Shippers routinely talk about Florida as though it were a single destination, and the result is cargo landing at the wrong end of a very long state. Jacksonville and Miami are roughly 350 miles apart, and the ports in between serve different trades with different carrier networks. Route a Puerto Rico shipment through South Florida or a Caribbean perishable through Northeast Florida and the error shows up as inland trucking cost that no drayage rate can recover.
The three container gateways divide cleanly. JAXPORT in Jacksonville is an automotive, roll-on, and Puerto Rico trade hub with the deepest channel and rail service from three railroads. Port Everglades in Broward County is the leading U.S. port for Caribbean trade and second for Latin America, with roughly 90 percent of its cargo moving to and from those markets. PortMiami carries the most globally balanced mix of the three, with substantial Asia and Europe volume alongside its Latin American and Caribbean base. This guide covers what each actually does, how the Puerto Rico trade differs operationally from international freight, and how to route a Florida program by lane rather than by habit.
Florida has three major container gateways serving different trades. JAXPORT in Jacksonville is a major automotive, roll-on roll-off, and Puerto Rico trade hub, served by three railroads, with a 47-foot deepwater channel at the Blount Island Marine Terminal and berth enhancements allowing two post-Panamax vessels simultaneously; terminal modernization and a new auto processing facility are bringing total capacity toward approximately 2 million TEUs annually. Port Everglades in Broward County handled a record 1,167,552 TEUs in fiscal year 2025 across 26 container services focused on North-South trade, is the number one U.S. port for Caribbean trade and number two for Latin America with roughly 90 percent of cargo moving to and from those markets, and is also a major petroleum and jet fuel distribution point. PortMiami, operated by Miami-Dade County, handled roughly 1.1 million TEUs in fiscal year 2025, its eleventh consecutive year above one million, with a cargo mix of approximately 48 percent Latin America and Caribbean, 31 percent Asia, and 20 percent Europe. Route by trade lane: Puerto Rico and automotive through Jacksonville, Caribbean and Latin American volume through Port Everglades, globally mixed cargo through PortMiami. BookYourCargo is a national drayage company operating across Florida gateways and every major U.S. and Canadian port and rail ramp.
What this guide helps you decide
- Which Florida gateway fits a given trade lane, cargo type, and inland destination.
- How the Puerto Rico trade differs operationally from international container freight.
- Where perishable and reefer volume is best served, and what that requires on the ground.
- When automotive and roll-on cargo should route through Jacksonville rather than South Florida.
- How inland distance across a 350-mile state changes the landed cost calculation.
1. Why Florida behaves as three markets, not one
Three structural facts drive the split, and none of them is visible in a TEU ranking.
- Trade lane specialization. Port Everglades is overwhelmingly a North-South port, with roughly 90 percent of cargo moving to and from the Caribbean and Latin America. PortMiami carries a more globally balanced mix. JAXPORT combines Puerto Rico and Caribbean trade with direct services to Asia, Europe, and South America. Carriers concentrate where their networks are, so service availability differs by gateway more than by rate.
- Cargo type specialization. Jacksonville is an automotive and roll-on center with dedicated auto processing on the port. South Florida carries heavy perishable and consumer volume tied to Latin American and Caribbean trades. These are different equipment and handling requirements.
- Geography. The state is long. Jacksonville sits at the Georgia line, closer to Southeast and Midwest inland markets, while Port Everglades and PortMiami sit roughly 30 miles apart at the southern end serving the South Florida consumer market. For inland-bound cargo, that distance is the dominant variable.
- Rail reach differs sharply. JAXPORT is served by three railroads, which supports inland intermodal movement north and west. South Florida gateways are structurally oriented toward regional truck distribution and transshipment rather than long-haul domestic rail, which changes the rail drayage calculation entirely.
2. JAXPORT: automotive, roll-on, and the Puerto Rico trade
Jacksonville is the outlier in the Florida set, and the most misunderstood. Its container volume is smaller than the South Florida gateways, but its cargo profile and inland connectivity are stronger for specific freight.
