CPT — Carriage Paid To
When the goods are handed to the first carrier — at origin, long before the named destination.
The insurance position
Nobody is obliged to insure under CPT. The rule allocates cost and risk, and stops there. Whoever bears the risk over a leg of the journey is the party with something to lose on it.
The buyer bears the risk of the entire main carriage while the seller is paying for it — the classic split that leaves cargo uninsured.
Where risk passes
When the goods are handed to the first carrier — at origin, long before the named destination.
Where cost passes
At the named destination. The seller pays carriage the whole way but stops bearing risk at origin.
What a broker would tell you
If you are the buyer on CPT, arrange your own cover attaching at the first carrier. Nothing in the rule makes the seller insure, and the seller has no incentive to, since the risk is not theirs.
The mistake that gets made
Assuming that because the seller pays the freight, the seller also insures. CPT is CIP without the insurance obligation; the letter I is the whole difference.
Who is exposed
The buyer bears the risk of the entire main carriage while the seller is paying for it — the classic split that leaves cargo uninsured.
Where a seller has sold on terms that put the risk on the buyer and payment has not been received, seller's interest cover is the usual fallback — it responds when the buyer turns out not to have insured.
Seller's interest cover →Other rules for any mode
Sources
Incoterms® is a registered trademark of the International Chamber of Commerce. This page summarises the insurance consequences of the rule; the ICC publication is the rule.
This page summarises the instruments above. It is not the wording, and it is not legal advice. Where a summary conflicts with a convention text, a policy wording or a certificate, that document governs.
InsuranceScanner is an insurance intermediary, not an insurer — see the Terms for our role. Nothing here is a personal recommendation that a particular cover, sum insured or deductible is suitable for you. Where anything on this page conflicts with the certificate, policy schedule or wording issued by an insurer, that document governs.