In any trade transaction, there are two parties – the buyer and the seller.. When it comes to a sea freight shipment, either one or both of them may end up paying different charges to different entities..
The question of who pays what charges in a sea freight shipment perplexes many people in the business whether you are new or already in the business..
In this article I dissect this question and explain who pays what charges in sea freight shipment..
The first place to look for an answer to this question is “the sales contract” between the buyer and seller..
A sales contract, apart from outlining the specification of the goods may also make reference to a key component and that is the Incoterms® Rules..
Enter Incoterms®
Reference to an Incoterms® rule in a contract of sale defines the parties obligations in terms of costs and risks and reduces ambiguity in the transaction..
Since its creation by the ICC in 1936, Incoterms® rules has become a globally accepted contractual standard and has also become an integral part of trade..
Currently in its 9th version, the core function of Incoterms® rules is to
- Outline the obligations of the buyer and the seller in a trade transaction;
- Clarify when risk passes from the seller to the buyer under each of these rules;
- Outline how costs are allocated between the buyer and the seller;
It needs to be understood that Incoterms®:
- Is NOT the sales contract;
- Does not supersede the law governing the sales contract;
- Does not dictate where and to whom title to goods transfers;
- Does not address the price payable, the currency of transaction or credit terms
These items are expressly defined and outlined in the sales contract and by the law governing the contract..
There are 11 Incoterms® rules in the new Incoterms® 2020 edition released by the ICC in September 2019.. Each of them has different points at which cost and risk passes..
RULES FOR ANY MODE OR MODES OF TRANSPORT
- EXW – Ex Works
- FCA – Free Carrier
- CPT – Carriage Paid To
- CIP – Carriage and Insurance Paid To
- DAP – Delivered at Place
- DPU – Delivered at Place Unloaded
- DDP – Delivered Duty Paid
RULES FOR SEA AND INLAND WATERWAY TRANSPORT
- FAS – Free Alongside Ship
- FOB – Free On Board
- CFR – Cost and Freight
- CIF – Cost Insurance and Freight
Allocation of costs based on Incoterms® used
Depending on the Incoterms® used, the buyer or seller will be paying
- pre-carriage service providers including but not restricted to a transporter, freight forwarder, customs clearing agent, freight broker, inspection agencies, government authorities, port, customs, insurance companies and any other entity involved in the shipment
- carriage service providers such as a shipping line, NVOCC
- on-carriage service providers including but not restricted to a transporter, freight forwarder, customs clearing agent, freight broker, inspection agencies, government authorities, port, customs, insurance companies and any other entity involved in the shipment
Below is a synopsis of the various Incoterms® Rules showing who pays what charges between the buyer and seller..
Please note above is just a guideline..
For a full and complete understanding, it is recommended that you go through the complete Incoterms® 2020 book which you can buy here..
To achieve a professional Certificate, you can buy the ICC Academy’s new online training course – the Incoterms® 2020 Certificate – developed by the educational arm of the ICC, the ICC Academy.. This course is the world’s only ICC-endorsed online training on the Incoterms® 2020 rules.
Who physically pays sea freight charges..??
While above is the commercial division of costs from a trade point of view based on Incoterms® between the buyer and seller, the other division that we need to look at is who actually pays the charges from a shipping line point of view..
In a lot of cases, the shipping line doesn’t know, see or have access to the actual seller and buyer so technically whoever receives the invoices from the shipping line based on the booking confirmation will be paying the charges physically to the shipping line..
Remember a seller, exporter, shipper on the origin side and a buyer, importer, consignee on the destination side may all be different people..
In a sea freight shipment, there could be a mixture of parties involved
- Contract party or contract owner – the entity that negotiates the sea freight charges with the shipping line – this could be the actual BCO or a freight forwarder acting on behalf of the BCO..
- Packing depot/warehouse – the entity who uses their facility to pack the cargo belonging to the BCO.. They could be contracted either by the booking party or the BCO..
- Transporter – the entity who will move the cargo and/or containers between the line’s depot, packing warehouse and port..
- Booking party – could be same or different from the contract party.. If different, usually it would be the agent of the BCO and this party takes care of all booking, operational and documentation related functions for the BCO..
In majority of the cases the shipping line deals mostly with the booking party for all booking, operational and documentation functions..
The shipping line also will look towards the booking party for payment and bill of lading instructions..
For ease of trade transactions, the contract party may end up paying the sea freight charges or and carriage related charges whereas the booking party may end up paying (on behalf of the BCO of course) the origin port and landside charges..
