On the job with a port trucker

“Port truckers like Marvin Palacios — there are at least 2,000 in South Florida, mostly Hispanic, young and male, who haul cargo from the ports to regional distribution centers and back the other way for export — are the tiniest players in a global transport chain comprised of giants like railroads, ocean shippers, terminal operators and intermediaries who store and consolidate cargo.

The giants have profited as maritime trade surged over the last 50 years. But port truckers never cashed in. Some, like Palacios, are doing worse than when they started.

Not until 10:30 a.m. in a Doral industrial park did Palacios — 52 and breathing hard, red-faced in the heat — back into the loading dock for his first load of the day, a 20-foot container holding 9,113 pounds of resin solution with a flash point of 13 degrees Celsius.”

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