Most freight forwarders are built around standard containers. Icon Logistics was built around what doesn't fit one. Roll-on/roll-off vessels, break-bulk projects, oversized industrial equipment, and the customs and documentation work that goes with them have been our home turf since 2007.
We are a U.S.-based forwarder with operations in Laurel, Maryland and direct lane coverage to West and Central Africa. Our work spans air, ocean, land, and intermodal moves, but the throughline is the same: the more complicated a shipment is, the more our team is the right team to own it end to end.
By the numbers
What 18 years of moving cargo looks like.
How we got here
It started with one observation that turned into a long list. The freight forwarding industry was full of gaps where digital tools should have been doing the heavy lifting and instead a human was filling out a spreadsheet at midnight. Manual processes that should have been automated. Coordination between carriers, brokers, and warehouses that should have been a single thread. Visibility for the customer that should have been live data, not a phone call.
So we did things differently from the start, and we kept doing them differently as we grew.
Founded in Laurel, Maryland
Icon opened its doors in 2007 with a focus on heavy and specialized cargo lanes that other forwarders avoided. The first office is still our headquarters.
Launched a custom client portal
Rather than license a generic forwarding platform, we partnered with Logisoft - our technology partner - to build and power tracking, schedules, bookings, and document management as one product designed around our customers.
Extended it to native mobile apps
iOS and Android apps, also powered by Logisoft, put the portal in the customer's pocket - for the dock, the job site, and the times when a desk is not nearby.
Crossed 100,000 shipments
Eighteen years of moving difficult cargo, with the same team-owned model from quote through delivery, and the relationships to back it up.
What makes Icon different
Two things, mostly.
First, the work we say no to. We do not chase commodity container business at razor-thin margins. The shipments where we add the most value are the ones that need real attention: project cargo with engineering reviews, oversized equipment that needs lashing plans, customs work that needs classification expertise, lanes that other forwarders cannot quote because they do not have the relationships.
Second, the work we own end to end. Most forwarders break their business by mode (air vs. ocean vs. land) or by service (forwarding vs. customs vs. warehousing) and ask the customer to navigate the difference. We do not. A single team owns your shipment from quote to delivery, including customs, insurance, packaging, and warehousing if you need them. That continuity is what makes us hard to replace once you have used us.
“
We are out to build better freight services and solutions. That has been our motto since 2007, and it has not gotten any less true.
”— Icon Logistics, founding principle
Heavy & specialized
RoRo, break-bulk, project cargo, and oversized equipment are not sidelines. They are the core.
Lane depth
Direct ocean and RoRo coverage to West and Central Africa, with onward connections worldwide.
Built-in technology
Client portal, mobile app, live tracking, and digital documents, built and powered for us by our technology partner Logisoft.
Single point of contact
One team owns your shipment from quote to delivery. No handoffs to a broker or trucker.
End-to-end services
Forwarding, customs, insurance, packaging, procurement, and warehousing, handled in-house.
Documentation depth
Classification, valuation, certificates of origin, and chain-of-custody work, done right.
Where we are
Our headquarters is in Laurel, Maryland, with a network of carrier and partner relationships that span the U.S., West Africa, and Europe. Most of our work flows through East Coast U.S. ports - Baltimore, New York/New Jersey, Norfolk - outbound to ports across West and Central Africa.
If you would like to know more about how we work, our culture page goes deeper into the values that shape the team. Otherwise, tell us about your shipment and we will respond within one business day.