Prioritize: demonstrated throughput and peak capacity, WMS and reporting integrations, multi-temperature storage, SLA and KPI guarantees, carrier connectivity to key lanes, customs/bonded handling if needed, and scalability of labor and racking to match SKU growth.

Connectivity to national highways, local ports, and ferry services reduces drayage and enables consolidation for zone-skipping strategies, which lowers per‑unit freight. Good intermodal access also shortens lead times for island deliveries and exports, improving predictability and cost control.

Common models include bonded/customs‑bonded warehouses, cold-chain storage, cross-dock and transload, and dedicated vs shared fulfillment. Choose based on SKU temperature needs, customs exposure, order velocity, and whether predictable SLAs or cost-flexible shared services deliver better unit economics.

Key levers: inventory placement to reduce freight zones, consolidation and zone-skipping, cross-docking to cut handling time, density and racking optimization to lower occupancy costs, shared transport networks, and aligning labor models to seasonal demand.