First shipment
Incoterms for seafood: which term for fresh and which for frozen
Incoterms 2020 decide who books the transport, who insures it and where the risk passes from seller to buyer. For chilled fish by air the answer is not the same as for a container of frozen fillets by sea, and the wrong term is the most common reason a first shipment ends in a dispute about temperature.
Fresh by air
Fresh salmon: FCA or CPT/CIP, rarely EXW
FCA Oslo Airport hands the goods to your forwarder at the airport, already export-cleared, with the cold chain up to that point on the seller. It is the cleanest term for a buyer who has a forwarder with lift out of Oslo.
CPT or CIP lets the seller book the flight. In a peak week that usually means better access to space, and CIP adds cargo insurance paid by the seller. Risk still passes when the goods are handed to the first carrier, so the temperature log at destination is your evidence, not the seller’s.
EXW leaves export clearance and the cold chain from the packing plant to you. A first-time importer should not take that on. DAP is possible, but the seller then carries risk through a transit it does not control and prices accordingly.
Frozen by sea
Frozen fillets and whole fish: FOB, CFR or CIF
FOB, CFR and CIF exist only for sea and inland waterway transport. Under all three, risk passes when the container is on board at the Norwegian port; what differs is who pays the ocean freight and the insurance.
For a first shipment the two clean options are CIF with your own all-risk cover on top, or FOB with your own forwarder and your own insurance. Either way, the reefer set point, pre-cooling and data logger are specified in the contract and the logger is read on arrival.
Insurance
The line most first-time buyers skip
CIF and CIP oblige the seller to buy cargo insurance, at different minimum levels, and neither necessarily covers a temperature deviation or a delay that costs shelf life. Ask for the policy wording before you rely on it, and price your own all-risk cover with a reefer or perishables clause into the landed cost.
Incoterms 2020
All eleven terms, and where the risk passes
- EXW — Ex Works
- Any modeBuyer carries risk from the seller’s premises.
- FCA — Free Carrier
- Any modeRisk passes when goods are handed to the buyer’s carrier.
- FAS — Free Alongside Ship
- Sea onlyRisk passes alongside the vessel at the named port.
- FOB — Free On Board
- Sea onlyRisk passes once goods are on board the vessel.
- CFR — Cost and Freight
- Sea onlySeller pays freight; risk still passes on board.
- CIF — Cost, Insurance and Freight
- Sea onlyAs CFR, plus minimum cargo insurance by the seller.
- CPT — Carriage Paid To
- Any modeSeller pays carriage; risk passes at first carrier.
- CIP — Carriage and Insurance Paid To
- Any modeAs CPT, plus all-risks cargo insurance by the seller.
- DAP — Delivered At Place
- Any modeSeller carries risk to the named destination, unloading excluded.
- DPU — Delivered At Place Unloaded
- Any modeSeller carries risk through unloading at destination.
- DDP — Delivered Duty Paid
- Any modeSeller carries risk, duty and import clearance.
State the Incoterm in the request
Offers come back on the term you asked for, with the airport or port named, so the numbers can be compared without translation.
Open a request