DAP — Delivered at Place
The seller carries cost and risk to the named destination, and delivers the goods ready for unloading but not unloaded.
- Group
- D — Arrival
- Transport mode
- Any mode, including multimodal.
- Named place
- The destination where the goods are placed at the buyer's disposal, still on the arriving vehicle.
- Main carriage paid by
- Seller
- Risk passes
- At destination, ready for unloading
- Export clearance
- Seller
- Import clearance and duties
- Buyer
- Seller must insure
- No obligation on either party. Arrange your own cover.
- Unloading at destination
- Buyer.
Under DAP the seller bears everything up to the named destination: the carriage, the risk and the export formalities. Delivery happens when the goods are put at the buyer's disposal on the arriving vehicle, ready to be unloaded. Unloading is the buyer's job.
Import clearance and duties are also the buyer's. That is the difference between DAP and DDP. It is normally the right split, because the buyer is the party based in the destination country and able to act as importer of record.
If the goods are held at the border because the buyer has not cleared them, the delay and any charges from it fall on the buyer. This is true even though the seller still carries the risk in the goods until delivery is made.
DAP does not include unloading. If the buyer needs the seller to unload at destination, use DPU. Agreeing DAP and then arguing about who pays for the crane on the day is a common dispute.
Always write the rule with its named place and the version — DAP [named place], Incoterms 2020. The rule says nothing about when ownership transfers; that is for your sales contract.