DEQDelivered Ex Quay

DEQ is the oldest of the retired terms and the one that changed the most while it lived. It was retired in 2010, and its job passed to DAT and then to DPU. Here's the short history and what to write today.

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 seen DEQ on a quote from an Indian exporter in our research. What we have seen is an Indian template that gets it wrong, which is the better reason to read this page.

The Template That Mixed Two Editions

Mazagon Dock, the government shipbuilder in Mumbai, still hosts its purchase manual's "Terms of Delivery" appendix. The page says it follows "INCOTERMS-2000", then defines the term as "Delivered Ex-Quay (Duty Paid)", with the seller bearing "duties, taxes and other charges" (Mazagon Dock's purchase manual (opens in a new tab), 2006, still online on 28 September 2026).

That's the pre-2000 version of DEQ. The ICC's history notes that the 2000 edition rewrote DEQ's clearance section and moved import clearance and duty to the buyer. So one Indian page, labelled 2000, teaches the older answer to who pays the duty. If a commercial team learned DEQ from a page like that, their "DEQ" and yours may disagree on the single biggest number in the landed cost.

What DEQ Meant

Delivered Ex Quay. The seller delivered when the goods were placed at your disposal on the quay at the named port of destination, unloaded from the ship. The seller paid the freight, carried the risk across the water and paid for the discharge. It was in the first rules in 1936 as Ex Quay, and who cleared import under it depended on which edition you read.

What Replaced It

The 2010 edition dropped DEQ with DAF, DES and DDU. Its replacement was DAT, and the ICC's introduction to the 2010 rules says "DAT can therefore safely be used in cases where the Incoterms 2000 rule DEQ once was". DAT kept the one thing that made DEQ different, that the seller unloads, and widened the place from a quay to any terminal. In 2020 the ICC renamed DAT as DPU, because "DAT limits the place of delivery to a terminal". So the line runs DEQ, then DAT, then DPU, and under DPU the seller delivers unloaded and you clear import.

If A Supplier Still Quotes DEQ

Ask for DPU [port terminal name], Incoterms 2020, and then ask the one question the Mazagon page makes necessary: who pays the import duty? Under DPU it's you. If the supplier meant to pay it then the term they want is DDP, and the price should show it.

Be precise about "unloaded" too. Discharge onto the quay is the seller's. Storage after free time, collection and the truck to your site are yours, so ask the terminal for its free time before you sign. And check the seller can actually arrange discharge at your port, because it's bought through the seller's freight contract. If they can't, SourcingSync (opens in a new tab) can put a forwarder on it from the Indian side.

The Trap

Two generations out of date is a long way, and DEQ has two historical versions that disagree about import clearance. If a dispute lands on the quay then the first argument is which DEQ you meant.

DPU keeps the part worth having. Under every other current rule, unloading at your end is at your risk. Under DPU it's the seller's, so if an Indian exporter has floor-loaded a container without pallets then the slow unloading that follows is the seller's cost, not yours (trade forums, 2026, Indicative). Write DPU and you get that. Write DEQ and you get an argument.