A shipment is not a unit of paperwork. It is a tractor that has to be on a pad in Lagos by the start of the rainy season. It is a fleet of buses bound for Cotonou. It is the drilling rig that has to clear customs in Pointe Noire before the project crew is on site. We have been moving cargo like that since 2007, and we built our network for the moves where the standard container is not the answer.
The work in numbers
Two decades of moving difficult cargo.
RoRo: cargo that drives itself onto the vessel
Roll-on/roll-off shipping is the right method for cars, buses, trucks, tractors, construction equipment, and most other rolling stock that does not fit a standard container. Instead of loading into a box, the equipment is either driven onto the vessel under its own power or rolled on via a specialty pallet and tractor.
It is faster to load, gentler on the cargo, and economical for items where containerization would be over-engineered. We have a deep RoRo network across West and Central Africa and onward connections worldwide, and our team handles the customs, documentation, duties, and taxes that go with high-value rolling stock.
“
Other forwarders tell us they can do RoRo. Icon proves it every shipment by knowing the carriers, the lashing, and the paperwork before we have to ask.
”— What clients tell us
Container shipping: FCL and LCL
When containerized makes sense, we run both full container load (FCL) and less-than-container load (LCL) on our active ocean lanes. We work with carriers whose equipment meets ISO requirements and current safety regulations, with regular inspection procedures supervised by certification societies.
Full container load (FCL)
The entire container is yours. Faster transit, simpler documentation, ideal for shipments at or near container capacity.
Less-than-container load (LCL)
Share container space with other shippers. Lower cost for smaller volumes, with the same carrier reliability.
A typical shipment
To make this concrete: a recent move started with a North American manufacturer of construction equipment shipping a 32-ton excavator to a project site outside Douala, Cameroon. The shipment timeline looked like this.
Case study
Norfolk → Douala — 32-ton excavator
One project, six handoffs, one team. Day-by-day view from quote to project-site delivery.
- 01
Day 0
Quote and scope
Customer described the cargo, the destination, and the on-site arrival window. Icon's team scoped RoRo via Norfolk to Douala, with lashing engineering reviewed against the equipment's spec sheet.
- 02
Days 1-3
Documentation prep
Commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin, and dangerous-goods declaration where applicable. Customs classification handled in-house.
- 03
Days 4-7
Inland to port
Lowboy trucking from the manufacturer's yard in the Midwest to Norfolk. Port handover, lashing supervision, and pre-clearance documentation.
- 04
Days 8-32
Ocean transit
Direct RoRo service. Carrier port-event timestamps live in the customer's portal. ETA recalculated when a port call shifts.
- 05
Days 33-37
Destination clearance
Customs clearance in Douala handled through our local broker network. Duties and taxes managed against the customer's documentation.
- 06
Days 38-40
Onward to site
Inland trucking from Douala port to the project site. Customer notified, documents archived, invoice issued through the portal.
The point is not the days, which vary by lane and season. The point is that a single team owned all of it, and the customer had visibility into every step from one place.
Industries that rely on this work
Most of our cargo comes from a small number of equipment-heavy sectors. Each has its own documentation profile, lashing requirements, and customs nuances. We are fluent in all of them.
Airports & Aviation
Lifts, loaders, tugs, baggage tractors, and terminal infrastructure. Airside scheduling sensitivity built in.
Agricultural Equipment
Combine harvesters, balers, pickers, tractors, and irrigation systems. Door-to-door for OEMs and dealers.
Automotive & Vehicles
Ambulances, buses, cars, trucks, tractors, and trailers. Specialized handling for high-value vehicles.
Construction Equipment
Cranes, backhoes, dozers, loaders, excavators, and oversize plant. RoRo, break-bulk, and lowboy lanes.
Oil, Gas & Energy
Drill rigs, pumps, pipeline modules, and project cargo. Full chain-of-custody documentation.
Road Building Equipment
Pavers, rollers, milling machines, and asphalt-plant components. Excavation and extraction equipment.
If your industry is not on the list, that does not mean we cannot ship it - it usually just means we have not put it on the page yet. Tell us what you are moving.