DAT Meaning: Delivered at Terminal Incoterm and DPU

DAT stands for Delivered at Terminal, an Incoterm from the Incoterms 2010 rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The seller delivers when the goods, unloaded from the arriving means of transport, are placed at the buyer's disposal at a named terminal, and the seller carries the costs and risks up to that moment, unloading included. In Incoterms 2020 the rule was renamed DPU (Delivered at Place Unloaded): the same split of duties, but at any agreed place, not only a terminal. That is the meaning of DAT in logistics today: a rule still found in older contracts, with DPU as its current form.

How the DAT rule works

DAT entered the Incoterms in 2010. Together with DAP it replaced four Incoterms 2000 rules: DAF, DES, DEQ and DDU (Delivered Duty Unpaid), whose role DAP took over. From DEQ (Delivered Ex Quay) it kept the principle that the buyer receives the goods already unloaded. DAT belongs to the rules for any mode of transport, so it can also be used for a delivery made only by truck. The terminal is understood broadly: the ICC gives a port, an airport or a rail terminal as examples.

The duties are split like this:

• The seller contracts and pays for the carriage to the terminal, unloads the goods there, carries the risk of loss or damage until delivery and clears the goods for export where that applies.
• The buyer takes over the goods at the terminal, clears them for import, pays the import duties and taxes and arranges any onward transport.

From DAT to DPU in Incoterms 2020

With Incoterms 2020 the ICC changed DAT into DPU, Delivered at Place Unloaded. According to the ICC this was not a new rule: it was "simply renamed and moved", to make clear that the destination can be any place and not just a terminal. Because delivery under DAP happens before unloading and under DPU after it, Incoterms 2020 now lists DPU after DAP.

The unloading duty stayed. DPU is the only Incoterms rule that requires the seller to unload the goods at destination, and the ICC advises using DAP instead if the seller should not carry the risk and cost of unloading. Older contracts keep working, because each contract is governed by the Incoterms version it refers to: a sale on "DAT container terminal Rotterdam, Incoterms 2010" is still performed under the 2010 rules. For new contracts, the ICC Academy's advice is to change over from DAT to DPU.

DAT, DAP and DDP: who unloads, who clears import

The delivered rules differ above all in two questions: who takes the goods off the vehicle at destination, and who handles import clearance.

• DAT (Incoterms 2010) and DPU (Incoterms 2020): the seller unloads, the buyer clears the goods for import and pays the duties.
• DAP, where the goods arrive ready for unloading by the buyer: the seller delivers on the arriving vehicle, and unloading and import clearance are the buyer's job.
• DDP, where the seller also clears import and pays the duties and import taxes: the goods arrive cleared, but unloading still falls to the buyer.

All eleven rules with their split of costs and risks are compared in the Incoterms 2020 overview with a comparison table of all terms.

DAT and DPU on a transport order

Under DAT and DPU the seller books and pays the carriage, so the seller is usually the carrier's customer, and the buyer collects the goods at the terminal or other agreed place. Risk passes to the buyer only after unloading, so damage while the goods come off the trailer is the seller's problem towards the buyer. Three points belong on the order:

• who physically unloads (the driver, the terminal staff or a third party) and who pays for it;
• the exact unloading point, the gate or ramp where the goods come off the vehicle, with the opening hours of the terminal or warehouse;
• how much time is planned for unloading and who pays if the truck waits longer.

If the order says DAT rather than DPU, ask the customer whether the sales contract really refers to Incoterms 2010. A rule name without the edition year leaves room to argue about who unloads and where delivery ends.