Glossary: powered land, port and air-cargo terms

This glossary defines the 80 operating terms used across Landside Partners research, grouped into power and data centers, ports and maritime, and air cargo. Each entry gives a one-sentence definition first and then a sentence of context, and each has its own anchor so it can be linked individually.

Key takeaways

Powered land is priced on its documented electrical allocation, not on its acreage.
Landside is the land-facing side of a port or airport, as opposed to waterside and airside.
TEU and container counts are not interchangeable, and neither are ACI airport throughput and IATA airline-reported tonnage.
Dollars per kilowatt per month and industrial dollars per square foot are different units and are never converted casually.

The Landside Signal

A quarterly brief on powered land, port capacity and air-cargo gateways, plus the Powered Land and Gateway Pricing Benchmarks data file.

Dollar per megawatt and dollar per acre benchmarks by market, with the substation-distance and voltage premiums applied
Every committed United States port capacity opening from 2026 through 2035, with cost, TEU and date
Airport-adjacent rent premiums by gateway, and the constraint map that drives them
The named project pipeline: site, megawatts, developer, power source, status
Sources and periods for every cell. Nothing unattributed.

Power and data centers

Powered land#: Land sold or leased with a defined, documented electrical capacity allocation attached to it. The allocation, not the acreage, sets the price, so the utility document behind it is the asset being underwritten.
Powered shell#: A completed building envelope delivered with electrical service and no installed IT fit-out. The tenant installs cooling and white space, which shortens delivery relative to a full build-to-suit.
Paper power#: A capacity figure quoted by a seller that is not supported by an executed utility agreement or a completed study. It is the most common defect we find in a parcel marketed as a data center site.
Load study#: A utility engineering analysis of whether a requested load can be served from existing and planned infrastructure. It is the first document that converts a claimed megawatt figure into a defensible one.
Interconnection queue#: The ordered list of generation or large-load requests awaiting study and approval by a transmission operator. Queue length, not construction time, is usually the binding constraint on a project's energization date.
Queue position#: A project's place in the interconnection queue, established by its application date and deposit. Position is an asset in itself and is frequently the reason one parcel prices above an identical neighbour.
Energization#: The date at which a utility actually delivers usable power to the site. Queue position tells you where you stand; energization tells you when you can operate.
Batch Zero#: A utility or regulator's initial grouped processing of large-load interconnection requests under a new review framework. Inclusion or exclusion from an initial batch can move a project's timeline by years.
Large load#: A single customer demand large enough to trigger a separate utility review process, typically tens of megawatts and above. Large-load tariffs increasingly carry minimum take obligations and collateral requirements.
Behind-the-meter generation#: On-site generation serving a facility's load without passing through the utility's retail meter. It can bypass queue delay but carries its own permitting, emissions and fuel-supply exposure.
Bridge power#: Temporary on-site generation used to operate a facility until permanent utility service is energized. It is priced as a schedule purchase rather than an energy purchase.
Microgrid#: A local network of generation, storage and load that can operate connected to or islanded from the grid. It changes a site's resilience profile and sometimes its interconnection treatment.
Power purchase agreement#: A long-term contract to buy electricity or its attributes at an agreed price from a specified generator. A PPA settles cost and carbon accounting; it does not by itself deliver deliverable capacity to a parcel.
Capacity auction#: A market mechanism procuring commitments to be available to serve load in a future delivery year. Clearing prices feed directly into the demand charges a large load will face.
Base residual auction#: The primary forward capacity auction held for a specific future delivery year. Its clearing price is the reference point for later incremental auctions in the same year.
Installed reserve margin#: The percentage of capacity held above forecast peak demand to maintain reliability. A thinning margin is the leading indicator of both price escalation and interconnection restriction.
Price cap#: An administrative ceiling on what a capacity or energy auction is permitted to clear at. When an auction clears at its cap, the market is signalling shortage rather than price.
Network upgrade#: Transmission or distribution work required before a new load or generator can be served. Cost allocation of upgrades is often the single largest unbudgeted item in a powered-land transaction.
Transformer capacity#: The rated throughput of the transformers serving a site or substation. Long transformer lead times have become an independent constraint on delivery dates.
Service voltage#: The voltage level at which the utility delivers power to the customer. Transmission-level service typically prices lower per unit but requires more on-site substation capital.
Substation proximity premium#: The land price increment attributable to short interconnection distance to an existing substation. It compresses as soon as the substation's spare capacity is fully subscribed.
Power usage effectiveness#: Total facility power divided by IT equipment power. PUE is a design and operating efficiency measure, not a measure of total consumption.
Water usage effectiveness#: Annual water consumption divided by annual IT energy consumption. In arid markets WUE, not PUE, governs whether a site can be permitted at all.
Closed-loop cooling#: A cooling system that recirculates a fixed volume of fluid rather than consuming water through evaporation. It trades higher power draw for near-zero ongoing water withdrawal.
Direct air cooling#: Cooling that uses outside air rather than mechanical refrigeration for part or all of the year. Its viability is a function of local climate hours, not equipment selection.
Liquid cooling#: Heat removal delivered to the chip or the rack by a fluid loop rather than by room air. It is a prerequisite for the rack densities current accelerator hardware imposes.
Rack density#: The power drawn by a single equipment rack, expressed in kilowatts. Rising density changes floor area per megawatt and therefore the land requirement per megawatt.
IT load versus facility load#: IT load is power consumed by computing equipment; facility load adds cooling, distribution losses and building systems. Capacity quoted without saying which measure is used can overstate or understate a site by a third.
Dollars per kilowatt per month#: The standard data center leasing unit, expressed against critical IT capacity. It is not comparable to industrial dollars per square foot and should never be converted casually between the two.
Yield on cost#: Stabilized net operating income divided by total development cost. Developers underwrite to yield on cost; buyers price on cap rate, and the spread between them is the development margin.
Preleasing#: The share of capacity committed under lease before a facility is completed. High preleasing in a market means reported vacancy understates how tight available capacity actually is.
Build-to-suit#: A facility developed to a single named user's specification under a pre-signed lease. The land basis is underwritten against that user's credit rather than against market demand.
Colocation#: Data center capacity leased in increments smaller than a whole building or hall. It is one of the universes brokerage under-construction figures may or may not include.
Wholesale#: Data center capacity leased in whole halls or buildings, typically at megawatt scale. Wholesale and colocation price on different units and should not be blended in a single rent series.
Hyperscaler#: A very large cloud or platform operator that both leases and self-builds capacity. Their self-build volume is the portion most often missing from published under-construction counts.
Neocloud#: A specialist provider offering accelerated compute capacity outside the established hyperscale platforms. Their leases are typically shorter-dated and carry different credit characteristics.
Self-build#: Capacity developed and owned directly by the end user rather than leased from a developer. Self-build demand competes for the same parcels and the same queue positions as leased development.
Small modular reactor#: A factory-fabricated nuclear reactor design of reduced output intended for shorter deployment cycles. Announced agreements are relevant to the 2030s pipeline and not to capacity deliverable this decade.
Uprate#: An increase in the rated output of an existing generating unit without building a new one. Uprates are the fastest incremental supply available in a constrained control area.

