Buying a logistics company in South Florida
South Florida has 447 established logistics companies by our count: companies in business at least 15 years that still file with the state every year and aren't part of a larger group. Of those, 68% have been in business 20 years or more. Most will never be listed for sale, and many of their owners have never been asked.
What it takes to own one
Logistics companies in South Florida come in every size. Here's what owning one could look like at three levels, from a solid company to one of the leaders, with a small business loan covering most of the price.
- Earns about
- $227,000 a year
- Price about
- $692,000
- Your cash
- $97,000
- Could pay you
- up to $102,000 a year
- Earns about
- $467,000 a year
- Price about
- $1.4 million
- Your cash
- $199,000
- Could pay you
- up to $210,000 a year
- Earns about
- $868,000 a year
- Price about
- $2.6 million
- Your cash
- $371,000
- Could pay you
- up to $391,000 a year
Earnings are owner earnings: profit plus what the owner pays themselves, before loan payments and taxes. They and the prices are our estimates from public records, not the owners' figures, and we value companies like these at about 3.0 times a year's owner earnings. Your cash covers the down payment and closing costs, and what the business could pay you is what's left after the loan payments and the cushion lenders require. The more cash you bring, the further up you can go.
Age, size and location
Revenue is our estimate from public records, grouped into wide ranges.
| In business | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under 20 years | 143 |
| 20 to 29 years | 198 |
| 30 to 39 years | 81 |
| 40 years or more | 25 |
| Estimated yearly revenue | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under $1M | 61 |
| $1M to $2M | 40 |
| $2M to $4M | 48 |
| $4M to $8M | 34 |
| Over $8M | 24 |
| County | Companies |
|---|---|
| Miami-Dade | 384 |
| Broward | 42 |
| Palm Beach | 15 |
| Monroe | 6 |
| Town | Companies |
|---|---|
| Miami | 217 |
| Doral | 87 |
| Medley | 29 |
| Hialeah | 16 |
| Hialeah Gardens | 6 |
| Miramar | 6 |
| Coral Gables | 5 |
| Miami Lakes | 5 |
What the best logistics companies have in common
- Many long-standing customers, not one dominant account.
- A margin per shipment that holds up when freight rates rise or fall.
- Customers who buy more than one service, such as customs clearance, trucking and storage, and are harder to lure away.
- Trusted carriers and agents, and a routine for checking their authority and insurance on every load.
- Experienced staff, not only the owner, who know the customers.
- Software that tracks every shipment and invoice.
- For warehouses, customer contracts that run several years and a lease that outlasts them.
- A clean record with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Customs and other agencies.
What to check before you buy
- Revenue and margin by customer and service (truckload, ocean, air, warehousing).
- How fast the company pays carriers, and any unpaid carrier claims.
- Past cargo claims and insurance, including coverage for loads the company arranges but doesn't haul.
- Customer and warehouse contracts: length, whether they can be transferred to you, and limits on liability for lost or damaged goods.
- Who holds the customs broker license or FMC qualification, and whether they'll stay after the sale.
- Software and data: who owns the systems and customer data, and what they cost.
- What customers owe and how overdue it is. A broker that gives shippers long payment terms is lending them money.
Questions to ask the owner
- Who are your top ten customers, and who looks after each one?
- How do you check carriers before you give them a load?
- Who holds the customs or FMC licenses, and will they stay?
- What happened to your margins when freight rates fell?
- Have you had any cargo claims or payment disputes with carriers?
- How much revenue comes from customers you brought in personally?
- What software runs the business, and do you own it or rent it?
To learn what these companies do, which licenses they need and how ownership works, read our full guide to buying a logistics company in Florida.
Owning a company in South Florida
The local economy
South Florida covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties: Miami, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the Florida Keys down to Key West. It's the state's largest metro area and its most international. PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport tie the region to Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports a deep base of wholesalers, freight forwarders and logistics firms, many of them near the airport. Tourism and cruises, finance and wealth management, health care, real estate and construction carry much of the rest. Palm Beach County adds wealthy seasonal residents and, out west near Lake Okeechobee, sugarcane and vegetable farms. In the Keys, nearly everything turns on visitors, fishing and boating.
Companies that serve homes, condo buildings and other businesses do well here: the building trades, property services, insurance agencies, medical and dental practices, and professional firms.
What's different about owning a company here
Costs run high: commercial rent, wages and, above all, property and windstorm insurance. Price the insurance before you make an offer, not after. Miami-Dade and Broward make up the Florida Building Code's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, with stricter rules for roofs, windows and structures. That raises building costs, and it also gives steady work to the contractors who know those rules well.
Much of the workforce and many customers speak Spanish as well as English, and a company that works well in both languages has an edge. The winter season matters more in Palm Beach County and the Keys than in Miami. In the Keys, the cost of housing makes hiring and keeping staff one of the hardest parts of running a company. Ask any seller there how they find workers and where those workers live.