DATDelivered at Terminal

DAT had the shortest life of any Incoterm, just one edition. It arrived with Incoterms 2010, became DPU in 2020, and still turns up on quote templates nobody bothered to update. So what did it mean, and what do you write instead? Both answers are below.

We're on Incoterms 2020, which took effect on 1 January 2020, and the ICC had no newer edition out as of 28 September 2026. A caveat before you read on - we haven't found a real Indian quote carrying DAT, so the advice here is about reading one if it lands, not about a pattern we've counted.

What DAT Meant

Delivered at Terminal. The seller delivered once the goods, unloaded from the arriving vehicle or vessel, were placed at your disposal at a named terminal at the destination. "Terminal" was a wide word, covering a quay, a warehouse, a container yard, or a road, rail or air cargo terminal. The seller carried the risk and cost up to and including the unloading, and you cleared import and paid the duty.

It was the only rule in the 2010 set where the seller unloaded, and that one feature is the bit that survived.

Where DAT Came From and What It Became

DAT itself replaced DEQ, Delivered Ex Quay, in 2010. The ICC's introduction to that edition says DAT "can therefore safely be used in cases where the Incoterms 2000 rule DEQ once was". So a quote that says DAT is one generation out of date, and one that says DEQ is two.

In 2020 the ICC renamed it DPU, Delivered at Place Unloaded. The ICC Academy's reason is refreshingly plain - "As DAT limits the place of delivery to a terminal, in Incoterms 2020, the reference to terminal has been removed to make it more general." The US International Trade Administration says the same thing, and the DPU obligations are simply the DAT ones with a wider choice of place.

How to Requote a DAT Offer

Ask for DPU [terminal or warehouse name and address], Incoterms 2020, then settle what DAT left vague. If the place is a container terminal then "unloaded" means discharged onto the quay, and storage, collection and the truck to your site are on you. If it's your warehouse then it means off the truck at your dock, and you should say whether the seller brings a tail-lift or uses your forklift by agreement.

Then ask whether they actually mean it. Indian exporters rarely have a crew at your end and rarely want the unloading risk, so a DAT line on an Indian template is often a DAP price wearing the wrong letters.

Find out which one they intend before you build a landed cost on it. Between the two, DAP is what the Indian market understands.

The Unloading Trap

The whole point of DAT was that the seller carried the risk during unloading, which is exactly when a pallet slides off a truck. A fight over that damage would be argued on a withdrawn text. Write DPU and the fight doesn't start.

There's a smaller trap hiding in the word "terminal". Buyers tend to read DAT as delivered to their own site, but under the old rule the place was whatever terminal got named, and a port terminal left everything from the quay to your door on you. DPU lets you name your own site, and in our opinion you should. If the supplier can't do DPU and you still need the unloading handled, SourcingSync (opens in a new tab) can arrange it from the Indian side.