CPTCarriage Paid To

CPT is the term hiding inside most "freight prepaid" air quotes from India. The seller pays to get the goods to your named place, and your risk starts the moment an Indian carrier signs for them. Here's how to use it on purpose rather than by accident.

In April 2025 a US Amazon seller posted about an order from a manufacturer in India that was meant to go by air. After "some pickup delays from my manufacturer in India due to their inexperience with Amazon air freight", the goods weren't picked up until day 40 (r/FulfillmentByAmazon, Apr 2025 (opens in a new tab)). Air freight is supposed to be the fast option, and it was, once the goods reached a carrier. We'll keep that seller in mind, because the handover to the first carrier is the moment CPT turns on. One caveat - the rules quoted are Incoterms 2020, in force since 1 January 2020, and as of 28 September 2026 the ICC has published no newer edition.

What CPT Actually Means

Carriage Paid To. The seller delivers the goods to a carrier it has contracted, at an agreed place in India, cleared for export, and pays the carriage to the named place of destination. Risk passes at that first handover, not at the destination.

It works for any mode and for several modes in one shipment. It's the any-mode cousin of CFR.

Who does what

Where The Risk Passes

When the seller hands the goods to the first carrier at the agreed place in India. For a container that's the depot or the forwarder's warehouse. For air it's the cargo terminal or the forwarder's shed. Everything from there to your named destination travels at your risk, even though the seller has paid for it.

Now think about our Amazon seller. For 40 days the goods sat with the maker, and under CPT nothing had been delivered yet. The risk was still the seller's, which sounds like good news until you remember that risk isn't the same as time. Your stock-out clock doesn't care whose risk it is. CPT tells you who carries a loss. It says nothing about when the handover happens unless your contract does.

How To Write It

CPT has two places, and you should name both. The first is where the seller hands over to the carrier, which fixes the risk point. The second is the destination the seller pays carriage to.

Write CPT Chicago O'Hare Airport, Incoterms 2020, delivery to carrier at [forwarder's warehouse], Mumbai, and add a date: "handover to carrier no later than [date]". If you only name the destination then the risk passes wherever the seller chooses to hand over, and the date is whenever it happens.

When CPT Fits And When It Doesn't

CPT fits air freight, containers and multimodal moves where the seller has good rates and you're happy for it to book, but you'd rather insure through your own policy. It's also the ICC's recommended term for containers when the seller pays the freight.

It fits small buyers without a forwarder, moving a few hundred kilos by air. Indian suppliers' courier and air rates can be two to three times cheaper than what a foreign buyer gets on its own account (importers on trade forums, 2024 to 2026), so CPT to your airport is often the better number.

It doesn't fit a maker who has never shipped export air freight. That's our seller's lesson. Before you agree CPT, ask the supplier which forwarder it uses for air, and when it last shipped to your country. A supplier that can't answer isn't a bad supplier (plenty of good makers only ever ship by sea), but it'll learn air freight on your order. If that's where you are, a forwarder you appoint on FCA terms is usually faster.

What To Watch Out For

The courier becomes your importer. When a supplier ships on its own courier account to the US, the courier is often listed as importer of record, and any duty refund goes to the courier. CPT to your door by an integrator is exactly where this happens. Tell the supplier you must be the importer of record and give the courier your details before dispatch. The whole trap, by country, is on low-value imports.

Export holds are the seller's problem, and your delay. Indian customs can pull a courier or air shipment for examination or a valuation query before it leaves, as the Jaipur exporter found in 2026. Under CPT the seller must clear export, so the contract date is its to meet, but you should still pad the plan.

Unloading at destination depends on the seller's carriage contract, so ask for the terms. And since the seller pays the freight, it'll ask for more when rates spike. Agree a freight-adjustment mechanism up front rather than arguing mid-contract.

What CPT Means For Your Landed Cost

Goods plus carriage to your named place in one number. Everything after, including import charges, duty and tax, is yours. For small air consignments, get a door-to-door express quote as your comparison and put both into the landed cost calculator.

The CPT price includes carriage. The UK and the EU include transport to the border in the customs value anyway, so it's close to their base. The US, New Zealand and Australia exclude international freight, so ask the seller to show the carriage separately on the invoice. The detail is on the CIF page and on working out the real import duty.

CPT vs Its Neighbours

• CPT vs CIP. Same term plus insurance. Under CIP the seller must buy all-risks cover (Clauses A) for you.
• CPT vs CFR. CFR is sea only and passes risk on board. CPT passes risk at the first carrier.
• CPT vs FCA. Same risk point. Under FCA you book and pay the carriage, so you pick who collects and when.
• CPT vs DAP. Under DAP the seller carries the risk to your named place. CPT only pays for the trip.

Back To Day 40

Our Amazon seller's order did fly in the end. What cost them wasn't the term, it was a handover nobody had dated, with a maker new to air freight. CPT is a sensible term for small India air orders when the supplier knows the route. Name the handover place, date it, confirm who's importer of record, and ask how often the maker has done this before. If the answer is "never", book the collection yourself.