A new dispatcher books a 7 AM pickup at Port Everglades using the hours she knows from PortMiami. The truck sits at a closed gate for an hour. Two ports, 26 miles apart, and neither one runs on the other's clock.
PortMiami Gate Hours by Terminal
PortMiami runs three container terminals, and each one keeps its own hours. Assuming one schedule covers the whole port is the first mistake. The second is assuming a terminal's hours haven't shifted since the last time you dispatched a load there. They change, often without much warning.
PortMiami's standard gate runs close to 12 hours at POMTOC, but SFCT closes four hours earlier in the afternoon and opens two hours later in the morning. A driver cleared to pick up at POMTOC at 6 AM can't use that same assumption at SFCT next door.
Port Everglades Gate Hours by Terminal
Port Everglades runs tighter, more uniform hours across its terminals than PortMiami does, but the gate window itself opens later and closes earlier.
The 8 AM start at Port Everglades isn't a minor detail if your dispatch board is built around PortMiami's 6 AM POMTOC gate. A driver who could run two turns at PortMiami before lunch often only fits one at Port Everglades, because two of those morning hours don't exist on that side of the schedule.
Cutoff Times and Why They Matter
Gate hours tell you when a terminal is open. Cutoff times tell you when it stops processing new transactions, and those two numbers are rarely the same.
- Dry container cutoff: Several Port Everglades terminals stop dry container transactions around 4:30 PM, 30 minutes ahead of the stated 5:00 PM close.
- Hazmat cutoff: Hazardous cargo transactions typically close 15 minutes ahead of the standard dry cutoff. Build that into your schedule if you're running tank containers or dangerous goods through either port.
- Reefer cutoff: Reefer transactions close earlier than dry cargo at most terminals on both sides of the port comparison. Plan reefer pickups for the first half of the gate window, not the last hour.
- Late gate requests: Some terminals accept late requests up to a specific cutoff for trucks already queued before the posted close. This isn't a guarantee. It depends on whether terminal security has your truck in the queue before the cutoff, not inside the parking lot.
Dispatchers who plan off the published open/close hours without checking cutoffs end up with drivers stuck in line past closing, watching the gate roll down on a transaction that technically should have gone through. Call the terminal or check the portal for same-day cutoff notices before committing a late-afternoon slot.
Weekend Gate Differences
Weekend access is where the two ports diverge the most, and it's the detail that catches carriers off guard when a container has a Saturday-tight free time window.
If your container's free time runs out over a weekend, the Friday cutoff at Port Everglades is the harder deadline of the two ports. Request the Saturday slot by Friday morning, not Friday afternoon. Terminal staff process these requests in a batch, and a late submission often misses the cutoff by minutes, not hours.
Reefer Pickup Windows
Temperature-controlled cargo runs on a tighter clock at both ports, and the difference between the two matters if you're moving produce or seafood through South Florida.
At PortMiami's SFCT, reefer pickup opens at the same 8:00 AM start as the general gate but closes at 3:30 PM, a full 45 minutes before the standard dry cutoff. Port Everglades terminals handling reefer cargo generally run a similar early-close pattern, and some require confirming the genset is active and plugged in before the appointment, not at the gate itself.
A driver who shows up for a reefer box at 3:45 PM at SFCT, inside the general gate hours but past the reefer cutoff, gets turned away. This is one of the more common avoidable misses we see with new drivers who haven't worked reefer loads at these terminals before. Flag reefer cutoff times specifically when you dispatch instead of relying on the general gate schedule.
Planning Around Two Different Clocks
Build a habit of checking terminal hours before you dispatch, because hours shift with vessel schedules and peak season adjustments at both ports. Memorizing a fixed schedule only works until the next vessel delay changes it.
- Confirm the terminal, not the port. "PortMiami" and "Port Everglades" each cover multiple terminals with different hours. Get the specific terminal name from the bill of lading before you plan a pickup time.
- Check cutoffs separately from gate hours. The posted open/close time and the actual transaction cutoff are often 15-30 minutes apart. Confirm both, especially for hazmat or reefer moves.
- Request Saturday slots early in the week. Port Everglades' Friday cutoff for Saturday appointments leaves no room for a last-minute request. If there's any chance you'll need weekend access, submit the request by Wednesday or Thursday.
- Build buffer time for the earlier Port Everglades start. A driver scheduled for PortMiami hours who gets rerouted to Port Everglades loses two productive morning hours. Adjust the day's schedule, not only the destination.
- Call ahead during peak season. Both ports extend or compress hours around import surges and holiday schedules. A terminal's hours in March aren't guaranteed to match its hours in October.
At One A Trucks, our dispatchers track gate hours and cutoff times for both ports daily, because a schedule that was accurate last week isn't a safe assumption this week. If you've got freight moving through either port and need the hours confirmed before you commit a driver, ask when you request your quote.