How to Choose a Drayage Carrier at PortMiami: 2026 RFP Guide

Drayage is 30 miles of a 9,000-mile supply chain, and it causes half the headaches. The wrong PortMiami carrier shows up in your P&L as demurrage, per diem, chassis splits, missed delivery appointments, and hours of email chasing containers. The right one makes the port invisible. If you’re putting South Florida drayage out to bid in 2026, here’s what to actually evaluate — and the questions that separate marketing from capacity.

Start with equipment, not rates

Miami drayage performance is mostly an equipment story. Ask every bidder three things: How many trucks do you run as company assets versus owner-operators? How many chassis do you own or control, in which sizes? Do you have secured yard space near the port? A carrier with its own chassis pool doesn’t stand in line for pool equipment when imports surge, and a carrier with yard storage can pre-pull your container before last free day even when your warehouse can’t receive it yet. Rates matter, but a cheap dray that can’t get a chassis costs more than an expensive one that can — one week of per diem erases a year of rate savings.

Verify port credentials and coverage

Confirm current port IDs and TWIC-credentialed drivers for both PortMiami and Port Everglades — dual-port coverage matters because your ocean carrier may switch strings. Ask about UIIA participation (required to interchange with steamship lines), overweight capability, and whether they run reefer (genset-equipped) and hazmat-endorsed drivers if your freight needs them. For out-of-gauge freight, ask what specialized trailers they own rather than broker out.

Probe the operational discipline

Visibility

You should never have to email “any update on MSKU1234567?” Ask to see the tracking their customers actually get. Our moves run on TruckHub with live GPS and automated status updates; whatever the provider, insist on system-generated visibility, not dispatcher memory.

Free-time management

Good carriers watch your last free days and flag risks before charges start — ask bidders to describe, concretely, their process for monitoring demurrage and per diem exposure. Carriers who reply “we pull when you send the release” are making your problem theirs only after it costs money.

Exception handling

Ask for the last three times a container rolled to a chassis split, a terminal closed early, or a warehouse refused delivery — and what dispatch did. The answer tells you more than any reference list.

Structure the bid realistically

Give bidders real data: monthly container counts by size and type, terminal mix, top delivery zips, live-unload vs drop ratio, and appointment constraints. Ask for all-in pricing on your actual lanes plus a published accessorial schedule — the drayage industry hides margin in accessorials, so compare those line by line, especially chassis splits, pre-pulls, storage, and detention triggers. Then weight the score: 40% demonstrated capacity, 30% total cost including accessorials, 20% visibility and communication, 10% flexibility on surges.

The local test

Finally, drive by the yard. A real Miami drayage operation has trucks, chassis, and containers in a real yard near the port — not a rented office and a load board login. Asset-based carriers survive market swings because their capacity is theirs; brokers pass every capacity crunch straight through to you. Send us your container profile through a quick quote and we’ll show you ours.

Frequently asked questions

How many drayage carriers should I use at PortMiami?

Mid-size importers usually run a primary plus one backup. A single asset-based primary with real chassis depth covers most volume; the backup exists for surge weeks and vessel bunching.

What’s a chassis split and why do carriers charge for it?

It’s when the chassis and container are in different places, forcing an extra move to marry them before your pull. It costs the carrier a truck-hour, so it appears as an accessorial — carriers with their own chassis pools have far fewer splits.

Should I pay for pre-pulls proactively?

Often yes. A pre-pull plus one night of yard storage is typically a fraction of one day of demurrage, and it converts an unpredictable terminal risk into a fixed, small cost.