Captured once, with the place
Incoterm and named place made mandatory at booking or shipment entry, including bookings that come in through CargoWise Neo, so every later step reads the same value.
Incoterms® 2020 · Freight guide
Incoterms 2020,who pays, who carries the risk, and what your CargoWise should do with it
Three letters on a contract decide where risk changes hands, who books the freight, who clears customs and who gets the invoice. This guide puts all eleven rules on one handover line, then shows how the term on each job should drive billing in CargoWise.
PlatinumCargoWise partner
36+certified CargoWise professionals
Since 2004in freight software
PAVEcertified partner
Example shipmentIncoterm on job
FCAFree Carrier
Chennai ICD · Incoterms® 2020
Risk passes at
Main freight
Insurance
Import duty & tax
Same cargo, same lane. Change the three letters and every line on the job changes with it.
Read it like a contract
An Incoterm has three parts, and most disputes start with a missing one
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) publishes eleven rules. A rule only works when it travels with a named place and the edition. Tap each part to see what it does.
Interactive
The handover line: risk and cost rarely move together
Pick a term. The top band shows who carries the risk at each point of the journey. The second shows who pays. Where the seller is still paying but the buyer already carries the risk, the gap is marked. That gap is where most C-term arguments come from.
Swipe the line sideways →
Who carries the risk
Seller’s risk
Buyer’s risk
Who pays the transport
Seller pays
Buyer pays
Seller pays · buyer at risk
Risk passes
Reference chart
The complete Incoterms 2020 chart, cost by cost
Who pays each part of the move under all eleven rules. Filter by mode or group. Click any row to see it on the handover line. Download it or print it as a one-page sheet for your sales and operations desks.
Mode
Group
SSellerBBuyer—No obligation
| Rule | Export clearance | Origin handling & loading | Main carriage | Insurance | Destination terminal | Unloading at place | Import clearance & duty | Risk passes at |
|---|
* Follows the seller’s contract of carriage. If the seller’s freight rate already includes it, the seller can’t recharge it to the buyer unless agreed.
Term selector
Which Incoterm fits this shipment?
Two or three questions about how the cargo moves and how far the seller’s job should go. You get a best fit, an alternative, and the one thing to watch.
1How does the cargo move?
2Where should the seller’s job end?
3
Incoterms in CargoWise
The Incoterm on the job should run the billing, not sit in a text field
In many CargoWise setups the Incoterm is typed in and then ignored. Charges are added by hand, the freight is marked prepaid or collect from memory, and nobody checks the term on the commercial invoice. Pick a term to see what a well-configured job does with it.
Pick the term on the job
Each readout is a starting point we use when mapping a forwarder’s billing rules.
Assumes you are the forwarder arranging the main carriage for the party that pays for it. Real setups vary by client, lane and agent agreement, which is why we map before we configure.
Job behaviourFOB · Free On Board
Charges that follow the term
Charge codes, prepaid or collect, and bill-to parties set by Incoterm, so destination charges on a CFR job go to the right party and aren’t billed twice.
Workflow that reacts to it
Workflow templates and milestones that add the right tasks: an import entry for DDP, an insurance certificate in eDocs for CIF and CIP, a review flag for FOB containers.
Documents checked against it
AI document automation reads the Incoterm on commercial invoices and bills of lading and flags any mismatch with the job before release, not after the dispute.
Under CargoWise Value Packs the modules are already included in what you pay per transaction. The difference now comes from how well they are configured. Incoterm-driven billing is one of the quickest places to see it.
Make the Incoterm on every job do real work in CargoWise
Talk to a certified CargoWise consultant about Incoterm-driven charges, workflow tasks and document checks. Start with a one-hour session. No minimum hours.
From real shipments
Six Incoterm mix-ups that turn into invoices, claims and delays
These come up again and again when we review forwarders’ jobs and billing. Tap a card to see the fix.
Duties and tariffs
Tariffs moved. Did your contract?
Import duty and tax follow the Incoterm, not the news. Under ten of the eleven rules the buyer clears import and pays. Only under DDP does the seller carry them.
What the rules don’t cover is a tariff that changes after the contract is signed. Incoterms allocate the duty, not the price. If a DDP seller quotes a landed price and duty rises before the goods arrive, the loss stays with the seller unless the contract says otherwise.
Write it like thisDDP Chicago warehouse, Incoterms® 2020, plus a clause saying who bears, or how you share, any change in duty after signing.
Who pays import duty?
BuyerSeller
Before you sign
- Name the exact place. A terminal, warehouse or address, not just a port or a country.
- Cite the edition. “Incoterms 2020”, so nobody argues about 2010 rules.
- Add a duty-change clause. Most important on DDP and landed-price deals.
- Match every document. Quote, invoice, booking and bill of lading show the same term and place.
- State the cover. Institute Cargo Clauses (A), (B) or (C), and who is the insured party.
General information, not legal advice. Incoterms® is a registered trademark of the International Chamber of Commerce. This page is an independent summary and not a substitute for the ICC’s official Incoterms® 2020 publication. CargoWise is a trademark of WiseTech Global. Check your contracts with qualified counsel where needed.