Hunt signs trade-in deal with Freightliner

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. said today that it has made a deal with Freightliner LLC to trade in 2,100 of its trucks for the same number of new ones. The package includes a variety of truck and engine types and will result in a significant reduction in the average age of the company's fleets, particularly in the company's Intermodal and Dedicated Contract Services (DCS) business segments, J.B. Hunt said. Approximately 450 tractor additions that had been delayed from 2002 to 2003 have now been further delayed until 2004 as a result of the new agreement, the carrier said. The package is for trades only and will not result in capacity additions to the fleet. J.B. Hunt said the agreement will reduce the average age of the Intermodal and DCS tractor fleets, and will also help it stabilize and control its maintenance costs over the long term. The replacement trucks for Intermodal and DCS will be delivered primarily during the first half of 2003 and the majority of the units will be equipped with Mercedes MBE4000 engines. Replacement trucks for J.B. Hunt's truck business segment will not be delivered until the third quarter of 2003, delaying any significant acceptance of the new EPA mandated heavy-duty engines.