How gold is shipped internationally: specie carriers, insurance, Incoterms and what the buyer pays

How wholesale gold physically moves

Wholesale gold travels as valuable cargo, not as ordinary freight: armoured collection from the seller's vault or refinery, acceptance at the airport by the airline or its handling agent, carriage in the aircraft hold, and armoured delivery to the buyer's refinery or vault. The firms that run this chain are specie carriers. Companies in this category, among them Brink's Global Services, Loomis International, Malca-Amit and Ferrari Group, describe armoured transport, vaulting, customs handling and insured door-to-door delivery. Uganda Gold Report has no contract with any of them and recommends none.

Airlines accept such consignments under their own rules; two whose published rules we read describe a vault inside the cargo terminal, sealed boxes or containers, an escort to and from the aircraft, advance booking and approved routes only. We have not read IATA's definition of valuable cargo, so we state no value threshold. Ordinary post is a different matter: the one postal operator whose rules we could open treats gold bullion as unmailable without a written agreement.

Who insures the gold in transit

Transit cover for gold is written in the specie market. The Lloyd's Market Association's Joint Specie Committee describes specie insurance as cover for valuable items such as gold, silver and precious metals, and cash in transit, against loss, theft or damage in transit, in storage or on display. Insurers write it on an all-risks basis for mines, refiners, banks and armoured carriers.

There are two layers. The carrier's own policy covers consignments it carries, on its terms: carriers describe full-risk or all-risk cover door to door, or customisable liability cover. Who benefits, up to what value and with which exclusions is in the carrier's conditions. Separately, a buyer can hold its own specie policy from the point at which it bears risk. The declared value, the premium as a percentage of it, and warranties on packing, route and vaulting are set by the insurer. We publish no rate.

Incoterms for precious metals

Incoterms 2020 fix who arranges carriage, who must insure, and where risk passes; they do not fix who owns the gold. The first four columns follow ICC's own explanations; the last is trade usage, not an ICC rule.

For gold from Uganda, FCA with handover inside the country raises the unsettled question whether a foreign buyer may take title there without a Ugandan licence: see how buying works.

Title is not risk

ICC states that transfer of property or title to goods is not governed by the Incoterms rules and remains largely a matter of national law and the contract of sale. "Risk passes at the carrier's door" says nothing about when the buyer owns the gold; the contract must say both.

Two structures are common. Refining contracts filed publicly pay the supplier after receipt and assay, in one filed contract 15 days after sampling, so payment follows the assayed weight and fineness. The alternative, payment against documents, is trade usage and leaves the buyer relying on the seller's certificate until its own assay is in. See assay and umpire terms.

What the buyer pays, in principle

No figure here is a quotation; who pays each item depends on the Incoterm and the contract.

• Carriage. Quoted by the carrier per consignment; no published tariff found.
• Insurance. A premium set by the insurer as a percentage of the declared value.
• Assay. The buying refinery's assay, and an umpire laboratory if results differ.
• Ugandan export levy. The copy of S.I. 30 of 2024 we read states USD 200 per kilogram on processed gold, paid by the exporter to the revenue authority at export; force not confirmed.
• Ugandan clearing. The Uganda Trade Portal estimates USD 50 per container for a clearing agent, on a page pre-dating the 2022 Act.
• Destination duty and VAT. Set by each market: see importing gold into the UAE.

Leaving Uganda: the departure steps

Under the Mining and Minerals Act 2022, a mineral may be exported only under an export permit, which does not exempt the exporter from proof of fees and royalties, a certificate of origin where applicable, and a certificate of analysis authenticated by the country of origin (s.150). The Uganda Trade Portal's gold export procedure then runs: dealer's licence, export permit, movement permit, certificate of analysis from the directorate, a contracted clearing agent, a customs declaration on the electronic single window, notification of customs on arrival of the consignment at the Uganda Revenue Authority's office at Entebbe International Airport, taxes where applicable, physical verification and release; the copy we read cites pre-2022 forms.

In January 2024 the revenue authority was reported to have told airlines not to accept gold shipments from exporters with unpaid tax arrears. We have not confirmed the current airline and airport handling rules for gold at Entebbe. See how gold is lawfully exported from Uganda and what each export document should prove.

Arriving: each market has its own rules

The destination's customs, due-diligence and tax rules differ by market. The UAE's due-diligence regulations require a dealer or refiner to keep, for each supply, shipping documents showing the chain of custody: see importing gold into the UAE. We state nothing for the United States, whose customs page on gold we could not open; compliance teams can request our compliance file.

"Shipping" fees that signal a fraud

Reported cases follow one script: the buyer pays for something around the shipment before any gold moves, and the gold never moves. A Daily Monitor investigation of October 2024 describes an investor's claims of USD 421,000 paid as storage fees for a "576 kg" consignment, and USD 217,800 for an ICGLR certificate later found to be forged; the newspaper could not verify the figures. In May 2026 Kampala police were reported to have arrested four people after a buyer paid USD 103,050 for insurance, tax and logistics on gold for Dubai that was never sent. In an April 2026 case, gold bought by foreign investors was placed with a security company for storage pending export, and later disappeared. A 2022 Global Initiative bulletin records forged export permits, freight receipts and an air-freight bill. The "diplomatic courier" variant appears in scam-email archives, not in the Ugandan police or court reports we read.

A genuine carrier is contracted and paid by the party the contract names: the seller under CPT, CIP, DAP or DDP; the buyer under FCA, paying its own carrier directly. A buyer never pays an agent in advance for "airport clearance", "storage", "insurance" or "security". See Uganda gold scams and the due-diligence checks.

What to put in the contract about shipping

• The Incoterm, its edition (Incoterms 2020) and the exact named place: a vault or refinery address, not a city
• Which party contracts and pays the specie carrier
• The insurance: whose policy, declared value basis, insured party, and the certificate produced before departure
• Where title passes, separately from risk, and the payment trigger: after assay or against documents
• The export permit for this consignment and the certificate of analysis, as conditions of shipment
• The packing list (bar numbers, weights, seals) and the assay and umpire procedure on arrival
• Who bears the Ugandan export levy, and destination duty and VAT
• That the buyer pays no fee to any agent, intermediary or "security company"

See documents and compliance and refined gold bars.

Where Uganda Gold Report stands

Uganda Gold Report is developing documented gold-sourcing routes and welcomes enquiries from qualified international buyers. Product availability, specifications, seller authority and export eligibility are subject to independent verification and applicable regulatory approvals.

No shipment has been made by Uganda Gold Report, and no carrier or insurer is appointed. Send us your form, fineness, quantity and delivery point, and we reply with what can and cannot be quoted at this stage.