DPUDelivered at Place Unloaded

DPU is the newest name in the rules and the only one that makes the seller unload. If you've seen "DAT" on an old quote, this is what it became. It's a narrow term, useful in a few situations, and we'll be honest that from India those situations are rare.

Rare isn't never, though. There's one very Indian problem that DPU was practically built for, and it shows up at the back doors of warehouses in Felixstowe and New Jersey every week. 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.

The Container Nobody Wanted To Unload

In April 2026 a thread on a logistics forum turned into a small group therapy session about containers from India. One voice said "Stuffing is not one of the strengths of Indian exporters." Another explained why the cartons arrived loose - "IPPC / ISPM15 wooden pallets are not standard in India and considered an unnecessary added cost for the shipper" (r/logistics, April 2026). A floor-loaded 40-footer means people hand-balling cartons for hours, a warehouse labour bill, and at a UK port a surcharge for the slow devanning.

On FOB, CIF or DAP, that bill is yours. You didn't stuff the box, you couldn't see inside it, and you still pay for unpacking the mess. DPU is the one rule that hands the unloading, and its risk and cost, back to the seller. Keep that in mind as we go through it.

What DPU Means

Delivered at Place Unloaded. The seller delivers when the goods, once unloaded from the arriving vehicle, are placed at your disposal at the named place of destination. The seller bears all risk and cost of getting them there and of unloading them. You clear import and pay duties and taxes.

It works for any mode. In the 2010 edition this was DAT, Delivered at Terminal. The ICC renamed it in 2020 because the place can be anywhere, not only a terminal, and the new name says what the seller actually does (ICC Academy, DPU or DAP, March 2025 (opens in a new tab)).

Who does what

Where The Risk Passes

After unloading, when the goods are placed at your disposal at the named place. This is the one point in the whole set of rules where unloading is at the seller's risk. A pallet dropped off the truck at your door is the seller's loss under DPU and yours under DAP.

How To Write It

DPU [terminal or warehouse name and address], Sydney, Incoterms 2020. Name the exact place, and make sure the seller can actually unload there. At a container terminal "unloaded" means discharged onto the quay. At your warehouse it means off the truck and onto your floor. Say which, and say who provides the forklift or tail-lift.

If the point of choosing DPU is the floor-loading problem, go one step further and put the packing in the PO too - palletised on ISPM 15 marked pallets (ISPM 15), with a maximum carton weight. DPU makes a bad stuffing job the seller's cost at your end. The packing clause stops it happening in the first place.

When DPU Fits, And When It Doesn't

DPU fits when the seller controls the unloading. A seller with its own destination warehouse, a seller delivering to a terminal where discharge is part of the freight it bought, or project cargo where the seller's crew unloads with its own crane all suit it. It also fits a buyer with no dock, no forklift and no wish to argue about who dropped the crate.

It doesn't fit most consumer-goods imports from India, and we'd rather say so plainly. An Indian exporter has no crew at your warehouse and every reason to avoid the unloading risk, so a DPU request usually gets a puzzled reply or a DAP quote. If you want DPU then expect to explain it, and expect a price that reflects the risk the seller takes on. That price is still worth comparing with what floor-loaded devanning costs you now.

It also doesn't fit if the named place is somewhere the seller's carrier can't legally unload, such as a bonded area where only the terminal operator handles cargo. Then the seller can't perform and the term is empty.

What To Watch Out For

• Unloading needs equipment. If you name your warehouse then the seller's truck needs a tail-lift, or you agree to lend a forklift. Silence here means an argument on delivery day.
• Terminal delivery ends early. "DPU [port terminal]" means the seller paid discharge onto the quay. Storage after that, terminal handling for collection and the truck to your site are yours. Check the free time.
• Import clearance still comes first. The goods can't be unloaded at your warehouse until you've cleared them. If your broker is slow then the seller's truck waits, and the waiting time argument lands on you.
• Old paper. DAT was retired in 2020. If a supplier writes "DAT" then ask for DPU, Incoterms 2020, so the contract names a rule that exists.

Who Uses It From India

There are no usage figures, and for DPU we have almost no India-specific signal. From our reading it appears on project and machinery shipments where the seller's engineers travel with the goods, and in some buyer-side templates from European groups. We haven't seen it on a consumer-goods quote from an Indian exporter.

What It Means For Your Landed Cost And Customs Value

You get goods, export, freight, delivery and unloading in one number, and you add import clearance, duty and tax. Enter a DPU price in the landed cost calculator as a delivered price and set the unloading line to zero.

As with DAP, the DPU price includes transport, and now unloading, beyond your border. The UK and EU let you deduct delivery costs after the border or point of entry when they're shown separately (GOV.UK Method 1 (opens in a new tab)). New Zealand and Australia value on an FOB basis and deduct international freight (NZ Customs valuation guide, May 2025 (opens in a new tab), ABF valuation fact sheet (opens in a new tab)). The US excludes international freight and insurance. Get the breakdown on the invoice. The full method is on working out the real import duty.

The seller does export and the transport documents, and you do the import entry, which keeps any FTA claim in your name. One small thing - sign the delivery receipt after unloading, not before, because under DPU that signature is the moment the risk becomes yours.

If a supplier won't offer DPU and you need the packing and unloading sorted anyway, SourcingSync (opens in a new tab) can check the stuffing in India and line up the unloading at your end.

DPU And Its Neighbours

• DPU vs DAP. The only difference is unloading. DPU, the seller unloads. DAP, you do.
• DPU vs DDP. Under DDP the seller clears import and pays duty but doesn't unload. Under DPU the seller unloads but doesn't clear import. No rule does both.
• DPU vs CIP. CIP pays for the trip and insures it, but the risk passes in India. DPU carries the risk until the goods are off the truck at your place.

The quick comparison of the terms buyers ask about most is in CIF, DDP and FOB. As for that floor-loaded 40-footer, DPU wouldn't have made the stuffing any better. It would have made it the seller's problem, and that tends to improve stuffing remarkably quickly.