On the operations desk, the agreed FOB term tells a freight forwarder that the seller's responsibility ends once the cargo is on board at the named port of shipment, and that the buyer arranges and pays for the main carriage onward, which is unlike CFR and CIF where the seller books and pays the freight. The decision the term drives is who books the vessel and where the handover and risk transfer fall, so quoting, booking, and insurance all follow from it. The line to draw is that FOB is widely misused for containerised cargo: because risk does not pass until the goods are actually on board, and containers are usually handed to the carrier at a terminal days before loading, FCA is the correct rule for containers, since it transfers risk at the point of handover rather than at on-board loading.
Glossary
FOB (Free On Board)
Free On Board (FOB) is the Incoterms rule, for sea or inland-waterway transport only, under which the seller delivers when the goods are loaded on board the vessel nominated by the buyer at the named port of shipment, with risk of loss or damage passing to the buyer at that point.