The article presents the evolution of the shaping of the term “transport susceptibility of cargoes” and the division of this susceptibility into partial susceptibilities. Currently a differentiated terminology coexists in transport literature, introducing considerable confusion into the unambiguous interpretation of factors determining the resistance of cargoes to conditions and time length of transport processes. Moreover, classification of cargoes has been given in branch transport on the example of marine transport, assuming as division criterion the systematised partial susceptibilities. There have also been outlined the principles of interpreting susceptibility and division of cargoes in intermodal transport