Ports and maritime

TEU#: Twenty-foot equivalent unit, the standard volume measure for container throughput. A forty-foot container is two TEU, so TEU counts and container counts are not interchangeable.
Ultra-large container vessel#: The largest class of container ship, generally above roughly 18,000 TEU. Calling one requires channel depth, crane outreach and yard capacity together, not just berth length.
Air draft#: The vertical clearance between the waterline and a vessel's highest point. Bridge air draft caps vessel size at several US gateways regardless of channel depth.
Draft restriction#: A limit on permitted vessel draft imposed by channel depth or water level. Restrictions convert directly into reduced load factors and higher unit freight cost.
On-dock rail#: Rail loading tracks located inside the terminal, avoiding a truck move to a rail yard. It is the single largest determinant of a gateway's inland reach economics.
Double-stack#: Rail service carrying containers two high in a single well car. Clearance limits on a corridor decide whether a port can compete for inland volume.
Transload#: Transferring cargo from marine containers into domestic trailers or containers near the port. Transload demand is the main driver of near-port warehouse absorption.
Drayage#: Short-haul trucking between a terminal and a nearby facility. Drayage cost per mile is why near-port rent premiums persist despite cheaper inland land.
Chassis pool#: A shared fleet of container chassis available to multiple truckers at a gateway. Pool availability, not terminal throughput, is often the binding constraint during a surge.
Industrial outdoor storage#: Paved, secured yard used for container, trailer, equipment or material storage with minimal building improvement. IOS is priced on usable yard acreage and zoning entitlement rather than on building square footage.
Weighted average lease term#: Remaining lease term across a portfolio, weighted by income or by area. WALT is the fastest read on how quickly a portfolio can reprice to market.
Blank sailing#: A scheduled vessel call cancelled by the carrier. Blank sailings are the carriers' primary capacity lever and distort weekly throughput comparisons.
Alliance#: A vessel-sharing agreement among carriers operating joint services. Alliance reshuffles move service strings between terminals and can reprice a specific berth.
Orderbook-to-fleet ratio#: Tonnage on order as a percentage of the existing fleet. It is the leading multi-year indicator of freight rate direction.
Section 301 port fee#: A US trade-remedy fee applied to specified vessels calling at US ports. Its incidence changes routing decisions at the margin rather than total volume.
De minimis#: The customs value threshold below which imports enter without duty and with reduced formality. Changes to it reallocate volume between air parcel networks and containerized retail flows.
Foreign trade zone#: A designated US site where goods may be held or processed with duty deferred or avoided. FTZ designation is a property attribute that affects tenant pool as much as it affects duty.
Bonded warehouse#: A customs-supervised facility where imported goods are stored before duty is paid. Bonded status carries operating obligations that constrain how the space can be sublet.
Shore power#: Electrical supply allowing a berthed vessel to shut down its auxiliary engines. Shore-power mandates add substantial electrical load to port precincts.
EU ETS maritime#: The extension of the European Union emissions trading system to shipping. It prices voyage emissions and shifts some transshipment away from EU-adjacent hubs.
IMO Net-Zero Framework#: The International Maritime Organization's framework for greenhouse gas reduction in international shipping. Its fuel intensity mechanics affect fleet renewal and therefore vessel size at each gateway.
Jones Act#: US law requiring domestic waterborne cargo to move on US-built, US-flagged, US-crewed vessels. It is the reason most coastal short-sea alternatives to trucking do not pencil.
Cabotage#: Restriction of domestic point-to-point transport to national carriers. Cabotage rules shape both maritime feeder services and air cargo routing rights.
Landside versus waterside versus airside#: Landside is the land-facing side of a port or airport; waterside is the berth and channel side; airside is the apron and runway side. Ownership, regulator and lease structure differ on each side, which is why the distinction governs deal form.

