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Carriage Paid To - Definition & Meaning | Logistics Glossary

CPT

GlossaryEN1 min readUpdated: Jun 22, 2026

Carriage Paid To

Carriage Paid To (CPT) is an Incoterms trade term under which the seller contracts for carriage and pays the freight charges to the named destination, so the buyer receives the goods free of transport costs.

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Carriage Paid To (CPT) is an Incoterms trade term under which the seller contracts for carriage and pays the freight charges to the named destination, so the buyer receives the goods free of…

Risk, however, transfers from seller to buyer at the point of handover to the first carrier – not at the destination – a distinction that matters when cargo is lost or damaged in transit.

CPT applies to all modes of transport, including multimodal shipments, whereas CFR and CIF are restricted to sea and inland waterway transport.

Last updated: 22 June 2026Published: 19 June 2025

Source: https://iccwbo.org/business-solutions/incoterms-rules/

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Definition & Explanation

Carriage Paid To (CPT) is an Incoterms trade term under which the seller contracts for carriage and pays the freight charges to the named destination, so the buyer receives the goods free of transport costs. Risk, however, transfers from seller to buyer at the point of handover to the first carrier – not at the destination – a distinction that matters when cargo is lost or damaged in transit. CPT applies to all modes of transport, including multimodal shipments, whereas CFR and CIF are restricted to sea and inland waterway transport. The older term "franco" expresses the same concept of seller-paid freight but without the precise risk-allocation rules of modern Incoterms. CPT should also not be confused with DDP: under CPT, import duties and customs clearance at destination remain the buyer's responsibility.

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Recommended format: Source: Freight Academy – Carriage Paid To (https://www.freight-academy.com/en/glossary/carriage-paid-to), accessed 2026-09-14
APA style: Freight Academy Editorial Team. (2025). Carriage Paid To. Freight Academy. https://www.freight-academy.com/en/glossary/carriage-paid-to
BibTeX: @misc{carriagepaidto2025, title = {Carriage Paid To}, author = {{Freight Academy Editorial Team}}, year = {2025}, url = {https://www.freight-academy.com/en/glossary/carriage-paid-to}, note = {Freight Academy, accessed 2026-09-14} }

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