Transource Freightways Ltd. is an industry leader in freight logistics and warehousing services, specializing in moving electronics, bedding, and appliances on North America’s west coast.
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The Delta, British Columbia-based company was first established in 2005 by Owner and President Kal Kajla. After spending most of his teenage life working on his father’s potato farm and delivering crops, he quickly learned the art of supply and demand, and was inspired by his father’s entrepreneurial vision.
In his early twenties, Kal wanted to find his own way through helping with his father’s business while providing his own delivery service. He started a white glove home delivery service that specialized in delivering household goods. Through dedication and hard work, he took a single truck operation to ten trucks in just three years. Eventually, he shifted the company from final mile delivery to line hauling high-value products as well.
Today, the company has two locations: a head office in Delta, BC, and a second office in Calgary, AB, so it can take your freight down the coast from Yukon to California, or to either side of the Rocky Mountains with speedy, unbeatable delivery.
“Our first priority is to exceed our customer’s expectation every time,” Kal Kajla says. “Total satisfaction and continuous improvement are vital to our continued success. Our people are the source of our strength. Involvement, empowerment, trust, training and teamwork are at the core of our values. Our suppliers and our customers are our partners. We never compromise our integrity and we are always honest in dealings with our customers.”
Transource Freightways focuses on getting the done job to your satisfaction first, and making money later. When you work with Transource Freightways, you have the comfort of knowing that your satisfaction is its number-one concern. “A lot of times, we don’t want the customer to know we are going the extra final mile. We just do it because it’s part of the job. They are paying you to do something, and they want it to be completed,” Kajla explains.
Another differentiator is that Transource Freightways is a SmartWay partner. The SmartWay Transport Partnership is a free and voluntary public-private program that helps businesses move goods in an efficient and environmentally responsible manner. Organized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the SmartWay program helps companies advance supply chain sustainability and shows customers that certain freight businesses are committed to fuel-saving technology.
The responsible, can-do attitude that permeates the culture at Transource Freightways has gotten the company noticed over the years. Recently, the company received an Award of Excellence from Home Depot, one of the 14-year-old company’s relatively new partners. Transource has been working with Home Depot for about a year and a half, and was honoured to receive this recognition as a carrier that has gone above and beyond for customers.
On top of being a SmartWay partner concerned with sustainable logistics solutions, Transource also regularly supports its customers in their efforts to give back as well. Some charitable causes that it has supported include the British Columbia Children’s Hospital, Home Depot’s Orange Door Project, and The Brick Warehouse and Leon’s Invitational Hockey Tournament.
Of course, the customer-centric company that Kal Kajla founded years ago could not have reached its current state without Transource Freightways’ outstanding team. Miras Ebrahimzadeh, Business Development Manager, was Mr. Kajla’s first trusted employee. Today, Transource Freightways boasts a team of 130 passionate individuals.
“We find most of the people who work for us through word-of-mouth,” Ebrahimzadeh says of the tight-knit team. “The nice thing is we have created a good culture here, and people want to be a part of it. That’s a part of the key to our success. Everyone who works here is either friends or related, and everyone feels they need to pull their weight to keep it going.”
“When I do an interview, the first thing that comes to mind is, ‘will this person get along with everybody, and are they a team player?’” Kajla explains. “We are not looking for superstars that can take the touchdown all the way by themselves. If you have a team that is all working together toward one goal, then chances are you will be successful at it.”
Year after year, Transource Freightways has continued to grow. The award-winning company is very selective about the markets it wants to attract, intending to make lifelong partnerships. Currently, a significant portion of its business is coming through referrals from jobs well done.
“We don’t do a lot of door-knocking,” Kajla points out. “We know the partners that we want to work with, and we target them for years sometimes before we get them. We are very strategic in the lanes we want to develop. If we say to ourselves that we want to develop western U.S. lanes, then we stick on Western U.S. lanes for years, developing density in those lanes.”
Indeed, all of Transource Freightways’ customers and freights are developed around routes. “We develop lanes that we want to be in, and then we add density to these lanes. And from there it grows from word of mouth. If we have too much outbound or too much inbound, then we supplement it. We do a lot of homework before we take on a customer to make sure that the way they ship matches with how we operate as well, so we will be a good fit,” Kajla describes.
By growing the business in this synergistic way, Kajla has ensured seamless business-client relationships that are built to last and fit with the customer’s business model. The SmartWay partner looks for other reasons to take on customers beyond simply for business. Once customers are brought on that are appropriate within its existing network, Transource Freightways is able to offer a higher level of service to accommodate their needs.
“We want to sustain our service level. By choosing these lanes, we know we can give our partners a quick turnaround and we can always find better solutions to problems, because we are dense in those lanes; we are strong. We already have the solutions before the problems even arise,” adds Ebrahimzadeh.
The level of attention that Transource Freightways offers to its customers goes beyond industry standards. Requests are always responded to in a timely manner so that no load is left behind, and employees on the trusted team are empowered to take complete responsibility for shipments. “When we take on new business, we are very confident we can take it on and we eliminate mistakes. We don’t make the same mistake over and over again. The customer sees that,” says Ebrahimzadeh.
Most of Transource Freightways’ customer-partners have high-volume shipments. Once customers quickly take note that Transource Freightways is more than able to handle it and are willing to do whatever it takes to deliver exceptional service, Transource Freightways earns their trust. Indeed, Transource sees itself as extension of your business.
The company’s vision is to become Canada’s number-one carrier by offering an end-to-end solution for all of its customers’ needs. Transource Freightways’ future plans are to grow its final miles division (currently offered in the greater Vancouver area) across Canada, and at the same time grow Transource as a whole across The True North. According to Kal and Miras, the foundation for these goals has already been laid down, and the expansion is just a matter of time. We can expect to see the growing business to open a third location in Ontario in the near future.
But while the business pushes on, the Transource team hasn’t forgotten how it all started. “We have all come from humble beginnings, and we are grateful to have the success that we have had. We continue to strive for the best,” Ebrahimzadeh concludes.
As an industry leader in the western corridor, Transource Freightways continues to execute its customers’ most complicated logistical requirements. While owning and managing its assets across the region, its fleet is actively monitored to increase freight safety and ensure its loads reach their destination on time. In today’s demanding market, Transource has developed the resources and has the equipment to get the job done right.
