FOB, Free On Board, is the sea-transport Incoterm where the seller delivers export-cleared goods on board the vessel at the named port of shipment. Risk transfers when the goods are on board; the buyer arranges and pays the main carriage from that port.
FOB is venerable and everywhere, especially in Asia-origin trades where buyers control ocean freight through their own forwarders. The seller’s obligations end with goods aboard and export done; freight, insurance, and destination costs belong to the buyer.
For containers the ICC recommends FCA instead, since sellers hand boxes to terminals days before loading yet under FOB technically carry risk until the crane lifts them aboard. Note the American habit of using “FOB” loosely for domestic terms; international sales should cite Incoterms explicitly.
The load event is the FOB hinge: the seller’s risk ends and the buyer’s begins when the container is aboard, and the on-board date feeds the B/L banks check. In TrackingMCP the load at the POL timestamps that moment per container, which settles the classic who-bore-the-risk-when question with data.
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.
FOB, Free On Board, is the sea-transport Incoterm where the seller delivers export-cleared goods on board the vessel at the named port of shipment. Risk transfers when the goods are on board; the buyer arranges and pays the main carriage from that port.
The buyer, directly or through its forwarder, and it nominates the carrier to the seller. The seller must deliver to that vessel within the agreed window.
No. Neither party owes the other insurance under FOB; the buyer carries risk from loading and insures if it chooses. CIF is the sea term that obliges seller-provided cover.
Timestamp the on-board moment →
Load ports →
More in Incoterms, rates & risk: Incoterms · EXW (Ex Works) · FCA (Free Carrier) · 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 →