Open-deck transportation marketplace EXO Freight closed its Chattanooga, Tennessee, office Tuesday, laying off 19 employees, including a few from its spot brokerage team in Royal Oak, Michigan, who were mainly operations-focused, co-founder and CEO Kurtis Tryber told FreightWaves.
Tryber said it was an intentional move by the company to pivot from covering unprofitable spot market freight through its brokerage to utilizing its specialized marketplace and fintech solutions for managed transportation business needs.
The Royal Oak office will stay open to focus on managed transportation.
“We remain focused on delivering a technology-enabled transportation service offering to open-deck shippers and carriers,” Tryber said. “The news today is very unfortunate, and we empathize with the affected employees. However, our traditional spot brokerage business was taking away focus from our core customer group.”