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Exhibit 99.1
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Edward W. Cook
Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President
(423) 636-7100
FORWARD AIR CORPORATION ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT TO PURCHASE
ASSETS OF EXPEDITED DELIVERY SERVICES, INC.
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (January 3, 2001) - Forward Air Corporation (Nasdaq/NM:FWRD)
announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire the air cargo operating
assets of Expedited Delivery Services, Inc. ("Expedited"). Expedited is a
leading provider of transportation service to the air cargo industry. Expedited
serves 20 markets across the United States from its operations center in Dallas,
Texas. Expedited is a wholly owned subsidiary of WorldPoint Logistics, Inc. of
Bellevue, Washington.
Expedited provides both truckload and less-than-truckload surface transportation
for freight forwarders, airlines and other participants in the air cargo
industry. Expedited operations are principally focused in the Southeast and the
Central U.S. Expedited's terminals in the Southeast include Atlanta, Miami,
Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Greenville-Spartanburg, Huntsville, Charleston
and Columbia. Its Central U.S. operations include Houston, Dallas, Chicago,
Tulsa, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, Cedar Rapids and Des
Moines. Upon completion of the transaction, airfreight operations of Expedited
will be integrated into the operations of Forward Air, Inc., a subsidiary of
Forward Air Corporation.
Commenting on the acquisition, President Bruce A. Campbell said, "Expedited's
operations and customer base will be a strategic fit with our Forward Air
operations allowing us to provide a more comprehensive level of service to our
existing customers. We expect to leverage our existing operations in the Central
and Southeastern markets." Don Berger, President of Expedited, said "We consider
this transaction to be a positive development for our customers and believe they
will benefit from a broader network of services provided by the Forward Air
system."
Forward Air Corporation is a high-service-level contractor to the air cargo
industry providing time-definite service in the United States and Canada.
This press release and statements made by the Company in reports to its
shareholders and public filings, as well as oral public statements by the
Company's representatives, may contain certain forward-looking information that
is subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those projected. Without limitation, factors that might
cause such a difference include economic factors such as recessions, inflation,
higher interest rates and downturns in customer business cycles, the Company's
inability to maintain its historical growth rate due to a decreased volume of
freight moving through the Company's network, competition, surplus inventories,
loss of a major customer, the ability of the Company's information systems to
handle increased volume of freight moving through its network, and the
availability and compensation of qualified independent owner-operators to serve
the Company's transportation needs. The Company disclaims any intent or
obligations to update these forward-looking statements.
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