- Deepwater capability. The port offers a 47-foot deepwater shipping channel through the Blount Island Marine Terminal, with a turning basin allowing larger ships to turn at Blount Island berths, and roughly $100 million in berth enhancements enabling the terminal to accommodate two post-Panamax vessels simultaneously.
- Growing container capacity. Terminal modernization at Blount Island is bringing that facility toward accommodating well over half a million TEUs annually, with JAXPORT total capacity moving toward approximately 2 million TEUs, close to double recent throughput.
- Automotive and roll-on strength. Jacksonville is a major automotive and roll-on/roll-off hub, with a large new on-port auto processing facility including additional rail connections and truck loading areas. This is a different drayage requirement than container work, closer to the wheeled and heavy cargo handling described in the analysis of the Mid-Atlantic ro/ro trade.
- Global service breadth. Dozens of ocean carriers call JAXPORT with services reaching 140 ports in more than 70 countries, including direct container service connecting Jacksonville with Asia, Europe, South America, the Caribbean, and Central America through both the Panama and Suez canals.
- Three railroads. Rail service from three railroads makes Jacksonville the Florida gateway for cargo bound inland to the Southeast and beyond, rather than for the South Florida consumer market.
3. The Puerto Rico trade is domestic freight, and it behaves differently
This is the operational distinction most shippers new to Florida miss. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, so cargo moving between the mainland and San Juan is domestic movement rather than international import or export, and the consequences run through the whole drayage program.
- Different documentation and clearance. Domestic movement does not involve the customs entry process that governs international containers, which removes an entire category of hold and delay from the equation but replaces it with its own documentation requirements.
- Different carrier structure. The mainland to Puerto Rico trade is served by a distinct set of ocean carriers operating on regular scheduled service, and Jacksonville is a principal mainland gateway for it.
- Equipment and free time practices differ. Because the trade operates on domestic service patterns with defined sailing schedules, equipment availability, free time, and return practices follow the carriers’ domestic terms rather than international container norms, so the free time assumptions an importer carries from Asia trades will not transfer.
- Consolidation is common. A significant share of Puerto Rico freight moves as consolidated or less-than-container-load cargo through mainland consolidation points, which places the drayage emphasis on the facility leg rather than the terminal leg.
4. Port Everglades and PortMiami: the South Florida pair
The two South Florida gateways sit roughly 30 miles apart and are frequently treated as interchangeable. They are not, though the difference is one of emphasis rather than kind.
Port Everglades
Located in Broward County across Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, and Dania Beach, Port Everglades handled a record 1,167,552 TEUs in fiscal year 2025, running 26 cargo container services focused primarily on North-South trade with the Caribbean and Latin America. It is the number one U.S. port for trade with the Caribbean and number two for Latin America, with roughly 90 percent of its cargo moving to and from those markets. It is also a major petroleum and jet fuel distribution point for South Florida, and it operates as a self-supporting enterprise fund of Broward County with capital projects planned in excess of $3.8 billion over twenty years. For a shipper, the concentration is the point: if your cargo moves North-South, this is the deepest carrier network in the country for it.
PortMiami
Operated by Miami-Dade County, PortMiami handled roughly 1.1 million TEUs in fiscal year 2025, its eleventh consecutive year above the one million TEU threshold, across multiple shipping lines and cargo terminal operators. Its cargo mix is more globally balanced than its neighbor, with approximately 48 percent tied to Latin America and the Caribbean, 31 percent to Asia, and 20 percent to Europe. For an importer with mixed origins, that breadth means a single South Florida gateway can serve Asian and European volume alongside regional trades without splitting the program.
Both serve the South Florida consumer market within a short drayage radius, and both handle significant perishable volume, which brings the cold chain disciplines that govern any refrigerated program: continuous power from terminal plug through the drayage leg, gen-set verification, and prompt movement into refrigerated storage rather than extended dwell.
