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.
FAS puts the goods on the quay or on a lighter next to the vessel the buyer nominated. Risk passes there, so loading is the buyer's cost and the buyer's exposure. The seller clears for export.
It exists for cargo that is loaded as a bulk or project operation rather than handed over as a unit — grain, ore, heavy lift — where "alongside" is a real, observable moment with its own costs. For anything in a container it is the wrong rule, because a container is delivered to a terminal days before it is anywhere near a ship.
Never use FAS for containerised cargo. The delivery point it describes does not occur in a container flow, which leaves risk transfer genuinely unclear at exactly the moment you would 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.