World’s top trade-related multinationals flock to South Florida

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An important part of South Florida’s multinational community is those serving the $105 billion international trade community that is so critical to Latin America, the Caribbean and, increasingly, other parts of the world.

For this analysis, part of a monthly series of reports, WorldCity divided the transportation-related, trade-focused multinationals into four groups: Shipping lines, air cargo lines, trucking lines and the logistics companies.

Of the world’s top 10 logistics companies, all 10 have South Florida offices. Of the top 10 container shipping lines, six are in South Florida. Eight of the top 10 air freight carriers have South Florida representation, as do six of the top 10 trucking lines.

This is according to research for WorldCity’s Who’s Here directory, a database of more than 1,400 multinationals representing 50-plus nations with an office in one of three South Florida counties – Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach – and at least one office outside the United States.

Overall, the heaviest concentration of these multinationals are (1) U.S.-headquartered companies and (2) based in Doral, the fast-growing area just west of Miami International Airport that is facing significant traffic issues. While many of these multinationals are U.S.-based, the largest ones tend to be headquartered in Europe and Asia.

Country HQ

Here is the representation by global headquarters of the trade- and transportation-related multinationals in Who’s Here:

  • United States: 78
  • Germany: 12
  • Canada: 5
  • Japan: 5
  • Switzerland: 5
  • Chile 4
  • France: 3
  • Taiwan: 3
  • United Kingdom: 3
  • China: 2

 

Location

And here they are by ZIP code:

 

  • 33172 (Doral, Sweetwater, West Miami): 24
  • 33122 (Doral): 22
  • 33166 (Medley, Doral): 19
  • 33126 (Doral): 13
  • 33178 (Doral): 12
  • 33147 (Hialeah): 5
  • 33182 (Doral): 5
  • 33316 Fort Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines, close to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades): 4
  • 33027 (Pembroke Pines): 3
  • 33014 Miami Lakes): 2

These lists do not include all multinationals involved in international trade, of course, since there are banks, law firms, engineering firms and other service providers in South Florida’s trade community. In addition, there are hundreds of trade- and transportation-related companies engaged in international trade, whether as distributors, freight forwarders, Customs brokers or others that are strictly domestic and often local. They are not included as part of this analysis either.

But the strong representation of the world’s leading multinationals in the trade and transportation industry makes sense given South Florida’s role as one of the nation’s leading Customs districts and the top one for Latin America and the Caribbean. The three primary drivers of that trade are PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport.

A closer look at the four categories follows, although it is worth noting that the lines among these multinationals continue to blur, as air and ocean carriers have in recent years pushed into the logistics space previously dominated by freight forwarders and Customs brokers.

LogisticsBlock640pxLogistics multinationals

With the logistics multinationals, where all 10 of the world’s top 10 are present in South Florida, eight of them are headquartered in Europe. This list is according to the Journal of Commerce and based on 2014 revenues, the most recent at the time of the 2016 Who’s Here launch. Those multinationals are:

  1. DHLLogistics, based in Germany
  2. Kuehne + Nagle, Switzerland
  3. DB Schenker Logistics, Germany
  4. H. Robinson Worldwide, U.S.A.
  5. DSV, Denmark
  6. CEVA Logistics, the Netherlands
  7. Panalpina, Switzerland
  8. Dachser, Germany
  9. Expeditors International, U.S.A.
  10. SNCF Geodis, France

By ocean

The six top 10 container shipping lines present, with ranking, are:

  1. APM-Maersk, Denmark
  2. Mediterranean Shipping, Switzerland
  3. CMA CGM Group, France
  4. Evergreen Line, Taiwan
  5. Hapag Lloyd, Germany
  6. Hamburg Sud Group, Germany

 

Missing are COSCO Container Line, China, ranked No. 6; CSCL, China, No. 7; Hanjin Shipping, South Korea, No. 9; and OOCL, Hong Kong, No 10. The list is from Alphaliner.com, based on TEU capacity as of January 2016.

By air

For air freight, looking at the world’s top 10, eight have South Florida representation:

  1. FedEx, U.S.A.
  2. UPS Airlines, U.S.A.
  3. Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong
  4. Korean Air Lines, South Korea
  5. Lufthansa, Germany
  6. Qatar Airways, Qatar
  7. Cargolux, Luxembourg
  8. China Airlines, Taiwan

Not represented in South Florida are Emirates, based in U.A.E. and ranked No. 2; and Singapore Airlines, based in Singapore and ranked No 7 globally. This list is from Airlinesbox.com, based on 2014 tonnage.

By land

Finally, looking at the top trucking lines, six of the top 10 have offices in South Florida:

  1. UPS, U.S.A.
  2. FedEx, U.S.A.
  3. B. Hunt Transportation Services, U.S.A.
  4. YRC Worldwide, U.S.A.
  5. Old Dominion Freight Line, U.S.A.
  6. Arkansas Best, U.S.A.

Not here are Swift Transportation, U.S.A., ranked No. 5; Con-Way, U.S.A., No. 6; Schneider National, U.S.A., No. 7; and Landstar System, U.S.A., No. 8. The ranking is from the Journal of Commerce, based on 2014 numbers.