Air cargo

Cargo tonne-kilometres#: Tonnes of cargo carried multiplied by the distance flown. CTK measures work performed and moves differently from tonnage when route mix shifts.
Available cargo tonne-kilometres#: Capacity offered, expressed as available tonnes multiplied by distance. It is the denominator of load factor and tracks passenger network changes closely.
Cargo load factor#: Cargo tonne-kilometres divided by available cargo tonne-kilometres. It is the cleanest single read on whether air freight pricing power is rising or falling.
Yield#: Revenue per cargo tonne-kilometre. Yield and tonnage frequently move in opposite directions, so neither describes the market alone.
Belly capacity#: Cargo capacity in the lower holds of passenger aircraft. It is supplied as a by-product of passenger scheduling and is therefore not demand-responsive.
Freighter#: An aircraft configured solely for cargo. Freighter operations drive the night-hour, apron and warehouse requirements that shape airport-adjacent property.
Passenger-to-freighter conversion#: Modification of a passenger airframe into a freighter. Conversion slot availability is a multi-year constraint on freighter fleet growth.
Maindeck#: The upper cargo deck of a freighter, accessed through a large cargo door. Maindeck access is what allows oversized and palletized loads that belly capacity cannot take.
Unit load device#: A standardized container or pallet used to consolidate cargo for aircraft loading. ULD build-up space is the specific handling requirement that drives on-airport warehouse layout.
CEIV Pharma#: An IATA certification for pharmaceutical handling across air logistics facilities. Certification is a leasing prerequisite for much of the temperature-controlled tenant pool.
Good Distribution Practice#: Regulatory standards governing storage and distribution of medicinal products. GDP compliance dictates building systems, monitoring and documentation, not just temperature set points.
Cool chain#: The unbroken temperature-controlled path from origin to destination. Its weakest link is usually apron dwell, not the warehouse.
Cargo transfer rights#: The traffic rights permitting cargo to be transferred between carriers or services at an airport. They determine whether an airport can function as a transshipment hub at all.
Ground handler#: The licensed operator performing cargo acceptance, build-up, breakdown and ramp transfer. Handler capacity and their lease footprint are a hard limit on an airport's throughput.
On-airport ground lease#: A lease of airport authority land on which a tenant builds and operates a facility. Term, reversion and authority approval rights make these price on entirely different terms from off-airport industrial.
Night-flight ban#: A restriction on aircraft movements during defined night hours. Express networks depend on night operations, so a ban removes an airport from that tenant pool.
Slot cap#: An administrative limit on the number of movements permitted in a period. Where slots are capped, cargo growth has to come from larger aircraft rather than more flights.

How each of these figures is sourced, dated and labelled is set out in our methodology.

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The Landside Signal

A quarterly brief on powered land, port capacity and air-cargo gateways, plus the Powered Land and Gateway Pricing Benchmarks data file.

Dollar per megawatt and dollar per acre benchmarks by market, with the substation-distance and voltage premiums applied
Every committed United States port capacity opening from 2026 through 2035, with cost, TEU and date
Airport-adjacent rent premiums by gateway, and the constraint map that drives them
The named project pipeline: site, megawatts, developer, power source, status
Sources and periods for every cell. Nothing unattributed.

This research was produced by Landside Partners, a commercial real estate research and advisory firm working with owners of industrial land across North America on data center, seaport and air-cargo demand. To have a specific parcel assessed, contact Brad Cohen at Landside Partners.

Data Centers — Pillar: US data center demand, vacancy and the pipeline that has to find land, Q2 2026.
Ports — Pillar: committed, funded and dated US gateway capacity and near-port industrial pricing, Q2 2026.
Air Cargo — Pillar: airport-adjacent industrial metrics and cargo gateway rent premiums, Q2 2026.
Markets — Index of the twelve covered metros with each market's headline figure, Q2 2026.
Research — Research hub: powered land, floating siting, ports and air cargo, published free in full.

Published September 12, 2026 · Last updated September 12, 2026