(Fort Smith, Arkansas, November 12, 1996) -- Arkansas Best Corp ("Arkansas Best") announced today that its Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier ("NVOCC") subsidiary, CaroTrans International, will join The Clipper Group to form Clipper WorldWide. This new business unit will focus on worldwide logistics, transportation, and trade facilitation.

Clipper WorldWide will be led by Andy Sze, who will also act as President & CEO of The Clipper Group. Jim Justiss will continue to serve as the President of CaroTrans and will oversee the international business activities of this new unit.

Sze commented, "This combination will link The Clipper Group's capable domestic network with CaroTrans' strong international network. It will reduce the operating costs and improve the services to shippers worldwide," Robert A. Young, III, President and CEO of Arkansas Best, stated, "Both The Clipper Group and CaroTrans are non-asset intensive, knowledge-based companies. This combination is a significant step in simplifying the organizational structure of various Arkansas Best subsidiaries."

CaroTrans is a leading NVOCC in the United States providing import and export service to more than 140 countries with 225 ports of discharge. The Clipper Group is a domestic multi-modal logistics and transportation company. Its services include long haul intermetro less-than-truckload transportation, intermodal marketing, expedited truckload transportation, refrigerated transportation, global air forwarding, and logistics management. The Clipper Group and CaroTrans have generated revenues of $134 million for the nine months ended September 30, 1996.