Top Freight Forwarding Companies in the USA

Freight forwarding companies may transport freight themselves, but their main business is the management of how freight is moved, often across multiple modes of transportation. In this article, we’ll be going over the top freight forwarding companies in the USA according to their engagement metrics on Thomasnet.com, as well as the top global freight forwarders as ranked by Logistics Management.

At a glance:

Top US Freight Forwarders on Thomasnet.com

Table 1 includes statistics on the top freight forwarding companies on Thomasnet.com, as determined by engagement metrics. Information provided includes headquarters locations, annual sales, and company size in number of employees. Annual Sales are in US dollars, and dashes indicate where information was unavailable.

Table 1: Top Freight Forwarding Companies on Thomasnet.com

 

Company Summaries

International Equipment Relocations is based in Northbrook, IL. Their services include national and international equipment dismantling, removal, relocation, and shipping, including for specialty, time-critical, and oversized equipment.

Satellite Specialized Transportation, Inc. is a nationwide, full-service transportation company with 30 years of experience and specializing in flatbed shipping, oversized loads, Power Only, and LTL services. Their offices are located in Bend Oregon, Medford Oregon, and Sedona Arizona. 

TMF Logistics offers standard and temperature control freight forwarding nationwide, including express services. The company, which is based in West Wareham, MA, also offers warehousing and storage services. 

In Jacksonville, FL, Landstar’s services include air, ground, and sea transport globally, as well as national LTL, short and long haul truckload, rail, air, expedited, refrigerated, and specialized transportation services.

Service By Air, headquartered in Belleview, WA, provides logistics services and freight forwarding worldwide. The company offers air, ocean, and specialty shipping, as well as domestic air, air charter, and ground shipping services.

In Chicago, IL, Supply Chain Warehouses offers both third party logistics and freight forwarding outside of their shipping area. They also provide warehousing, distribution, and white glove furniture and equipment services.

Shoreline Express Inc. specializes in transportation, warehousing, and freight forwarding services, including both rail and air freight. Their freight forwarding comes with options for temperature control, multiple container sizes, international shipping, expedited service, and door-to-door, depending on the mode chosen. The company is based in Strongsville, OH.

ICAT Logistics’ offerings include air, ocean, ground, and expedited shipping both nationally and internationally, as well as asset management and recovery solutions. They serve the automotive, government, military, manufacturing, medical, publishing, retail, technology, and tradeshow and events markets.

River Plate, Inc. is based in Canoga Park, CA. They specialize in product fulfillment and logistics management, while also offering warehousing and distribution, cross-docking, kitting, pick and pack, inventory management, labeling, and packaging services.

Top Global Freight Forwarders

Below we have provided information on the top global freight forwarders as ranked by Logistics Management. Details in the table include each company’s headquarters location, gross revenue as of 2017, and freight capacity by both sea and air. Both DHL and Kuehe + Nagel tied for first place in the rankings. Revenue is in millions of US dollars.

Table 2: Top Global Freight Forwarders

 

Company Summaries

DHL Supply Chain & Global Forwarding serves the chemical, consumer, engineering, automotive, manufacturing, healthcare, life sciences, technology, and public sectors.  The company, which offers green logistics services, is based in Bonn, Germany.

Kuehne + Nagel is based out of Schindeleggi, Switzerland, and is the top sea freight forwarder worldwide. The company offers e-commerce, healthcare, aerospace, and pharmaceutical logistics as part of its air, sea, road, and special project services.

Headquartered in Essen, Germany, DB Schenker’s services comprise lead and contract logistics, customs brokerage, trade advisory, and ocean, air, and land transport. The company has over 55 logistics centers in the US alone.

Sinotrans is based in Beijing, China. The company’s offerings include ocean and air freight, terminal, road and rail, international express, cold chain logistics, supply chain management, and supply chain security services.

DSV offers logistics solutions, customs and compliance services, special project transportation, and air, sea, and ground transportation. The company is headquartered in Hedehusene, Demark, and specializes in air and sea transport in the US.

In Seattle, WA, Expeditors International supplies ocean, air, and ground services, as well as warehousing and distribution, customs and compliance services, and supply chain consulting. They serve the aerospace, automotive, fashion, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, technology, and oil industries.

Services provided by Nippon Express include truck, supply chain, moving services, freight forwarding, customs brokerage, warehousing and distribution, and cargo insurance. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, UPS Supply Chain Solutions’ services include transportation, logistics, contract logistics, customs brokerage, warehousing and distribution, post-sale logistics, insurance, financing, and consulting.

Bolloré Logistics, in Puteaux, France, offers multimodal services including ground, air, and sea logistics, as well as expedited services. The company features the largest integrated logistics network in Africa, and operates in over 100 countries.

CEVA Logistics, based out of Hoofdorp, the Netherlands, offers contract logistics, supply chain solutions, and ground, sea, and air freight services in the US. They serve the aerospace, technology, automotive, retail, energy, healthcare, and industrial sectors.

Summary

This article summarizes details on the most popular freight forwarders on Thomasnet.com, as well as the top freight forwarders in the world, according to Logistics Management. If you’d like to create your own custom shortlist of freight forwarding companies, you can visit our Supplier Discovery page. This page will enable you to filter over 750 North American freight forwarders by location, certification, and other factors. You will also be able to find details of international freight forwarding services, air freight forwarding services, freight consolidation services, and just-in-time (JIT) freight services.

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