Exporters dealing with customers in potentially “difficult” countries are familiar with the conflict between their buyers’ demands and their own wish to reduce their risk.

Where local administrative and/or transport infrastructure is unreliable, use of DAT, DAP or DDP can give rise to significant costs for the exporter when goods are held up either in transit or whilst awaiting customs clearance

But what constitutes a “difficult” country to export to, and in what respect are these countries risky?

A project by the World Bank attempts to quantify these issues.

Data is collected for many countries and presented in the form of the Logistics Performance Index

https://lpi.worldbank.org/international/scorecard

Subscores are generated on these six criteria

• Efficiency of import procedures, including customs clearance
• Quality of transport infrastructure
• Ease of obtaining competitive pricing for goods
• Competence of logistical services
• Ability to track and trace consignments
• Timeliness of deliveries

These results can provide valuable guidance as to the actual risks involved when choosing a “D” rule.