The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) defines the tenth Incoterm, Delivered Ex Ship (DES), at a named port of destination, as “the seller delivers when the goods are placed at the disposal of the buyer on board the ship not cleared for import at the named port of destination. The seller has to bear all the costs and risk involved in bringing the goods to the named port of destination before discharging. If the parties wish the seller to bear the costs and risks of discharging the goods, then the DEQ term should be used”. Delivered at Frontier is the first of the five D-terms, also known as the arrival terms, the other being Delivered At Frontier (DAF), Delivered Ex Quay (DEQ), Delivered Duty Unpaid (DDU), and Delivered Duty Paid (DDP). It is important to remember that this term can only be used when the goods are to be delivered by sea or inland waterway or multimodal transport on a vessel in the port of destination. According to Professor Jan Ramsberg, the chairman of the ICC Working Party on Trade Terms, the seller’s primary duty is to deliver the goods on board the ship to the port of destination; to provide a document to enable the buyer to take delivery from the ship i.e. bill of lading or delivery order; and to arrange export clearance. The buyer’s primary duty is to accept delivery of the goods from the ship at the port of destination and to arrange import clearance. The documents required in terms of the contract of sale should be the commercial invoice and the bill of lading or the delivery order and any other documents needed for the transit of the goods through any country or for import clearance. The critical points of DES are that the carriage must be arranged by the seller and the risk and cost transfer from the seller to the buyer when the goods are placed at the disposal of the buyer on board the ship. Next week’s column will focus on the seller’s obligations under Delivered Ex Ship (DES).
