The Ice Logistics Portal was created as a joint initiative of the International Ice Charting Working Group, the JCOMM Expert Team on Sea Ice and Polar View for the International Polar Year. It is now maintained by the German Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie. It is intended to create a convenient point of access to operational sea ice information produced by the world's ice services. Access to products is provided via a series of pre-defined regions for both the Arctic and the Antarctic. Since the primary focus of the Ice Logistics Portal is on operational sea ice data (i.e. ice charts), only the most recent information is displayed for any given region.

As a new feature it is now possible to choose charts according to a given geographic position. Up till now the position can be input only as full degrees .