FAS — Free Alongside Ship
The seller delivers the goods alongside the ship at the named port. Risk passes on the quay, before loading.
- Group
- F — Main carriage unpaid
- Transport mode
- Sea and inland waterway only. Delivery is measured against a vessel, so it does not describe a container handover.
- Named place
- The port of shipment, where the goods are placed alongside the vessel.
- Main carriage paid by
- Buyer
- Risk passes
- Alongside the vessel
- 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 FAS the seller places the goods on the quay, or on a barge, next to the vessel the buyer chose. Risk passes there. Loading is the buyer's cost and the buyer's risk. The seller clears the goods for export.
It exists for cargo that is loaded in bulk or as a project operation, such as grain, ore or heavy lift. For that cargo, "alongside" is a real moment you can see, with its own costs. For anything in a container it is the wrong rule. A container is delivered to a terminal days before it goes anywhere near a ship.
Never use FAS for containerised cargo. The delivery point it describes does not happen in a container shipment. That leaves the risk transfer point unclear, at exactly the moment you need it to be certain.
Always write the rule with its named place and the version — FAS [named place], Incoterms 2020. The rule says nothing about when ownership transfers; that is for your sales contract.