All Incoterms 2020 rules

CPT Carriage Paid To

The seller pays the carriage to the named destination; risk passes at the very first carrier.

Any mode of transport

CPT is the any-mode equivalent of CFR, and its cost-and-risk gap is even wider. The seller clears the goods for export and hands them to the first carrier — which may be a truck at the factory — and risk passes right there. The seller then goes on paying for carriage all the way to the named destination, on a journey that is already at the buyer’s risk.

Track a shipment
Risk passes at
Handover to the first carrier
Export clearance
Seller
Import duty & taxes
Buyer
Cargo insurance
Not required

The journey, stage by stage

Every stage of the shipment in order, and who pays for it.

  1. 1 Packing the goods for export Seller pays
  2. 2 Loading onto the collecting vehicle Seller pays
  3. Risk passes to the buyer The moment the goods are handed to the first carrier — which can be a truck leaving the seller’s yard, thousands of kilometres before the named destination. The seller still pays for 5 more stages below this line.
  4. 3 Inland carriage to the port or terminal Seller pays
  5. 4 Export customs formalities Seller pays
  6. 5 Terminal handling at origin Seller pays
  7. 6 Loading onto the main carrier Seller pays
  8. 7 The international freight Seller pays
  9. 8 Terminal handling at destination Whether discharge and terminal handling at destination are already inside the freight the seller booked depends on that contract of carriage. It is the most common double-billing dispute on the four C-rules, and the reason this cell is not a flat yes or no. Per contract
  10. 9 Import customs, duty and taxes Buyer pays
  11. 10 Inland carriage to the final destination Buyer pays
  12. 11 Unloading at the final destination Buyer pays

What the seller does

  • Pack the goods and clear them for export.
  • Contract the carriage to the named place of destination and pay for it.
  • Deliver the goods to the first carrier — delivery, and risk transfer, happen here.
  • Hand over the transport document.

What the buyer does

  • Carry the risk from the first carrier onward, including the whole main leg.
  • Pay terminal handling at destination unless the seller’s carriage contract already covers it.
  • Clear the goods for import and pay duty and taxes.
  • Take delivery at the named place and move the goods on from there.

Use it when

  • Containerised, air and multimodal shipments where the seller books the freight.
  • Sellers with better rates than their buyers who still want risk off their books early.

Watch out for

  • Two places matter and only one is usually written down. Name both: where delivery happens (risk) and where carriage is paid to (cost).
  • The buyer bears a risk it cannot see and did not book. Insure it, or buy on CIP.
  • Terminal handling at destination is only covered if the seller’s carriage contract says so. Agree it in writing or expect to be billed for it.

CPT replaces CFR wherever the cargo is in a container, on a plane or on a truck.

Compare with

CIP Carriage and Insurance Paid To CFR Cost and Freight FCA Free Carrier

Sources for this page

Every payer cell on these pages was checked against several published references, and the two cells those references disagree on are drawn as “per contract” rather than resolved by picking a side. This is a summary for orientation, not legal advice — the contract and the ICC text govern.

  1. Incoterms® 2020 International Chamber of Commerce

    The rules themselves. The authoritative text is ICC publication no. 723E, which is not free — this page is a summary of it, not a copy.

  2. Incoterms Wikipedia

    Risk transfer point, export and import clearance and the insurance clauses for each of the eleven rules; the 2010 to 2020 changes; what the rules do not cover.

Selling or buying on CPT terms? Follow the shipment from handover to arrival — whoever holds the number can track it.

Track a shipment

CPT FAQ

CPT is the any-mode equivalent of CFR, and its cost-and-risk gap is even wider. The seller clears the goods for export and hands them to the first carrier — which may be a truck at the factory — and risk passes right there. The seller then goes on paying for carriage all the way to the named destination, on a journey that is already at the buyer’s risk.

Risk passes to the buyer the moment the goods are handed to the first carrier — which can be a truck leaving the seller’s yard, thousands of kilometres before the named destination. The seller then goes on paying for the journey well past that point, which is what makes CPT easy to misread: paying for a leg and carrying the risk on it are two different things here.

The seller pays the carriage through to the named place of destination. Whether that already covers terminal handling there depends on the contract of carriage. Export clearance is the seller’s and import duty and taxes are the buyer’s. Neither side is obliged to insure the cargo.

Whoever contracted the carriage holds the transport document, and its number is what a lookup needs. Enter a bill of lading, booking or container number in the container tracking app, an air waybill in the air cargo tracker, or make the same lookup one REST call with the API reference.

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