ABF Freight System, Inc., of Fort Smith, Arkansas is one of North America's largest LTL carriers of general commodities. It now serves points and ports literally around the world. A rich history has unfolded as it has grown from a local carrier in 1923 to the motor carrier of international status it is today.

ABF is the largest subsidiary of Arkansas Best Corporation. The subsidiaries of ABC have included banking, computer services, furniture manufacturing, specialized and truckload carriers, as well as warehousing and truck tire recapping.

1930s-40s

In the mid-1930s, P.C. Motor Freight Lines had authority between Fort Smith southward to Texarkana, Arkansas. In March 1935, it acquired Arkansas Motor Freight, giving the company authority northward through Fayetteville, Arkansas, to Kansas City and across to St. Louis. Next, it bought Motor Express. This extended intrastate authority in Arkansas considerably, plus giving the company authority in Shreveport, Louisiana. From then until March 1949, management efforts were spent developing the current authority.

1950s

In 1949, they acquired Robertson Truck Lines and Smock Transportation, giving them direct authority from Little Rock to St. Louis. In 1951, Mr. R.A. Young Jr. purchased the company. In 1952, the acquisition of Arkansas Express further expanded intrastate authority in Arkansas from Little Rock southward to five cities. Revenues for the year were $3,356,000. From that point on, ABF's history has gone like the proverbial skyrocket. They acquired Memphis-Arkansas Express in 1953, with authority between Little Rock and Memphis, Tennessee. In September 1956, they made the largest acquisition up to that time. Best Motor Freight gave authority between the Texas cities of San Antonio, Houston, Fort Worth and Dallas to Chicago, Indianapolis and the state of Ohio. So, in a period of 17 years, authority was expanded from a small western Arkansas carrier to one with authority in 11 states. In May 1957, the name was changed to Arkansas-Best Freight System, Inc. Revenues that year were $6,151,000.

1960s

In 1959, the company purchased Healzer Cartage Company. This gave the company authority into the Kansas and Milwaukee areas. Two years later, they purchased a portion of Fine Truck Lines' authority between Muskogee, Oklahoma and Fort Smith. In 1962, they acquired Brad Shearer Truck Service that extended authority from northeastern Arkansas to St. Louis. In October 1962, one purchase – that of Delta Motor Line – gave the company authority from Chicago through the Mississippi Valley to New Orleans. It also multiplied the number of service centers ABF had and this acquisition brought revenues up to $16,855,000.

Between 1962 and 1968, ABF made a series of small acquisitions that extended authority into the St. Louis area, giving new service into the quad-city area of Moline, East Moline and Davenport. With the acquisition of C.E.I.&.I. Express in December 1968, ABF moved into the Cincinnati area. In October 1968, they acquired Fast Freight, connecting Cleveland with Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester and Albany, New York. One year later, they acquired Krema Truck Lines that expanded the Chicago-area authority considerably. Then they acquired Youngblood Truck Lines in 1971. This gave authority into North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. In that year, revenues were slightly over $55,000,000.

1970s

The company acquired authority into the Oklahoma City area through the purchase of a portion of the H.A. Day Truck Line in 1976. The purchase of a portion of Associated Transport's operating rights, also in 1976, extended the system past its then-easternmost points of Albany, Rochester and Syracuse into the New England states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and the Newark, New Jersey, area.

With the lease of a segment of the operating rights of Western Gillette in 1977, ABF moved into Birmingham, Alabama. This authority bridged the southeast with the southwest. In addition, the company obtained a portion of the route of Great Lakes Express Company in 1977, giving it routes into the major industrial areas of Detroit, Michigan, and adding another major gateway into and out of Canada. Its New England operations were linked with those in the southeast by the acquisition of a portion of Akers Motor Lines' operations rights along U.S. Highway One. The Akers acquisition also included the Philadelphia and Baltimore markets.

The next, and one of the largest acquisitions, went into operation in 1979 when ABF purchased Navajo Freight Lines. This authority extended ABF's westernmost boundary from Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas to California and lifted the company from 25^th to ninth in size among the nation's regulated interstate motor freight carriers.

1980s

The 1980s brought more major changes. In July 1980, the company name was changed to ABF Freight System, Inc. In September 1982, ABF acquired East Texas Motor Freight (ETMF). The ETMF acquisition, which included ETMF's operating rights, provided ABF with 44 new service center cities, expanding its system to 160 locations and providing service centers in a number of states, including five states not previously served by ABF – Washington, Oregon, Utah, Virginia and Florida. Market penetration was substantially increased in California, Illinois, Michigan and North Carolina by the addition of a total of 18 new service centers in those states. Also, 16 new service centers were added in Texas, giving ABF a total of 16 locations in one of the country's most rapidly expanding market areas.

