Any transport mode · Incoterms 2020
DPU Incoterm: Delivered at Place Unloaded (Incoterms 2020)
The only rule where the seller unloads — delivery completes with the goods on the ground.
DPU at a glance
Under DPU the seller bears all costs and risks of carrying the goods to the named destination and unloading them there. It is the only Incoterms rule that makes unloading a seller obligation. Import clearance and duties remain with the buyer.
- Full term
- DPU — Delivered at Place Unloaded
- Transport mode
- Any transport mode
- Delivery point
- Named destination — goods unloaded from the arriving transport
- Risk transfers
- When the goods are unloaded and placed at the buyer's disposal at the named place
- Export clearance
- Seller
- Import clearance
- Buyer
What DPU means in practice
DPU is DAP plus one physical act: the seller must unload. Delivery is complete only when the goods are off the transport and at the buyer's disposal at the named place. Until the last crate is on the ground, risk is the seller's — including the unloading operation itself, statistically one of the riskiest moments in any journey.
The rule (successor to 2010's DAT) matters where unloading is non-trivial: heavy machinery needing cranes, terminal deliveries where handling is bundled, exhibition and project logistics where the seller's contractor controls the site equipment. Sellers should only offer DPU where they can genuinely control unloading — subcontracting a crane lift you cannot supervise, at your own risk, in a foreign country, is a serious exposure.
As with DAP, the import side — clearance, duties, VAT — stays with the buyer. DPU is a physical-delivery upgrade, not a fiscal one; sellers wanting to offer a fully landed service including import formalities are looking at DDP.
Buyer vs seller responsibilities
| Task | Responsible |
|---|---|
| Packaging & export marking | Seller |
| Loading at origin | Seller |
| Pre-carriage (inland transport, origin) | Seller |
| Export clearance | Seller |
| Origin terminal handling | Seller |
| Main international transport | Seller |
| Cargo insurance | Seller — No obligation on either party. The seller bears risk through unloading and typically insures its own exposure. |
| Import clearance | Buyer |
| Import duties & taxes | Buyer |
| Delivery to final destination | Seller |
| Unloading at destination | Seller — DPU's defining obligation — the only rule where unloading is the seller's task and risk. |
Named place capability matters: choose a destination where the seller (or its contractor) can actually perform unloading — equipment, access, permissions — or delivery cannot legally complete.
Where costs transfer — and where risk transfers
Cost transfer
The seller pays the full journey plus the unloading operation at the named place. The buyer pays import clearance, duties, VAT and anything after the goods are on the ground.
Unloading costs are more than crane hire: site access, permits, waiting time, equipment standby. Sellers pricing DPU should cost the destination site like a mini-project; buyers should disclose site constraints honestly, because failed unloading attempts are re-billed one way or another.
Risk transfer
Risk stays with the seller through the entire journey and through unloading, transferring only when the goods sit unloaded at the buyer's disposal. A load that tips during the lift is the seller's loss — the inverse of DAP, where the same accident belongs to the buyer.
Cost and risk travel together to the latest physical point of any rule except DDP's fiscal extension. The buyer's exposure begins only with goods on the ground at the named place.
When DPU works well
- Heavy or project cargo — transformers, machinery, structures — where the seller's side controls the specialist unloading equipment.
- Deliveries into terminals, warehouses or fairgrounds where handling is bundled with the seller's carriage contract.
- Buyers with no unloading capability at the destination (no dock, no forklift, no rigging crew).
- Turnkey and exhibition logistics where "on the ground, in position" is the commercial promise being sold.
When to think twice about DPU
- Ordinary palletised or containerised deliveries the buyer's dock handles routinely — DAP is simpler and cheaper.
- Destinations where the seller cannot control or verify unloading resources — carrying unloading risk without operational control is mispriced risk.
- Buyers who insist on running their own unloading for safety or insurance reasons; the rule's one feature becomes a liability conflict.
- Sellers unwilling to bear risk through the riskiest handling moment of the journey — quote DAP and let the buyer's crew lift.
DPU in the real world
A transformer delivered — and lowered — at a substation site
A utility in Chile buys a 90-tonne transformer from a Korean manufacturer at "DPU Substation site, Antofagasta region (Incoterms 2020)". The manufacturer's project forwarder manages the multimodal move — heavy-lift vessel, port handling, modular trailer — and contracts a certified crane operator for the site lift.
During unloading, a sling shifts and the unit swings against the trailer frame; inspection reveals cosmetic damage and a suspect bushing. Because DPU keeps risk with the seller until the transformer stands unloaded, the repair, re-testing and three-week delay are the manufacturer's account — its project insurance responds.
The utility's obligations were the import entry and duties, completed before arrival, and site access as scheduled. Had the parties used DAP with the utility hiring the same crane, the identical accident would have been the buyer's claim. Both sides knew exactly why the DPU price carried a premium — it bought the lift risk.
Common mistakes with DPU
Choosing DPU when DAP was meant
The two rules differ by one word and one enormous risk: the unloading operation. Sellers quoting DPU casually inherit crane risk they never priced; check which rule the operation actually supports.
No verified unloading capability at the named place
If unloading cannot be performed — wrong equipment, blocked access, missing permits — the seller cannot complete delivery. Site surveys before contract, not after arrival.
Assuming DPU includes import clearance
It doesn't. Duties, VAT and the customs entry remain the buyer's. DPU upgrades the physical delivery, not the fiscal one.
Leaving unloading scope undefined
"Unloaded" can mean on the ground beside the truck or positioned on foundations. For project cargo, define the unloading end-state precisely — the price and risk difference is real.
TradeIntel insight
DPU is a specialist's rule: in ordinary container and pallet flows it appears rarely, and when it does, it is often a mis-tick for DAP. Where it earns its place — project cargo, exhibitions, terminal deliveries — the discipline that matters is scope definition: what "unloaded" means, who provides the site, what happens if unloading fails for site reasons. Priced and scoped properly, DPU lets sellers monetise a genuinely hard capability; scoped loosely, it donates the riskiest lift of the journey for free.
Is DPU right for your shipment?
Answer eight questions about your shipment and capability profile — the TradeIntel Incoterms Assessment explains which rules fit and why.
Frequently asked questions
What makes DPU different from every other Incoterms rule?
It is the only rule where the seller must unload the goods at the destination. Under all other rules — including DAP and DDP — unloading at the named place is the buyer's side of the line.
Who bears the risk during unloading under DPU?
The seller. Risk transfers only once the goods are unloaded and at the buyer's disposal. Damage during the lift itself is the seller's loss.
Does DPU include import duties or customs clearance?
No. The buyer handles import clearance and pays duties and taxes, exactly as under DAP. DPU changes the physical delivery point, not the fiscal responsibilities.
What happened to the old DAT term?
The 2010 rule DAT (Delivered at Terminal) was renamed and generalised in 2020 as DPU. The named place no longer needs to be a terminal — any place where unloading can be performed works, which is why the name changed.
When is DPU worth its premium over DAP?
When unloading is genuinely difficult and the seller's side controls the right equipment and expertise — heavy lifts, project sites, bundled terminal handling. For routine dock deliveries the premium usually buys risk the buyer's own crew handles better.
Related Incoterms guidance
Reviewed for practical procurement and logistics relevance by TradeIntel.
TradeIntel provides educational decision support and does not provide legal, tax, customs or contractual advice. Incoterms should be incorporated into a complete sales contract with a precisely named place or port.