National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) is a freight classification system created by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) and used for interstate, intrastate, and foreign commerce shipping of LTL cargo. NMFC freight codes provide standardized freight classes to determine the ease of transport of many of the huge variety of different commodities being shipped together in LTL shipments every year.
Every commodity has both a freight class and a NMFC code. Freight class represents a category of items while NMFC codes relate to specific commodities within each of the 18 freight classes.
If you don't include an NMFC code on your BOL, it is very likely that your carrier will charge you a reclassification fee and charge you the cost of shipping the freight they they determine your shipment is.