Southwest Florida Drayage

Southwest Florida — Lee and Collier counties — is one of the fastest-growing residential and small-commercial markets in the state, and the freight profile reflects that growth. The dominant import categories are building materials (tile, stone, cabinetry, fixtures) for the constant new-home and remodel pipeline across Cape Coral, Estero, Naples, and Marco Island; furniture and home goods for the seasonal-resident market; consumer packaged goods for grocery and convenience retail along US-41 and I-75; and a meaningful base of restaurant and hospitality F&B for the Naples and Fort Myers Beach corridors. The single road that defines this lane is Alligator Alley — I-75 between Andytown in Broward and the Naples I-75 mainline — which is the only viable east-west truck route across the Everglades.

Ritehaul runs Southwest Florida every week out of Port Miami and Port Everglades. The Port Everglades route is usually slightly faster because the I-595 to I-75 transition through Andytown skips Miami-Dade urban traffic. From Port Miami the route runs the Palmetto north to Andytown and then west on Alligator Alley to the Naples turn-out at Exit 101. Door-to-door transit to Fort Myers or Cape Coral runs roughly two-and-a-half to three hours from Port Everglades and three to three-and-a-half from Port Miami, with Naples and Marco Island adding another 30 to 45 minutes south of the I-75 turn. We do not run scheduled consolidation lanes into Lee and Collier yet — volume hasn't justified it — so the primary Ritehaul service into Southwest Florida is direct single-container drayage with a committed delivery window and a named driver.

Hurricane season demands an honest conversation. Lee and Collier counties took meaningful damage in 2022 (Ian) and have absorbed multiple direct or near-miss landfalls since. We will not promise delivery during a tropical storm warning or the 24 hours after landfall in this region — bridges close, US-41 floods, and Alligator Alley itself shuts down with high-wind warnings. Outside hurricane events, we deliver to Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Estero, Bonita Springs, Naples, Marco Island, North Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres, and Punta Gorda on standard transit. Equipment is the same South Florida fleet — 20-foot, 40-foot, and 45-foot ocean chassis, tri-axle overweight chassis (heavy tile and stone is a regular feature), genset reefer chassis, and open-top and flat-rack chassis when the cargo demands it.