FCA - Free Carrier
Also known as: FCA clause
Incoterms® clause for all modes of transport: seller hands over the export-cleared goods to a carrier nominated by the buyer at an agreed place — the ICC-recommended container alternative to FOB and EXW.
Description
FCA (Free Carrier) is the container clause explicitly recommended by the ICC for years and the most flexible of the eleven Incoterms®: it works for sea, air, rail, road and multimodal transport. The seller hands the export-cleared goods to the carrier nominated by the buyer at an agreed place — usually either at the seller's own premises (case A, with loading onto the arriving vehicle) or at another location such as a container depot or freight terminal (case B, ready for unloading on the delivering vehicle).
New in Incoterms® 2020: for FCA "on board vessel" the buyer can instruct the carrier to issue the seller an on-board bill of lading — previously a grey area that hampered letter-of-credit payments under FCA. For Far East textile sourcing FCA is the technically correct choice for container FCL shipments where the buyer contracts with the shipping line. In practice many suppliers still insist on FOB because it has traditionally been most common in the Far East.
Properties
| Mode of transport | Any mode of transport (multimodal capable) |
|---|---|
| Seller bears | Packaging, export clearance, handover to carrier |
| Buyer bears | Main carriage, insurance, import, onward carriage |
| New in 2020 | On-board bill of lading possible on request |
Related product categories
Sources & references
1- ICC Incoterms® 2020 iccwbo.org https://iccwbo.org/business-solutions/incoterms-rules/incoterms-2020/
