KAL Freight Adds Capacity with Baton to Support Spikes in Freight Volume

Start-up's relay model and local fleet keeps carrier's drivers on the highway and customers fulfilled

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Oct 18, 2021, 08:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Baton, a logistics technology start-up that handles the final and first-mile truckload deliveries, and KAL Freight are partnering to keep the carrier's long-haul drivers happy and on the highway, and augment their local fleet to better support spikes in freight volume throughout the week. Leveraging Baton's local fleet, KAL Freight's over-the-road (OTR) drivers turn their trailers within 15 minutes at dedicated pick-up zones, maximizing their productivity. Baton's local fleet then completes the end delivery at an increased on-time service performance.

KAL Freight is a growing and tech forward company, a position it was able to reach by leveraging its own, local relay model in key markets. This all further improved with the use of Baton's local network and fleet in the Greater Los Angeles area.

As a result of the partnership and segmenting KAL Freight's local operations, the carrier's OTR drivers can avoid city and warehouse congestion. More so, its local drivers now have the time to take additional freight to better meet customer needs.

"With Baton operating as our on-demand local fleet, we now have the capacity to free up our local drivers without the cost or complexity of managing additional local drivers and locations," said Steven Atherton, vice president of transportation, KAL Freight.

Leveraging Baton has helped us keep our OTR drivers away from warehouses in the Los Angeles area, saving them time when they hand off their load at a local drop yard," he continued. "This reduced downtime means more drive time, increased productivity and an even better driver experience – all of which are crucial to retaining our drivers. Our vision is to leverage Baton as an extension of our business in several markets."

This is the first time Baton has partnered with a carrier who had a similar model and still decided to leverage the start-up's local relay service. It's also the first instance where Baton has fully offered its fleet as an entire extension of a customer's business.

"As a fast-growing regional and national transportation provider, partnering with KAL Freight entails a nationwide vision where Baton can operate as a digital, local fleet in several markets," said Andrew Berberick, co-founder, Baton. "Working with KAL Freight demonstrates that even carriers who have local fleets and terminals have found Baton to be cost-effective and augment their existing operation, even during peak periods."

"Due to the current capacity crunch and related uncertainty in the freight market, the usual strategy of hiring more drivers will still not suffice to support market demand," he continued. "Increasing efficiency is the only way to add capacity and reduce driver turnover – and this exactly what KAL Freight is doing."

With a capacity crunch that is likely to continue throughout 2022. Together, Baton and KAL Freight will be expanding to additional markets within the next 12 months. For Baton this means expanding into Atlanta and Chicago, which are also major lanes for KAL Freight.

About Baton

Baton is a logistics technology platform that eliminates waste (wait time, traffic, empty miles) for carriers (trucking companies) in the final mile of long-haul trucking through a nationwide network of drop zones positioned just outside major metro areas. Carriers drop off and pick up loads at these drop zones, and Baton's network of local drivers handle the final mile of delivery. Baton's software coordinates the operation between carriers, drop zones, warehouses, and local drivers, optimizing journey times and minimizing cost. Visit baton.io or follow us on linkedin.com/company/baton-trucking/ and twitter.com/BatonTrucking.

SOURCE Baton