FAS — Free Alongside Ship
When the goods are placed alongside the ship at the named port of shipment.
The insurance position
Nobody is obliged to insure under FAS. 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.
A narrow but real window: the goods sit on the quay, at the buyer's risk, before they are loaded.
Where risk passes
When the goods are placed alongside the ship at the named port of shipment.
Where cost passes
Same point.
What a broker would tell you
Used for bulk and break-bulk, rarely for containers. Buyers need cover that attaches alongside, not on loading.
The mistake that gets made
Using FAS for containerised cargo, which is handed over at a terminal days before it is ever alongside anything.
Who is exposed
A narrow but real window: the goods sit on the quay, at the buyer's risk, before they are loaded.
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 sea and inland waterway
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.