COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (December 13, 2005) – Averitt Express, one of the nation’s leading freight transportation and supply chain management providers, recently reduced transit times on shipments moving to and from the states of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

The improvements will reduce transit times to and from hundreds of cities in those states, many of which are towns in the outlying areas of larger cities, including Dallas; San Antonio; Houston; Austin, Texas; Abilene, Texas; Harlingen, Texas; Waco, Texas; Tyler, Texas; Oklahoma City; Tulsa, Okla.; and Jonesboro, Ark.

Many lanes that had previously had transit times of three days are now two-day, and many two-day lanes are now next-day lanes.

Averitt officials say the service improvements were made possible by operational adjustments made within the company's distribution system.

"More than ever, today's freight shippers are looking for fast, reliable service from their providers,” said Calvin Rackley, Averitt’s regional vice president for Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. "We're constantly looking at ways to reengineer our network to be more efficient so we can provide timely service that helps our customers get a leg up on their competitors."

Averitt has made several major investments in its infrastructure in Texas over the past few months. Earlier this year, Averitt completed construction of a highly-advanced, 57,000 square foot, 106-door facility in Houston. The company is also in the process of building a new facility in Laredo.

Averitt operates 11 distribution facilities in the state of Texas, with locations in Austin, Abilene, Dallas, El Paso, Harlingen, Houston, Laredo, Lubbock, San Antonio, Tyler, and Waco. It also operates an ocean container transload facility in McAllen.

According to Rackley, the improved service comes at a time when Averitt is experiencing rapid growth in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Averitt recently expanded its truckload and dedicated contract carriage services and has also expanded its LTL and truckload services to and from Mexico. It is also now handling a large amount of ocean container traffic at the port of Houston and other ports on the Gulf, East and West Coasts.

"These transit improvements were made possible by our customers who have awarded us new business over the past several months," Rackley added. "This new business has allowed us to improve the density of our network and pass that back to our customers in the form of enhanced service times."

About Averitt Express

Established in 1971, Averitt Express is a leading provider of freight transportation and supply chain management with international reach to more than 100 countries. The company specializes in delivering customized solutions with a single source of accountability for service offerings that include less-than-truckload, truckload, time-critical, importing/exporting, and supply chain management. Backed by successful execution for hundreds of customers, Averitt’s supply chain capabilities include dedicated fleet operations, warehouse management services, portside distribution, transportation management, and transportation network design and operation. For more information, call 1-800-AVERITT or visit http://www.averittexpress.com/.