ExpressLINK Customers in Key Midwestern and Southeastern States to Benefit From Expanded Coverage and Faster Delivery Times

Business Wire, March 16, 2000

Business Editors & Transportation Writers

LA MIRADA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 16, 2000

G.I. Trucking Co. and Estes Express Lines, partners in the ExpressLINK North American service network, have announced expanded direct coverage and faster delivery times for customers in several key Midwestern and Southeastern states.

States most affected include Missouri, Texas, Kansas, Louisiana and Arkansas.

"Additional direct coverage in these markets will improve our ability to competitively add growth in these states to and from our ExpressLINK partners and to all G.I. Trucking regions, especially the Midwest region," noted Bill Reid, G.I. Trucking Co. president.

In Kansas, a new terminal is serving the Greater Wichita metropolitan area as well as the surrounding towns of El Dorado and Newton.

Service between Kansas City, Mo., and St. Louis has gone from two-day to next-day delivery.

Direct daily service is now available to customers in Topeka, Kan., and surrounding communities through streamlined direct coverage operations that originate in the Kansas City terminal.

The Kansas City terminal presently covers the Missouri cities of Sedalia, Joplin and Springfield. However, a local terminal/service center to handle these three Missouri localities will open in the first quarter of this year. Full Missouri coverage is now available through joint operations between G.I. Trucking and Estes Express Lines.

To expand service in west-central Texas, a new terminal location in Big Springs now provides direct service to Midland-Odessa, Lubbock and Abilene. Future plans include direct service from these communities to Amarillo. In addition, a new terminal location in Brownsville now serves Texas border towns including Brownsville, McAllen and Harlingen.

The San Antonio terminal is now providing direct daily service to Corpus Christi, Sinton and San Pedro. Service between San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and the southeastern United States has substantially improved through direct loading, eliminating or reducing additional handling and transportation miles.

The Houston and Dallas terminal/service centers have expanded their coverage to serve regional communities that had previously been handled by agents.

Estes Express Lines will be expanding terminals in Shreveport, La.; Little Rock, Ark; and Columbia-Jefferson City, Mo. With these and other terminal openings, Estes will provide full-state coverage in Louisiana and Arkansas.

G.I. Trucking Co. provides direct less-than-truckload (LTL) service to 16 Western and Midwestern states through 83 terminals and agent locations. It also offers transportation service to all other U.S. states and 10 Canadian provinces through the ExpressLINK North American service network. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arkansas Best Corp. of Fort Smith, Ark.