DPU (Delivered at Place Unloaded): The Rule That Replaced DAT

DPU Delivered at Place Unloaded, Incoterms 2020: the only rule where the seller unloads at destination. Risk, costs, documents, example, DPU vs DAP vs DDP.

DPU, Delivered at Place Unloaded, is the Incoterms® 2020 rule in which the seller carries the goods to a named place of destination and delivers them only once they have been unloaded there. It is the only one of the eleven rules that makes unloading at destination the seller's job. Until the goods are on the ground at the named place, every cost and every risk is the seller's; afterwards, the buyer takes over, including import clearance, duties and taxes.

DPU is the 2020 successor of DAT, Delivered at Terminal. This lesson explains why the ICC changed it, when it is worth using and how it compares with DAP and DDP.

From DAT to DPU: what changed?

Under Incoterms 2010, DAT required the seller to deliver the goods unloaded at a named terminal: a quay, a warehouse, a container yard or a road, rail or air cargo terminal. Users asked to be able to agree unloaded delivery at other places too, such as a factory, a distribution centre or a construction site.

The 2020 edition answered by renaming the rule Delivered at Place Unloaded. The unloading obligation is unchanged; the destination can now be any place. The ICC also moved the rule after DAP, since it adds one step to DAP's delivery.

When should you use DPU?

DPU makes sense when:

• the seller has, or can reliably hire, the equipment and staff to unload at the destination, for example a truck with its own crane;
• the goods are heavy or awkward and the buyer has no handling equipment;
• the seller delivers to a terminal where it has a contract with the operator for unloading;
• the buyer wants the seller to bear the risk of unloading, which is often when damage happens.

Do not use DPU if you cannot control unloading at the buyer's site: you would bear a risk you cannot manage. Sell DAP instead. And if the buyer expects you to pay the import duties, the rule you need is DDP, which does not include unloading.

Where does delivery happen and when does risk pass?

The seller delivers by unloading the goods from the arriving means of transport and placing them at the buyer's disposal at the agreed point within the named place. Risk passes at that moment. If the parties did not agree a specific point, the seller may choose the point within the named place that suits it best, which is a good reason to name the exact spot.

Who pays what under DPU?

Documents and payment

The seller provides, at its own cost, a document that enables the buyer to take delivery, usually the transport document or a delivery order, together with the commercial invoice, packing list and the certificates the buyer needs for import clearance. Under a letter of credit, the same advice as for DAP applies: accept documents issued at shipment by carriers and authorities, never a delivery receipt that only the buyer can sign.

Insurance under DPU

There is no insurance obligation between the parties. But the seller bears the risk until the goods are unloaded, so its policy must cover the whole journey plus the unloading operation. Check that your insurer covers loading and unloading with the equipment you use, such as a lorry-mounted crane.

Worked example: steel racking to a warehouse near Lyon

A manufacturer of steel storage racks in Tlemcen sells a racking system to a logistics company, DPU Corbas, buyer's logistics platform, Gate 3, Incoterms® 2020. The goods travel in two trailers on a roll-on roll-off ferry from Oran to Marseille, then by road to Corbas.

The buyer's customs broker clears the goods for import into the EU at Marseille and the buyer pays the duties and import VAT. On 20 April 2026 the trailers arrive at Gate 3. The seller's crane operator unloads the racks onto the yard. During unloading a bundle of uprights slips and is bent. The loss is the seller's, because delivery had not yet taken place; under DAP it would have been the buyer's.

DPU compared with DAP and DDP

See all the rules side by side in the Incoterms matrix, and see duties and taxes for what the buyer will pay on import.

Common mistakes with DPU

• Choosing DPU by default because "unloaded sounds more complete", without the means to unload.
• Assuming DPU includes import duties: it does not; only DDP does.
• Still writing DAT in contracts referring to Incoterms 2020; DAT does not exist in that version.
• No precise unloading point at a large site, port or industrial zone.
• Insurance that stops at arrival and does not cover the unloading operation.