Report: Cargomatic drastically downsizes staff

The digital platform launched by a startup company two years ago to match shippers with unused capacity in the short-haul truckload and less-than-truckload market has cut its workforce by 50 percent, according to a report from Business Insider.    Cargomatic, the digital platform launched by a startup company two years ago to match shippers with unused capacity in the short-haul truckload and less-than-truckload market, has laid off about half of its workforce in the first quarter, Business Insider reports.
   CEO Jonathan Kessler confirmed to the digital publication that marketing jobs were cut, but did not provide an actual number. He said the company is right-sizing operations as more functions get automated. According to Business Insider, Cargomatic let go of 50 to 60 people.
   The personnel action comes after the company expanded from Southern California to the New York City area. Last month, Cargomatic announced the hiring of two logistics veterans – Chuck Oeleis from Carlile Transportation as executive vice president of sales, and Meaghan Diem from Coyote Logistics as vice president of enterprise sales. Diem’s responsibility is to focus on growing Cargomatic’s base of large volume customers.
   Cargomatic’s venture capital investors include Volvo Group Venture Capital, Rob Estes of Estes Express (a motor carrier), Morado Venture Partners, SV Angel, Sherpa Ventures, and others.
   The company offers an app, often referred to as “Uber for trucking,” that allows truckers to find shippers with cargo to move within a 150-mile radius of Los Angeles and New York, including for port drayage. Orders placed by shippers get transmitted to drivers within a 20-mile radius, based on GPS coordinates.
   Cargomatic has modified its mobile app for the port trucking sector and has partnered with the Port of Los Angeles to test the concept at a couple terminals that are using a new free-flow process for loading boxes on trucks. Free-flow allows terminals to create piles of containers for large customers or certain destinations. Longshoremen operating lift equipment simply lower the first available box on trucks that pull up with empty chassis rather than truckers coming with a particular container assignment that requires combing through the stacks to produce.