suffix, counter
counter for loads
Used as a suffix attached to numbers to count loads that can be carried on one's shoulders, such as bundles of firewood or sacks of rice. Not a general counter for all loads.
薪を三荷運んだ。
I carried three loads of firewood.
米俵を五荷かついだ。
I shouldered five bales of rice.
台 counts machines and vehicles; 荷 counts shoulder-borne loads.
From the noun 荷 (に, 'load, cargo'), used as a counter suffix with the reading か. The exact historical derivation of the reading か is uncertain.