Gary Goldfarb, Chief Strategy Officer, Interport Logistics

Gary Goldfarb, chief strategy officer for Interport Logistics, talked to Invest: about the continuous growth achieved by the company and how it continues to leverage Miami’s prime geographic location to advance its strong position within international trade.

What have been some recent milestones for Interport Logistics?

Our company is unique in that we provide engineered supply chain results. We have customers all over the world and operate in nine different countries. We manage orders from inception to delivery, anywhere in the world. With the recent tariff discussions, a foreign trade zone is useful for navigating emerging complexities. We provide that service to our customers with transparency via a portal system. The portal provides our clients with knowledge of what the product looks like, access to each document involved in a transaction, and live location updates, all of which are downloadable. 

We run approximately 300,000 square feet of inventory in Miami alone and help our customers obtain warehouse facilities. Interport grows 15-20% year after year, and we do not expect to disappoint in the future. We were formed in 2000, but are more of a successor to a company I started in the 1970s, which was publicly traded and one of the largest in the world. Culture is the most important aspect of our operations. We believe each of our employees deserves courtesy, and we treat them like family members. The same mindset applies to our customers. We believe our customers are entitled to access information as soon as it exists, and we have a zero-tolerance policy for disrespect or withholding any information.

How has Miami’s status as a global hub strengthened Interport’s position in the industry?

I’ve been involved in this industry since 1975, and back then we did not have the same shipping abilities. For example, because we could not ship to Peru, we had to first go through New York. Today, Miami is one of only a few major hubs, along with Amsterdam and Dubai. Miami has evolved from a small community into a major player in international trade. Our business grew during the pandemic because the supply chain was broken elsewhere, and the only companies able to manage the supply chain were all located in Miami.

The industry is facing new complications today, as the United States is trying to right what it views as wrongs within international trade. This will result in extreme complications, and you can’t “Uber freight” a complicated engineering situation. Higher education’s international trade programs have shifted from defining what cargo is to instead tackling complex issues, and students are graduating with valuable knowledge. We continue attracting competitors and companies that provide niche services because we have trained personnel, the largest international cargo airport in the country, a large seaport, roads, and rail. Because everything meets here, Miami continues to grow.

Being in Miami and taking cargo from a container to the airport is unique and critical. This makes us different from everyone else, and this uniqueness can be underappreciated. For example, the Port of New York is in New Jersey, and Los Angeles’ ports are far from the airport. Many customers prefer putting cargo on planes instead of shipping via container, and being able to accommodate this gives Miami a significant edge.

Can you expand on any strategies in place to mitigate potential challenges?

To preface, understanding the definition of cargo is important. Determining the size of a shipping box, for example, is paramount, as is confirming how many boxes can fit onto a pallet, a truck, and so on. The industry continues to become more complex given the sheer amount of different trading systems across the world.
We are in the process of integrating AI and machine learning into many of our business functions. Our company employs workers across the globe but has a cloud structure managed from Miami, which allows us to operate to the best of our ability in each sector. The purpose of integrating AI is not to replace people but to maximize our output with the employees we have. We do approximately 1,700 shipments a day, all of which require multiple tailored steps. If we automate some of these processes, we will reduce employee stress levels.

We are particularly focused on trucking in Mexico, which involves navigating differences in the regional vernacular, as well as handling other difficulties such as traffic congestion.

What are some trends you are observing in terms of growing demand for specialized logistics services? 

There is a pendulum in our industry that swings between an importer or exporter wanting to handle everything themselves and wanting to outsource all of their operations. The middleman is no longer necessary because while they can simplify what we do, they also create problems for importers. After all, you cannot simplify cross-border transportation.
We created a cross-border system with the Brazilian government, which is one of the most difficult markets in the world. To simplify this, you must tailor everything for each purpose. Many companies in South Florida also try to operate in this way. Every country has unique challenges, so you have to have the ability to constantly react to unexpected complexities.

How do you see Miami’s role in global logistics evolving over the next few years, and what does that mean for companies like yours?

I previously chaired the Beacon Council and have been a member since 2003, which was an important step in moving Miami forward in my industry. We made intelligent decisions, such as constructing the tunnel to alleviate traffic, allowing more ships to arrive. The airport has been a dream in terms of cargo, and we intend to continue growing assets intelligently.
It will be imperative to resolve the issue of traffic in Miami-Dade County. Rising real estate costs have also created a significant impediment to handling large-volume businesses, which may cause some businesses to get satellite facilities outside of Miami.