Every quotation we send carries a trade term, FOB Semarang or CIF, and buyers new to importing sometimes treat the choice as a formality. It is not. It decides who books freight, who insures the cargo, and at what point the vanilla stops being our risk and becomes yours.
FOB Semarang
Under FOB (Free On Board) Semarang, our responsibility ends once the cargo is loaded onto the vessel at the port of Semarang. From that point you, or your freight forwarder, arrange and pay for ocean freight and insurance to your destination. FOB gives you control over carrier selection and shipping schedule, which matters if you already have a forwarding relationship with negotiated rates.
CIF
Under CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight), we arrange and pay for freight and insurance to your named destination port, so the price you see already includes shipping. Risk still transfers to you once the cargo is loaded in Semarang, insurance just protects the cargo in transit under our arrangement rather than yours. CIF is the simpler option if you do not have an existing forwarder relationship.
What stays the same either way
- A final quality inspection, moisture, aroma, bean condition, is carried out before dispatch under both terms.
- Export documentation is prepared by us either way.
- The risk transfer point, loading at Semarang, is identical. CIF only changes who books and pays for freight and insurance, not who bears the risk once loaded.
If you already import other commodities and have forwarding rates you trust, ask for FOB. If this is your first vanilla shipment and you would rather have one line-item cover the full landed cost to your port, ask for CIF. Confirm your Incoterm before requesting a quotation, since it changes the number you compare against other suppliers.
