DATDelivered at Terminal

DAT lived for one edition. It arrived with Incoterms 2010, was renamed DPU in 2020, and still turns up on quote templates that nobody updated. Here's what it meant and what to write instead.

The current rules are Incoterms 2020, in force since 1 January 2020, and as of 28 September 2026 the ICC has published no newer edition. The caveat - we haven't found a real Indian quote carrying DAT, so the advice below is about reading one if it lands, not about a pattern we've counted.

What DAT Meant

Delivered at Terminal. The seller delivered when the goods, unloaded from the arriving vehicle or vessel, were placed at your disposal at a named terminal at the destination. "Terminal" was wide: 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. 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 what survived.

Where It Came From And Where It Went

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 So a quote that says DAT is one generation out of date, and one that says DEQ is two.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 gives the reason plainly: "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. The obligations under DPU are the DAT obligations with a wider choice of place.

If A Supplier Still Quotes DAT

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 yours. 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 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 with the wrong letters. Ask which they intend before you build a landed cost on it. Between the two, DAP is what the Indian market understands.

The Trap

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 A dispute over that damage would be argued on a withdrawn text.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

There's a smaller trap in the word "terminal". Buyers read DAT as delivered to their own site. Under the old rule the place was whatever terminal was named, and a port terminal left everything from the quay to your door on you. DPU lets you name your own site. Use it. 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.