1990s

ABF's revenue increased from $418,678,000 in 1985 to $783,024,114 in 1991. The 1990s saw major expansion into the international market for the company. While ABF had interline service into Canada since the late 1970s, and had a service center in Canada since 1986, it opened its Montreal and Toronto service centers in late 1989 and opened nine more in that country in the early 1990s.

In June 1992, ABF entered the international market with an alliance partner, Votainer USA. Votainer was a non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC) that provided the consolidation services that allowed ABF to ship cargo internationally to 45 countries.

Since January 1993, ABF has maintained an alliance with Mexico's largest motor carriers, giving ABF single-bill service to major points in Mexico. This alliance gave ABF customers proportional through-rates, single-carrier responsibility of limited cargo liability, single freight bill including all freight charges, the option for freight charges to be prepaid origin to destination, collect origin to destination or a combination of prepaid and collect, electronic tracking from origin-to-destination and consistent transit times. In July 1994, ABF established NVOCC operation, ABF International Services, which provides customers with a single factor through rate from points in the U.S. with single carrier responsibility. ABF is not limited to just one source to move cargo and can, therefore, provide the best possible options for its customers. More control gives ABF the ability to conform to customers' requirements and, literally, service the world.

In September 1995, ABC purchased Worldway Corporation and all of its subsidiaries. Its two LTL subsidiaries, Carolina Freight and Red Arrow, were merged into ABF's operation.

Beginning in late 1995, ABF has rolled out online productivity tools under its online eCenter^® project for its customers that evolved into abf.com. In the beginning, the eCenter included shipment tracking, customer-specific rate quotations, detailed summary reports, dynamic routing of in-transit shipments, a wireless tracking solution, XML connectivity and much more. ABF was the first LTL motor carrier to place its rates and service information on the Internet.

In 1997, ABF added pickup requests to their Internet tool center. The eCenter tools were expanded in 1999 to include Advanced Reports, Freight Bill Review, and Forms and ABF Documents and Transparent Links. Personalized Web pages, a forerunner of the intuitive abf.com of 2003, also became available in 1999. Through the use of myABF, customers could create a personal home page that included weather reports, stock quotes, Web links and ABF shipping information.

2000s

In January 2000, ABF introduced the Shipment Planner and Dynamic Rerouting to its suite of online customer tools. With the patent-pending Shipment Planner, customers manage and track shipments through a calendar interface. With Dynamic Rerouting, customers reroute shipments while in-transit. Real-time shipment status tracking information for handheld PDAs became available in June 2000.

In this rapidly changing environment, ABF has been the acknowledged transportation leader from the start. In mid-2000, just after being named the best motor carrier Web site by CIO, abf.com was completely redesigned, offering a streamlined user interface and faster access to the most frequently used eCenter^® tools.

In 2001, abf.com received the highest score of any LTL motor carrier Web site when it was named a NetMarketing 200 award winner and was also named a Web Business 50 Award^TM winner by CIO magazine, placing among the best 50 of all Web sites. CIO's award recognized Internet leadership and innovation among organizations around the world. ABF was one of three transportation providers on the award list and one of only two Internet sites to win the award in 2000 and 2001. ABF was also named E-comm Innovator of the Year by Network World magazine in 2001.

With the release of Shipment Director™ in 2002, ABF introduced an online application that helps customers streamline document preparation and freight tendering across multiple shipments. To make it even easier for customers to access information about shipments, the Reports Inbox tool was launched in 2003. The Reports Inbox allows customers to schedule ongoing delivery of status reports. Customers set the report delivery schedule and may schedule real-time or historical shipment information. Most recently, abf.com underwent a complete re-engineering, offering a simpler graphical interface, streamlined applications, and industry-first advances in automated personalization — enhancements focused on bringing customers the information they need more quickly.

Today

Today, ABF is one of North America's largest LTL motor carriers. ABF provides direct service to more than 30,000 points through a network of more than 300 service centers in all 50 states, Canada and Puerto Rico. Through its alliance with a Mexican LTL carrier, ABF is positioned to pick up and deliver freight in three North American countries with ease. Outside the continent, ABF International Services allows ABF to provide single carrier responsible service to more than 130 countries.

REVENUE GROWTH

ABF's operating history is an impressive record of growth. The results shown below reflect an operating loss only 4 years of a 25-year period. These years of 1979, 1982, 1995, and 1996 were acquisition periods (Navajo Freight Lines, East Texas Motor Freight, and Carolina Freight Corp.) during which ABF purchased other major carriers. Industry analysts predicted that we could not survive such moves, yet ABF has shown remarkable prosperity and growth in the years immediately following the acquisitions.

 

*Excludes settlement accounting charges