FCA (Free Carrier)

FCA gives the seller a limited but clearly defined role: prepare the goods, clear them for export, and hand them over to a carrier the buyer has nominated, at an agreed named place. That place can be the seller's own premises or another location such as a freight terminal. Once the handover happens, risk passes to the buyer, who arranges and pays for the main international carriage onwards.

The exact delivery moment depends on the named place. If the named place is the seller's premises, delivery happens when the goods are loaded onto the buyer's collecting vehicle. If the named place is anywhere else, delivery happens when the goods arrive at that place on the seller's transport, ready for unloading (the seller does not unload). Naming the place precisely is therefore essential.

FCA strikes a practical balance: the seller handles the part of the journey it controls — including export formalities in its own country — while the buyer takes over the international leg, where the buyer often has better freight rates and visibility.

The ICC and most trade bodies recommend FCA instead of FOB for containerised and multimodal shipments. FOB is a maritime-only rule designed for goods loaded over the ship's rail, but modern containers are handed over at a terminal days before they are actually loaded onto a vessel. Using FOB in that situation creates a dangerous gap where it is unclear who bears the risk between terminal handover and vessel loading.

FCA solves this because risk passes cleanly at the point of handover to the carrier — typically the container terminal — which matches how container logistics actually work. Incoterms 2020 also added a useful provision: the buyer can instruct its carrier to issue an on-board bill of lading to the seller, which sellers often need to get paid under a letter of credit. This addressed a long-standing reason sellers clung to FOB.