Bulknet.com Launches First Online Load-Matching Site For Tank Truck Industry; Paradigm Shift in Transportation of Chemicals.

Business Editors

TULLYTOWN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 23, 2000

Bulknet.com, the first website dedicated to facilitating load-matching services for registered shippers and tank truck carriers in the chemical industry, launched its e-commerce platform today. The site, www.bulknet.com allows shippers and carriers to negotiate anonymously for each other's business through a neutral marketplace. Shippers advertise available shipments to carriers who may have excess capacity; in turn, carriers offer services at favorable prices to meet shippers' needs.

"Bulknet.com is revolutionary," says Mark S. Bitting, president, CEO and founder. "This is the only e-commerce site that generates bulk-motor carrier freight deliveries by providing load-by-load matching of registered shippers and carriers on a negotiated transactional basis. Bulknet.com's virtual transportation system is positioned to create a paradigm shift in how chemical transportation is bought and sold."

"At a time when chemical manufacturers' and distributors' margins are under pressure," Bitting says, "Bulknet.com's customers are only a click away from the latest transportation information, and a powerful tool for cost savings and improved services throughout the supply chain."

The operating principle of Bulknet.com is that superior capacity management in the bulk motor transportation industry can be achieved through rapid online communication. Traditionally, carriers expend considerable time and resources attempting to improve utilization and eliminate empty miles, and shippers of chemical products are in a constant search for available carriers to meet customers' delivery schedules.

Bulknet.com bridges that communication gap.

"By using Bulknet.com, carriers will make more efficient use of their tank trucks, especially if they can avoid returning from a delivery empty, and shippers will benefit from expeditious deliveries," explains Robert S. Shertz, director of marketing and sales.

As the chemical industry embraces e-commerce, Bulknet.com provides a seamless fulfillment operation. This is how it operates:

-- Registered shippers post data describing available loads, their

origins, destinations, dates and the shipper's pricing for line

haul and tank washing.

-- Registered carriers post a description of their equipment in

any region and the equipment's time of availability.

-- Both parties negotiate anonymously. Bulknet.com facilitates a

neutral marketplace and a secure transaction.

-- Carriers may choose to accept the market pricing offered by the

shipper for line haul and tank washing, or they may bid the

prices through Bulknet.com's secure e-commerce platform.

-- Every transaction is monitored on a load-by-load basis through

completion, with Bulknet.com handling all paperwork, billing and

quality metrics.

The rich lode of information included on the website includes detailed shipper and carrier profiles, as well as a robust tank-wash

locator - all available information helpful for facilitating each transaction. In addition to its load-matching service, Bulknet.com offers two other services:

-- CDBulk allows customers to contract for Bulknet.com's IT

infrastructure to meet specific demands of their own

transportation departments to schedule loading and dispatch of

carriers.

-- Bulkbids provides a seamless e-commerce process for customers,

offering tailor-made Internet sites from which they can send out

their chemical bulk bid parcels to the marketplace of bulk

carriers and complete B2B transactions.

Bulknet.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of LLI Inc., a Delaware corporation. It was founded as a privately-owned B2B Internet company specializing in online bulk transportation.

Bulknet.com is tapping into a multi-billion dollar bulk motor carrier industry.

It is transaction oriented, establishing and managing relationships between shippers and carriers on a load-by-load basis; and it is dynamic, tracking down and monitoring the details and steps of every transaction.