Fort Smith, Ark, July 17, 2001 -- ABF Freight System, Inc.^® has announced the third phase of its eBusiness platform - a suite of logistics planning tools at abf.com that allows customers to examine distribution patterns and facilitate supply chain optimization.

ABF's industry-leading shipment status reporting has now been expanded to include historical reports and graphs. Customers can examine shipping and receiving patterns over the current and previous year, by month, by location, by state, by vendor or customer. This information also can be charted with bar, line and pie charts. Specific "drill-down" buttons allow closer analysis of specific trends. This information empowers customers within their own organizations, assisting planning and analysis, improving distribution efficiency and reducing total logistics costs. ABF's new Logistics Planning Suite features one-click access to these reports with a home page "Shipment Snapshot" as well as an all-inclusive "Reports Center".

Recently, abf.com user Wanda Jewell of Performance, Inc. stated, "These new tools are awesome! This is information that I can use for weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly reporting to my boss. These are excellent tools for planning and for budgeting."

In addition, this Logistics Planning Suite now includes OptiPool^SM and Merge-in-Transit. OptiPool examines prospective large LTL shipments to be tendered at the same time and offers an online pool distribution solution without the headaches and complications typically associated with that service. Reduced pickup and handling expenses allow ABF to lower the total transportation cost. Customers can have flexible LTL delivery schedules and can avoid the delays associated with the sequenced deliveries of the typical truckload/stop-off scenario. Further, OptiPool offers other advantages of LTL delivery, including single-carrier tracking, billing and control, with a single tracking number, as well as a North American network of facilities, equipment and personnel.

Merge-in-Transit facilitates the simultaneous delivery of several shipments from different origins. Customers assign existing and/or prospective shipments to a coordinated delivery project. They can then track the individual shipments with a single project identification number. ABF will deliver the shipments on the requested date and even in the order specified by the customer.

Robert A. Davidson, ABF's Vice President - Marketing and Pricing, stated, "For years, ABF's eCenter^® at abf.com has set the transportation industry standard for online customer service, while reducing the administrative and transaction costs of shipping. ABF's new Logistics Planning Suite is much more than an enhancement to eCenter. These new features are forward-looking logistics planning tools that open new horizons for customers."