For example, the booking party may pay the line and other vendors all charges from packing the cargo into the container, inspection charges, customs clearance, cargo dues (wharfage), documentation charges, VGM, transportation to the port, THC at the load port, shipping line charges, bill of lading fees etc.. So basically all pre-carriage charges..
The contract party may pay the carriage related charges such as Ocean Freight, BAF, CAF, ISPS and any other applicable surcharges such as Hazardous Surcharge, Out of Gauge Surcharge, Overweight Surcharge based on the negotiated service contract..
Key Points
Special attention must, therefore, be paid to the Freight Payable section usually in Part 4 of a bill of lading (my segmentation) and also to the Incoterms® addressed in the contract of sale..
Another important thing that must be understood is that there is no direct connection or link between Incoterms® and the shipping line..
Therefore the trade (buyer/seller and their agent) must NOT assume that by saying CIF Chittagong or FCA Freeport or EXW Ennore, the shipping line is going to charge them according to the Incoterms®..
There are several arguments between the trade and the shipping line along these lines..
Conclusion
If this distinction of who pays what charges for a sea freight shipment is not made clear right from the beginning – either at sales contract stage between buyer and seller or at booking stage between shipping line and booking party, there could be additional charges incurred along the way and someone will have to pay for it..
It won’t be pretty.. 🙂
This post has been updated to include revisions made in Incoterms® 2020..
Who will pay DO (Delivery Order) charges? Buyer or seller? When shipment is on CFR basis
Good morning everyone,
Please tell me that who will pay the charges for port plugin
That depends on the port and terminal.. Generally it is covered by the line but they may include it in the freight..
I was charged these by forwarder agent. Can this be correct? All of these total came upto around USD2000
LCL
THC DESTINATION
BL FEE
ISPS DESTINATION
NOX
ORIGIN CHARGE
THC ORIGIN
ENVIRONMENT FEE
IMPORT SERVICE FEE
ERS
LSS
DIRECT DELIVERY
CUSTOM CLEARANCE
IMPORT (TAX on imported item)
Commission
Who pays IMCO Surcharge and applied against which services? Who is responsible to bear? Shipper or Consignee?
The terms are FOB
Had goods shipped FOB China to Castries Port where i am responsible for the Destination charges.
suddenly i am getting bills for transshipment charges.
I was quoted the amount of 1300 USD from FOB China Port to Castries
when the goods arrived i got invoices for Castries destination cost plus transshipment fees of USD 581 which i think is wrong and i should not be responsible for any transshipment fees
Who bears the washing and damage charge of a container ? If I am the consignee.
Hi Maggie,
I consider it is yours responsability. You are using the container. Our recommendation to clients is to ask photos of the container before and during the stuffing to see how the container is. So, you can justify to carrier that the container already presented damage before using.
Hello Margie, Basically in any shipment, whether it is a FOB or CIF or DDP , the seller CHA is responsible to get a washed container from ICD yard before stuffing the goods. (it mean seller is responsible).
Hi! Is it possible shipper (agent) pay for the ocean freight on behalf of the buyer and requested seller (manufacturer) to arrange shipment as FOB since all the local charges will bear by the seller?
If I paid a UK removalist company to pack and ship my good, that was so badly packed that there was a bad stowage fee…….who pays that? is there a rule or law about that?
Hi Michelle, if a removals company did the packing, they should be responsible for the quality of the packaging.. There is no rule or law about it though.. But if they belong to any “packers association” etc you could raise the issue with the association..
WHAT IS CFS CHARGES AND WHO SHOULD PAY IT?
DOSE THE BUYER SHOULD PAY THE CFS CHARGES? AND WHY?
OR
DOSE THE SELLER SHOULD PAY THE CFS CHARGES? AND WHY?
Hello Naweed,
CFS charges has to be borne by seller in export shipment.
A container freight station(CFS) is a distribution facility where export shipments are consolidated and de-consolidated for further moment before loading on a vessel.
CIF shipterm who will pay the DTHC, Container Cleaning charges and EDI?
buyer has to bare DTHC, clearance and all other import duties in CIF shipment
who would be responsible for handling a fine in relation to ocean trans shipments, Seller o Buyer?
very knowledgeable post
DAP Terms, may I know who should pay the Destination Terminal Handing Charges ? When we said Import Clearance Charges, does it inclusive destination local charges? or only the CUSTOM IMPORT charges?
Hi Samantha, DAP = Delivered at Place which means that the seller has to place the goods at the disposal of the buyer ready for unloading at the named place of destination or an agreed point.. So all costs before this point is for the seller and after this point is for the buyer.. Therefore it is important to PRECISELY identify where this point is..
Hello Friends,
Please mail a format for Freight Certificate to be issued by an Exporter selling goods on CIF basis.
