FCA

FCA (Free Carrier) is the incoterm where the seller clears the goods for export and hands them to the carrier you nominate, at the named place of origin. Risk passes to the buyer at that point. It works for any transport mode and is the recommended choice for containerized cargo.

How FCA works

If the named place is the supplier’s premises, the supplier loads the goods onto the vehicle you send. If it is another point, such as your forwarder’s warehouse, the supplier delivers there on its own vehicle, ready for unloading. Since the 2020 edition, the parties can agree that the buyer’s carrier issues an on-board bill of lading to the seller, which helps when payment is by letter of credit.

When FCA makes sense for imports from China

It is the right alternative to FOB for container shipments. Example: your supplier in Dongguan delivers the goods, export cleared, to your forwarder’s warehouse in Shenzhen. From there the full or consolidated container sails to Manzanillo under your control, and the risk is yours from the Shenzhen handover, not from the moment the container is loaded days later.

The common mistake

Asking for FOB out of habit for containerized goods. Under FOB the supplier’s risk lasts until the container is on board, yet the container left the supplier’s hands days earlier at the terminal, so nobody really controls that stretch. FCA closes the gap. Since the risk is yours from origin, buy cargo insurance that covers from the handover.

Always write the place and the version in the contract, for example: “FCA forwarder’s warehouse, Shenzhen, Incoterms® 2020”. Want your cargo received at origin by our own team? See how we run logistics from China.

Who pays what under FCA

All 11 incoterms, side by side: EXW, FAS, FOB, CFR, CIF, CPT, CIP, DAP, DPU and DDP.

Source: International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Incoterms® 2020 rules.