Addition of N.G.A. Members and Affiliates gives all AmeriQuest Participants added buying power

Cherry Hill, NJ & Reston, VA April 17, 2001: AmeriQuest, the leading provider of transportation and logistics products and services for the fleet management industry, and National Grocers Association (N.G.A.), the voice of the independent segment of the retail and wholesale food industry, today announced they will jointly offer an on-line procurement solution for N.G.A. members and affiliates operating commercial fleets. The service, to be launched this spring, will be based on a web site developed by the two groups and accessible through the N.G.A. site.

AmeriQuest and N.G.A. are offering the program to retailers, wholesaler, manufacturers and service suppliers representing approximately 40,000 trucks, tractors and trailers. With these additional transportation units, AmeriQuest now has aggregated purchasing power of nearly 10 percent of the nation’s commercial surface fleet.

“With the addition of the fleets in the N.G.A. community, AmeriQuest is making marked progress toward becoming the world’s largest aggregated buyer of transportation products and equipment. This will help us extend our buying power and provide even more value to our commercial users,” said Doug Clark, President and CEO, AmeriQuest.

“Members and affiliates of N.G.A. participating in the N.G.A.-AmeriQuest B2B e-commerce purchasing service will have access to similar pricing and economies of scale previously available only to the nation’s largest fleets,” said Thomas K. Zaucha, President and CEO, N.G.A.

“We look forward to bringing easy access to products and services purchasing programs to our members and affiliates through the AmeriQuest commercial fleet program, which will offer free internet buying, tracking and paperless commerce,” said Stuart Zlotnikoff, President, National Grocers Association Service Corporation, and Senior Vice President of N.G.A.

“This is the classic mutually beneficial relationship – N.G.A.’s members and affiliates get improved purchasing power for their fleets, and AmeriQuest gets added traction in the very important supermarket distribution center and consumer packaged goods manufacturing industry,” concluded Joseph Ciolino, Executive Vice President, AmeriQuest.

About AmeriQuest Transportation and Logistics Resources
AmeriQuest Transportation and Logistics Resources provides procurement services, outsourced transportation management services, asset services, and logistics consulting to the commercial trucking industry. AmeriQuest dramatically cuts costs and optimizes operations for their powerful network of more than 525,000 transportation vehicles. AmeriQuest offers significant discounts with commercial trucking suppliers' fleet-related products, and provides technology driven back office process efficiencies. AmeriQuest enables customers to realize immediate bottom-line savings while adding economic and performance value to industry supply chains.

About National Grocers Association
N.G.A. is the national trade association representing the retail and wholesale grocers that comprise the independent sector of the food distribution industry. An independent retailer is a privately owned or controlled food retail company operating in a variety of formats. Some are publicly traded but with controlling shares held by the family. Most independent operators are serviced by wholesale distributors, while others may be partially or fully self-distributing. Independents are the true “entrepreneurs” of the grocery industry and dedicated to their customers, associates, and communities. N.G.A. members include retail and wholesale grocers and their state associations, as well as manufacturers and service suppliers. For more information about N.G.A. and the independent sector of the industry, see the N.G.A. website: www.NationalGrocers.org.