Incoterms allocate cost, risk and obligation between seller and buyer. They do not allocate ownership, they do not decide who pays duty in every case, and — importantly for seafood — they do not follow the temperature.
This is a practical reading for people buying fish, not a substitute for the ICC’s own text.
The rules that come up in seafood
EXW — Ex Works. You collect from the plant. Everything after that is yours. Rare in seafood because it puts a temperature-sensitive product into your hands at the least convenient point.
FCA — Free Carrier. We hand over to your nominated carrier at an agreed place. Common where the buyer has strong freight arrangements.
CPT / CIP — Carriage Paid To / Carriage and Insurance Paid To. We pay carriage to a named destination. Risk passes at the first carrier, not at the destination. CIP additionally requires insurance at the higher Institute Cargo Clauses (A) level under Incoterms 2020.
DAP / DPU — Delivered at Place / Delivered at Place Unloaded. We deliver to the named place, risk with us until arrival. DPU means we unload. The buyer clears import.
DDP — Delivered Duty Paid. We deliver import-cleared. Only workable where the seller can act as importer of record in the destination country — which for many markets a Norwegian exporter cannot.
FOB / CFR / CIF. Sea and inland waterway only. These three are for containerised or bulk sea freight where the goods are handed over at the port. They are frequently and incorrectly used for air and road shipments.
Where risk actually passes
This is the field most often misread.
| Rule | Seller pays carriage to | Risk passes at |
|---|---|---|
| FCA | — | Named place of handover |
| CPT / CIP | Named destination | First carrier |
| DAP / DPU | Named destination | Named destination |
| FOB | — | On board vessel |
| CFR / CIF | Destination port | On board vessel |
Under CIP, we can pay the freight all the way to your city and the risk can still have passed to you in Norway. That is not a trick; it is what the rule says. It matters enormously for a cold-chain product, because a temperature excursion in the middle of the journey falls on whoever holds the risk at that moment.
Three mistakes
1. A term with no named place. “CIP” is incomplete. “CIP Paris Charles de Gaulle” is a term. Always write the place.
2. A sea term on an air shipment. FOB, CFR and CIF are for sea freight. Using them for an air consignment of fresh salmon creates an ambiguity nobody wants to resolve in a dispute.
3. Assuming the Incoterm covers temperature. It does not. The Incoterm says who bears the risk; the cold-chain clause says what the standard is and how it is evidenced. You need both.
Matching the rule to the shipment
- Fresh salmon by air or road into Europe: CIP or DAP, with the airport or delivery address named.
- Frozen containerised whitefish: CFR or CIF to the discharge port, or DAP inland if you want us to carry the risk further.
- Buyer with strong freight rates: FCA at an agreed Norwegian point.
- Live shellfish: the handling protocol matters more than the rule. Agree both.
What to put in the RFQ
State the Incoterm you want quoted and the named place. If you are comparing offers, make sure every supplier quotes on the same rule and the same place — an offer on CIP and an offer on FCA are not comparable prices, and converting between them after the fact is guesswork.