5. The Florida routing scorecard
A general framework for the Florida routing decision. It is not a substitute for running landed cost on a specific lane, and individual carrier service availability may override the general pattern.
| Factor | JAXPORT | Port Everglades | PortMiami |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary trade | Puerto Rico, Caribbean, plus direct Asia, Europe, South America | Caribbean and Latin America, roughly 90 percent of cargo | Mixed: about 48 percent Latin America and Caribbean, 31 percent Asia, 20 percent Europe |
| Container volume | Smaller today, capacity moving toward about 2 million TEUs | Record 1,167,552 TEUs in fiscal 2025 | About 1.1 million TEUs in fiscal 2025 |
| Cargo strength | Automotive, roll-on, Puerto Rico freight | Containerized consumer goods, perishables, petroleum | Mixed containerized cargo across global origins |
| Rail and inland reach | Three railroads, strong inland intermodal north and west | Oriented to regional truck distribution | Oriented to regional truck distribution |
| Best-fit destination | Southeast and inland U.S. markets | South Florida market and transshipment | South Florida market and mixed-origin programs |
6. Drayage disciplines that differ across the state
A Florida program is not one operating environment, and the disciplines that matter shift as you move down the peninsula.
- Equipment mix by gateway. Jacksonville programs frequently require roll-on and automotive handling alongside container capability, while South Florida programs lean toward dry container and reefer work. Confirm which a provider actually covers at the specific gateway rather than statewide.
- Cold chain execution in a hot climate. South Florida perishable volume runs through high ambient temperatures year round, which shortens the tolerance for any power gap between terminal plug and refrigerated warehouse and makes gen-set verification and prompt movement more consequential than in cooler regions, as covered in the guidance on what happens after ocean freight arrives.
- Transshipment volume changes the flow. A meaningful share of South Florida cargo is transshipment rather than final destination freight, which places the operational emphasis on terminal-to-terminal and terminal-to-facility moves inside a tight radius rather than on long inland legs.
- Inland decisions belong at Jacksonville. For cargo continuing beyond Florida, the direct-versus-transload question and the intermodal rail decision are live at Jacksonville and largely academic in South Florida, so the framework in transloading versus direct drayage applies unevenly across the state.
- Hurricane exposure is statewide and seasonal. All three gateways carry Atlantic tropical risk through the June to November season, with peak activity in September, so contingency planning and priority cargo ranking apply to a Florida program regardless of which gateway it uses.
7. How BookYourCargo executes across Florida
BookYourCargo is a national drayage company with vetted carrier capacity across Florida gateways and every major U.S. and Canadian port and rail ramp, which is what allows a shipper to route by lane rather than by whichever gateway their provider happens to serve.
- Coverage at all three gateways. Vetted carrier capacity at JAXPORT, Port Everglades, and PortMiami, so cargo can be routed to the gateway the trade lane favors rather than the one coverage forces.
- Equipment matched to the gateway. Container capability across all three, with reefer-capable equipment and gen-set verification for South Florida perishable volume and appropriate handling for Jacksonville automotive and roll-on cargo.
- Inland connection from Jacksonville. Coordination with Jacksonville rail service for cargo bound to Southeast and inland markets, with destination rail drayage handled at the inland ramp.
- Regional distribution and staging. Transload and warehousing support for cargo continuing beyond the immediate market or waiting on consignee receiving capacity.
- Tropical contingency and visibility. Priority-ranked pre-landfall execution during Atlantic storm events and alternate gateway coverage, with live tracking through API and EDI integration on the BYC drayage technology platform.
Delivered through BYC’s national drayage and port drayage coverage, with first-party Southeast rate context published monthly in the BYC Drayage Index going back to 2022. Inc. 5000-recognized, BBB A+ rated, IANA Member, NCBFAA Member, and WOSB-certified through the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Frequently asked questions about Florida container gateways
Route the lane, not the state
Florida rewards shippers who treat it as three gateways with three trade profiles and penalizes those who treat it as one destination with three names. The decision is made at booking, and by the time a container is on the ground at the wrong end of the state the inland cost is already committed. If you move freight through Florida and want to talk to BYC about how your program would execute, request a quote.
