COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (January 13, 2009)—While many companies are making efforts to establish long-term habits of conserving natural resources, leading transportation and logistics provider Averitt Express is upping the ante for its associates: In February, Averitt will give away a 2008 Smart Car and 20 $500 gas cards to associates whose facilities show measured reductions in their use of resources such as fuel, water, electricity and paper.

Thousands of associates at Averitt’s more than 100 facilities will be eligible to win the car and gas cards, but they must work as a team to be entered in the drawing. If a given team or facility reduces its resource use, everybody in that team or facility will be entered in the drawing.

When the event concludes in February, one randomly selected associate will win the Smart Car, a 40-mile per gallon car sold through Mercedes-Benz dealers, while another 20 randomly selected associates will win one $500 gas card each.

"We call this program ‘Smart Car for Smart Thinking,'" said Scott Wolf, Averitt’s VP of corporate services. "We want to do everything we can to reduce waste, improve efficiency, and transform ourselves into a leaner, greener, and more competitive team than ever before. We’re challenging everyone on our team to pursue conservation and efficiency with renewed vigor—and if they help us improve, they might drive off in a new car or get several free tanks of gas as a reward."

As a charter member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transport Partnership, a group of transportation companies taking measured steps to improve efficiency, conserve natural resources and reduce pollution, Averitt has been taking several steps to go green:

• Equipping road tractors with auxiliary power units to increase driver comfort and reduce fuel wasted by idling the truck’s main engine during breaks.
• Using high-efficiency synthetic lubricants in all trucks, reducing the frequency of needed oil changes.
• Deploying leading-edge software that optimizes route efficiency and alerts drivers to the most cost-effective fueling locations.
• Specifying truck and trailer equipment that maximizes fuel mileage.
• Instituting a companywide recycling program, including proper recycling of waste oil and other vital engine fluids.
• Using biodiesel in select markets.
• Installing sophisticated electronic technology that gathers data from tractor engine computers to track and measure fuel efficiency on an individual tractor level, as well as installing devices that automatically shut down idling engines.
• Lighting many of their facilities with energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs and high-bay fluorescent light fixtures, which use about half the energy of previously used HID high-bay lamps.
• Educating its workforce on steps that can be taken to increase fuel efficiency, reduce engine idling and improve processes that impact the environment.

Since joining the SmartWay transport partnership in 2004, Averitt has saved an estimated 2.5 million gallons of diesel fuel and lowered carbon dioxide emissions by 26 percent.

"Even though the price of fuel has gone down recently, 2008 showed us just how quickly fuel prices can skyrocket," Wolf said. "That’s why we still want to do our part to reduce our use of fuel. It makes us less vulnerable to possible fuel price spikes like the ones we’ve seen in the past, and it’s just the right thing to do for our environment."

As a result of its commitment to conservation, Averitt recently received a Green Supply Chain Award from Supply and Demand Chain Executive magazine. Every year, Supply and Demand Chain Executive presents the Green Supply Chain Award to carriers whose leadership in the areas of environmental responsibility, conservation, and efficiency make them stand out.

For more details about Averitt’s green initiatives, visit www.averittexpress.com/green.

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 management capabilities include dedicated fleet operations, warehousing services and transportation management. For more information, call 1-800-AVERITT or visit http://www.averittexpress.com.