flow of visitors in the summer season and a large decrease in other seasons.
Superstores: Shops with large facilities, selling a wide variety of products and using a self-service system.
Coverage Ratio: The percentage that represents the value of exports relative to that of imports. Spain has a deficit in its trade balance.
Centrality: Urban centers where a large number of services are concentrated.
Transport Network: A set of sites and circulation routes where people and goods move. Each means of transport has its own lane.
Tertiary Sector: Activities that do not produce material goods but are directly related to the satisfaction of personal needs and the organization of the economy and society. These may be public or private.
High Season: The period in the year when the influx of tourism increases due to more favorable conditions from a climatic point of view and coinciding with holiday periods.
Tertiarization: The process by which a society modifies its structure, increasing the number of active people and the percentage of total assets in the tertiary sector.
Tour Operator: A large company that organizes various tours on an international level and facilitates travel and stays for tourists, who can pay in their own currency.