Thanks and Regards,
Vinod Kaul
bcpl.bpl@gmail.com
How do I received my shipment from abroad through ocean freight from a freight forwarder? How do I track my shipment which was LCL? Will I be notified by phone or email? When do I contact a clearing agent to help with the customs clearance? What documents will the agent need from me to enable him do his work ?
Hi Hariesh,
Under the FOB term, the seller is supposed to be responsible for loading, but with a roro vessel for example, the shipping line arranges for the goods to be driven on board the vessel, and this cost is included in the freight charges paid by the buyer.
Another example would be a break bulk vessel, the vessel sometimes/often uses its own cranes to load the cargo, so again this cost is included in the freight charges paid by the buyer.
Can someone pls explain me about ESD charges ?
If we contracted with FOB terms, we need to pay ESD charges to shipping line ?
We have an FOB transaction with the seller. The seller charters the barge under F.I.O. terms. who is responsible to pay for the wharfage and dockage to the private jetty.
1) THC has been paid to the commercial port operator
2) Freight has been paid to the Barge operator
Thank you
Can someone please explain to me the relationship of “Container inbalance charge” and the shipper / port of origin?
It is a cost charged by shipping lines to compensate the cost of relocating large quantities of empty containers between countries where there is an imbalance of trade (there is no export use for those containers that had been previously imported into those countries).
Noted that it was mentioned that under FCA terms the “Customs Release” is arranged by buyer. It is not a rule, right? the customs clearance is mutually agreed. I have noted in China no exporters pay that.
Hi Paulo, I am not seeing where it is mentioned that customs release is arranged by buyer in FCA.. In FCA, seller must take care of export clearance and buyer must take care of import clearance at destination..
Zuzana, the carrier may not release any cargo to any party without the production of an original B/L, even if all the charges have been paid. Whoever releases cargo without the production of the original B/L can be held liable for the value of the goods. This practise of releasing goods without production of the necessary documents is pointed out by the P & I Clubs every year with the warning that the liable party will not be covered under their liability policies should they fail to follow correct procedures.
Provided you are within the prescription period you must hand the matter over to attorneys to issue summons against the liable party.
Think that yr CFR and CIF split definition is wrong, seller pays all the way to the CFR named place. However seller risk ends when goods are placed on board the ship at port of origin. CPT and CIP on the other hand seller risk ends when goods are handed over to the first carrier (for precarriage)
Hi Harry, something wrong with the images I have loaded.. Now I have changed to the actual table..
Hello,
You are right about one thing. The carrier will not care about anything. I have had a shipment going from Brazil. I made a booking from our US office. Released all containers to the shipper for loading, handled all documentation. The shipper just hired his local agent for export customs clearance.
Original B/L was issued and I was about to print it in our office. Once paid by shipper the O/F and our freight forwarding charges, I would have send him the Original B/L.
The shipper by passed us, paid for the o/f in local office for the carrier in person and they have released the containers to them even I have instructed carrier, that I will print originals and will send them to the shipper once he will pay us.
We never got paid, carrier said that the law says they have to release the cargo after the payment. So the Freight Forwarder is not anyhow covered to get paid. The carrier will never help the F.F. to get paid.
Carrier will not release the cargo until they get paid, but when it comes to F.F., no one cares.
You should issue this to me ” a big problem”(gap) in the shipping industry.
Thank you for all your articles.
Good article, but you do not say what BCO is – do you mean Beneficial Cargo Owner, and if so, is this usually the importer? More on destination terminal handling charges would be useful
Hi Roger, if you hover over the first reference to BCO, it says Beneficial Cargo Owner.. BCO refers to a cargo owner who could be a direct exporter, direct importer, seller or buyer.. Noted about the THC..
for FOB it seems not to be correct in the list above as the buyer does NOT bear the cargo loading costs at origin (?)
Hi Bjoern, yes this was a typo which has been rectified if you see now.. 🙂 Alexander pointed out this as well.. Thanks..
Hi, Under FOB you mention that the buyer is responsible for loading costs at port of origin. This is incorrect. The seller is responsible for all costs involved in the loading and stowage of the cargo onboard the vessel nominated by the buyer. The rule states that the seller is to pay the loading costs, Free on Board, but shall not be liable for the ocean freight and any surcharges relating thereto. Responsibility, cost and risk passes once goods are loaded on board.
Ooops, thanks for pointing that out Alexander.. That bit wasn’t supposed to be there.. It has been corrected now..
Who pays Regional cost recovery, BAF, and LCL fees on CIF term?
On my shipment, they add all of those above fees as destination port fees and I had to pay them at port. I believe that I am not supposed to pay those charges. Your input is highly appreciated to support my claim.