FAS (Free Alongside Ship): Bulk and Heavy-Lift Cargo Explained

FAS Free Alongside Ship, Incoterms 2020: delivery alongside the buyer's vessel, who pays loading, export clearance, a heavy-lift example and FAS vs FOB.

FAS, Free Alongside Ship, is the least used of the four maritime rules in Incoterms® 2020, but in its niche it is exactly right. The seller clears the goods for export and places them alongside the vessel nominated by the buyer at the named port of shipment, on the quay or on a barge. At that moment delivery is complete and the risk passes to the buyer. The buyer pays for loading, the sea freight, insurance, import clearance and duties.

FAS belongs to bulk commodities, timber, project cargo and heavy machinery, where the ship's own gear lifts the goods on board and the buyer charters the vessel. This lesson explains how it works and why it is the wrong rule for containers.

When should you use FAS?

FAS is appropriate when:

• the buyer charters or books a vessel and organises loading itself, often with the ship's own cranes;
• the goods are bulk, break-bulk or heavy-lift cargo, such as steel structures, boilers, logs or grain delivered by barge;
• the seller is able to bring the goods to the ship's side but has no control over the loading operation.

FAS is only for sea and inland waterway transport. It is not appropriate for containers, which are handed to the carrier at a terminal well before they reach the ship's side. For containers, use FCA.

Where does delivery happen and when does risk pass?

The seller delivers by placing the goods alongside the ship nominated by the buyer, at the loading point indicated by the buyer in the named port, on the agreed date or within the agreed period. The rule also allows the seller to deliver by procuring goods already delivered in this way, which matters in commodity chains where cargo is resold several times.

Risk passes on delivery. If the buyer fails to nominate a vessel, or the vessel does not arrive on time, cannot take the goods or closes for cargo earlier than notified, the buyer bears the risk and the additional costs from the agreed date, provided the goods are clearly identified as the contract goods.

Who pays what under FAS?

Documents and payment

The seller supplies the commercial invoice, the export declaration and the usual proof that the goods have been delivered alongside, such as a quay or dock receipt issued by the port or the vessel's agent. It has no obligation to provide a bill of lading: the carrier is the buyer's.

This matters if you are paid by letter of credit. If the credit calls for an on-board bill of lading, you depend on the buyer's carrier to issue it to you. Unlike FCA, FAS has no built-in clause for this, so write the arrangement into the contract and check the credit before shipment.

Insurance under FAS

There is no insurance obligation between the parties. The seller should insure the transport to the port and the handling until the goods are alongside. The buyer should insure from that moment, including the lift on board, often the riskiest part of a heavy-lift operation.

Worked example: two boilers from Oran

A manufacturer of industrial boilers in Oran sells two 85-tonne boilers to a sugar refinery abroad, FAS Port of Oran, heavy-lift berth designated by the buyer, Incoterms® 2020. The buyer charters a heavy-lift vessel with its own cranes.

The boilers arrive on the quay alongside the berth on 5 May 2026, the agreed date, and the buyer's agent signs a receipt: delivery is complete. The vessel arrives on 11 May. During those six days, the quay rent and the guarding costs are for the buyer, because its ship was late. On 12 May the ship's cranes lift the boilers aboard; if one had been dropped, the loss would have been the buyer's, under the buyer's insurance.

FAS compared with FOB and FCA

Read FOB for the next step up the ship's side, and compare all rules on the Incoterms matrix.

Common mistakes with FAS

• Using FAS for containers delivered to a terminal: the container never sits "alongside" under the seller's control.
• Not identifying the berth or loading point, so the seller delivers to a quay the vessel will not use.
• Assuming the seller loads because it delivered to the port.
• Leaving the waiting costs unclear when the vessel is delayed.
• A credit requiring an on-board bill of lading without any arrangement with the buyer's carrier.