FCA, Free Carrier, is the Incoterm where the seller delivers export-cleared goods to the carrier or another party nominated by the buyer at a named place: the seller’s premises (loaded on the buyer’s truck) or another point such as a container terminal. Risk transfers at that handover.
FCA is the ICC’s recommended container workhorse: it matches how boxes actually change hands, at terminals and depots rather than over a ship’s rail. The seller handles export clearance; the buyer books the main carriage from the named point.
Incoterms 2020 added a mechanism letting the parties agree that the buyer’s carrier issues an on-board bill of lading to the seller, fixing the documentary gap that made banks prefer FOB under letters of credit.
Under FCA the operative milestone is the handover at the named place: for terminal deliveries the gate-in event marks the seller’s job done and the buyer’s risk begun. Both sides can watch that single event in TrackingMCP and agree on the timestamp, which is precisely what makes disputes short.
Incoterms allocate cost and risk between buyer and seller, but the sales contract controls. Confirm the rule, the named place, and the Incoterms edition in writing, and take advice for anything contentious.
FCA, Free Carrier, is the Incoterm where the seller delivers export-cleared goods to the carrier or another party nominated by the buyer at a named place: the seller’s premises (loaded on the buyer’s truck) or another point such as a container terminal. Risk transfers at that handover.
Because container risk realistically ends at the terminal handover, not on board. FOB leaves the seller exposed through terminal handling it does not control; FCA closes at the gate.
Depends on the named place: delivered to the terminal, origin THC typically falls on the buyer side within the carriage it booked. Parties should state the split explicitly in the contract.
Watch the handover event →
Origin terminals context →
More in Incoterms, rates & risk: Incoterms · EXW (Ex Works) · FOB (Free On Board) · CFR (Cost and Freight) · CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) · DAP (Delivered at Place) · DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) · Spot rate vs contract rate · Force majeure · General average · Letter of indemnity (LOI) · Browse all 106 terms →