As vice president of marketing and pricing, Mr. Baltz will lead all activity related to yield management, market strategy, advertising, public relations and freight bill rating. He will assume the position being vacated by Gerald Pirpich. Mr. Pirpich is retiring on January 31, 2004.

“Chris has been intimately involved with ABF’s pricing and marketing strategies and initiatives for the past 15 years,” noted ABF President and CEO Bob Davidson. “Under his guidance since 1997, ABF’s Marketing Department has successfully positioned ABF as the most flexible, customer-oriented carrier in the LTL industry, offering outstanding value to the shipping public. In addition, Chris has overseen the introduction of numerous new services at ABF and the development of abf.com, which has been consistently recognized for its innovation. He has a thorough understanding of our customers and the competitive landscape of the LTL industry. Under his leadership, I am confident that ABF will continue to offer customers the best value in the transportation industry.”

Mr. Baltz joined ABF in 1989 as an analyst in the company’s pricing department. He was named senior analyst in 1992, before being promoted to regional pricing manager in 1994. As regional pricing manager, he was responsible for the yield management of $350 million in annual revenue for the company. For the last six years, Mr. Baltz has served as ABF’s director of marketing and public relations, guiding ABF’s market strategy, new product development, Internet initiatives, advertising and related activities.

Mr. Baltz is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville where he earned a degree in industrial engineering. He and his wife, Jennifer, have two children.

ABF Freight System is one of North America’s largest and most experienced motor carriers, with direct service to all 50 states, nine Canadian provinces and Puerto Rico. In addition to its broad service to Mexico, the carrier offers service to 250 ports in more than 130 countries worldwide. Via its TimeKeeper^® service, ABF provides guaranteed expedited service for time-critical and time-definite shipments. The company’s Web site, www.abf.com, has been ranked among the best 50 of all sites by CIO magazine and top 10 Web sites by BtoB magazine. ABF has been in continuous service since 1923 and is the largest subsidiary of Arkansas Best Corporation (Nasdaq: ABFS).

Contact: Ms. Jennifer Boyd, manager of publications — ABF Freight System, Inc. — Telephone: (479) 785-8892. Photo image of Mr. Baltz is available upon request to jboyd@abf.com.