DPU — Delivered at Place Unloaded
The only rule that obliges the seller to unload. Renamed from DAT in 2020 and widened beyond terminals.
- Group
- D — Arrival
- Transport mode
- Any mode, including multimodal.
- Named place
- The destination where the goods are unloaded and placed at the buyer's disposal.
- Main carriage paid by
- Seller
- Risk passes
- At destination, once unloaded
- Export clearance
- Seller
- Import clearance and duties
- Buyer
- Seller must insure
- No obligation on either party. Arrange your own cover.
- Unloading at destination
- Seller — the only rule that requires it.
DPU is DAP with the unloading included: the seller delivers when the goods have been unloaded at the named place and put at the buyer's disposal. It is the sole Incoterm placing the unloading obligation on the seller.
It replaced DAT (Delivered at Terminal) in the 2020 revision. The change was more than cosmetic — DAT required the destination to be a terminal, and DPU allows any named place, so a delivery unloaded at the buyer's own warehouse is now covered by a standard rule rather than an amended one.
Import clearance remains the buyer's, as under DAP.
Only agree DPU if you can actually unload at the named place. The seller takes on that obligation in a country and a facility they may not know, and unloading equipment that does not turn up is their delay, not the buyer's.
Always write the rule with its named place and the version — DPU [named place], Incoterms 2020. The rule says nothing about when ownership transfers; that is for your sales contract.