How two senior trade professionals are navigating Incoterms® challenges in their organisations

Real examples of how the Incoterms® 2020 Certificate has helped professionals deepen their expertise

These stories show how senior logistics, procurement, and trade professionals applied ICC-approved knowledge not just for themselves – but to lead team alignment, structure internal training, and help their teams apply Incoterms® 2020 correctly in real-world operations.

For many organisations, Incoterms® knowledge lives with a handful of individuals – not across the team.

Praveenkumar Miriyala

Learning about the layers of pricing and responsibilities in Incoterms® rules has been crucial to my role, especially during supplier negotiations.

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Driving cost clarity and leading internal alignment

How one procurement lead used his deeper understanding of the Incoterms® 2020 rules to identify the gaps in his team’s approach to landed cost calculations and supplier negotiations.

When Bambaw began reviewing its input terms and landed cost calculations in its ERP system, Praveenkumar saw that teams lacked clarity on how to use the Incoterms® 2020 rules.

…it was unclear because it was done through a legacy process. There was a lack of knowledge. The 2020 update to the Incoterms® rules brought confusion, and we had no clue how to proceed.

This ambiguity posed a risk to supplier negotiations and freight responsibility. As someone overseeing the end-to-end supply chain operations in a high-growth ecommerce environment, he recognised that he needed a stronger personal foundation in the rules before he could meaningfully address the gaps he was seeing.

He pursued the Incoterms® 2020 Certificate, which gave him confidence to:

• Structure internal discussions on delivery responsibility
• Guide supplier negotiations with accurate pricing layers
• Build a reliable foundation for applying Incoterms® across operations

The certification gave us a reliable foundation, and we got a clear understanding of Incoterms®, especially during the 2020 update when there was a lot of uncertainty about how to apply the new rules.

Key takeaways

Incoterms® 2020 Certificate

Get certified on the Incoterms® 2020 Rules directly from the organisation that created them, the ICC.

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Mariah Hauser

At the end of the day, everyone is moving freight and knowing how and when to use Incoterms®, and the costs and responsibilities tied to them is crucial.

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How one advisor is helping exporters reduce costly mishaps

As an international trade specialist supporting over 150 manufacturers, Mariah Hauser plays a frontline role in helping Ohio’s SMEs avoid costly export missteps.

A common challenge she encounters? Misuse or misunderstanding of Incoterms® and the costly downstream consequences it has.

Another common area of confusion is Incoterms®. Many businesses either use the wrong term or don’t fully understand what the terms refer to in terms of cost, risk, and responsibility.

To better support her clients, she pursued the Incoterms® 2020 Certificate, which strengthened her ability to:

• Provide ICC-approved guidance on the correct use of Incoterms® rules to clients
• Structure education sessions for teams around real-world scenarios  
• Help businesses align on cost, risk, and delivery responsibilities

…understanding Incoterms® isn’t just about logistics, it’s about protecting your business. We want to make sure our clients know where their responsibility ends, where the buyer’s begins, and how to avoid costly surprises.

Key takeaways

Both Praveenkumar and Mariah’s experiences point to the same underlying challenge – when Incoterms® knowledge isn’t consistent across a team, the risks are real and recurring.

If this resonates with you, perhaps a structured Incoterms® workshop for your team is the right next step.