All Incoterms 2020 rules

DAP Delivered at Place

The seller delivers to the buyer’s named place, ready for unloading; the buyer clears import and unloads.

Any mode of transport

DAP is the first of the three delivered rules, where cost and risk finally travel together. The seller carries the goods all the way to the named place — typically the buyer’s warehouse — and bears every risk on the way. Delivery happens when the goods arrive there, on the arriving vehicle, ready to be unloaded. Import clearance, duty and the unloading itself are the buyer’s.

Track a shipment
Risk passes at
Arrival at destination
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. 3 Inland carriage to the port or terminal Seller pays
  4. 4 Export customs formalities Seller pays
  5. 5 Terminal handling at origin Seller pays
  6. 6 Loading onto the main carrier Seller pays
  7. 7 The international freight Seller pays
  8. 8 Terminal handling at destination Seller pays
  9. 9 Import customs, duty and taxes Buyer pays
  10. 10 Inland carriage to the final destination Seller pays
  11. Risk passes to the buyer On arrival at the named place of destination, with the goods ready for unloading on the arriving vehicle.
  12. 11 Unloading at the final destination Buyer pays

What the seller does

  • Pack the goods, clear them for export and contract the whole carriage.
  • Carry the risk to the named place of destination.
  • Deliver ready for unloading on the arriving vehicle.
  • Help the buyer with import formalities at the buyer’s cost and risk.

What the buyer does

  • Clear the goods for import and pay duty, VAT and taxes.
  • Unload the goods at the named place.
  • Take the risk from the moment they are ready for unloading.

Use it when

  • Delivered-to-door sales where the buyer can clear its own imports.
  • Cross-border road and rail freight.
  • Any deal where the buyer wants one landed price and the seller keeps control of the journey.

Watch out for

  • If the goods are held at import customs because the buyer is slow, the delay and the demurrage sit with the buyer — but the goods are still the seller’s risk until they reach the named place. Name a realistic place.
  • “DAP buyer’s warehouse” and “DAP destination port” are very different deals. Write the place out in full.

DAP was called DDU before 2010. It is DDP without the import duty, and DPU without the unloading.

Compare with

DPU Delivered at Place Unloaded DDP Delivered Duty Paid CIP Carriage and Insurance Paid To

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 DAP terms? Follow the shipment from handover to arrival — whoever holds the number can track it.

Track a shipment

DAP FAQ

DAP is the first of the three delivered rules, where cost and risk finally travel together. The seller carries the goods all the way to the named place — typically the buyer’s warehouse — and bears every risk on the way. Delivery happens when the goods arrive there, on the arriving vehicle, ready to be unloaded. Import clearance, duty and the unloading itself are the buyer’s.

Risk passes to the buyer on arrival at the named place of destination, with the goods ready for unloading on the arriving vehicle.

The seller pays the whole journey to the named place — but not import duty and not unloading. 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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