Is American Shipping Company a Licensed Customs Broker and Freight Forwarder?

Yes. American Shipping Company describes itself as a nationally licensed U.S. customs broker and freight forwarder, and its site states the company has operated in the import and export industry for over 125 years, having been founded in 1899. That combination—a stated national license plus more than a century of continuous operation—is the core of how the company presents its credibility. If you are evaluating it as a logistics partner, the practical question is not just whether it holds those credentials, but which services you actually need and whether its structure fits your shipping profile.

What the company says about its credentials

Two claims anchor the company's positioning on its own website:

• Licensing: It identifies itself as a nationally licensed U.S. customs broker and freight forwarder.
• Longevity: It states it was founded in 1899 and has been a leader in the import and export industry for over 125 years.

For a customs broker, licensing matters because a broker is the party that files entry documentation with U.S. customs on an importer's behalf. For a freight forwarder, the role is arranging the movement of goods—booking cargo, coordinating carriers, and managing documentation across the supply chain. A company that operates as both can handle a shipment from origin booking through customs clearance, which reduces the number of vendors an importer has to coordinate.

How the company is structured

American Shipping Company is not a single entity. Its site lists a group of affiliated companies that together provide integrated logistics, offered either as an all-inclusive solution or à la carte:

The "global locations" language on the site is tied to this structure—the company frames its multiple offices as giving clients a dedicated partner in every port. The à la carte option is worth noting: you are not required to buy the full suite, so an importer who already has a trucking provider could potentially use only the brokerage or forwarding piece.

Services you can draw on

The site groups its offerings into a suite of complementary services rather than a single product:

• Customs Entry — filing and clearance work handled by the licensed brokerage side.
• International Freight — forwarding and coordination of overseas cargo.
• Trucking — domestic movement via American Cartage & Distribution.
• Warehousing — storage and distribution support.
• Cargo Insurance — coverage for goods in transit.
• Compliance — regulatory and documentation support.
• Data Center and Document Imaging — record-keeping and information management.

It also advertises shipment visibility and analytics tools, including online track-and-trace available "anytime" and custom shipment tracking with supply chain analysis. These are the tools clients reference when they talk about transparency and forecasting.

What customers say about working with them

The site publishes testimonials that speak to operational outcomes rather than general praise. Three themes stand out:

• End-to-end transparency. Jennifer at Sur-Seal describes using an "Ocean Carrier Transit Times with delivery" report to track shipments from sail date to delivery date, spot patterns of longer transit times, and reroute freight to another port when congestion builds—decisions aimed at lowering costs like port storage.
• Forecasting. Kyle at Chicken of the Sea Int'l says the company's systems improved inbound weekly distribution-center forecasting, helping plan labor needs and avoid unnecessary network costs.
• Daily 3PL operations. A third testimonial notes that Ameriweb and AmeriReports are used daily, with customized, automated reports emailed to internal and external teams to improve third-party logistics efficiency.

These are self-reported client statements on the company's own site, so treat them as illustrative of the kind of work the company does rather than independent verification.

How to decide if it fits your needs

The credentials and history are stated clearly, but whether American Shipping Company is right for you depends on your situation:

• If you import regularly and want one partner for clearance plus freight, the combined broker-and-forwarder model and the affiliated trucking and warehousing arms reduce vendor coordination.
• If you only need customs entry, the à la carte structure suggests you can engage just that service.
• If visibility and reporting drive your decisions, the track-and-trace and analytics tools described by clients are the relevant feature to ask about.
• If you want to confirm licensing or pricing for your specific lanes, those details are not published on the page—you would need to request a quote and verify the license directly with the company.

The site's own framing—"modern supply chain solutions built on a foundation of integrity and trust"—is marketing language, but the 1899 founding date and the stated national license are the concrete, checkable claims to start from.