Pacer International Names Tom Shurstad to Head Its North American Stacktrain Unit

CONCORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 2002--Tom Shurstad, most recently chief executive officer of the Chicago-based Belt Railway, has been named president and chief executive officer of Pacer Stacktrain, North America's largest double-stack rail network for the distribution of both domestic and international containerized freight.

Pacer Stacktrain is a unit of Concord-based Pacer International, a non-asset based international third-party provider of logistics and other services. The parent company reported consolidated gross revenues of $1.3 billion for the fiscal year 2000.

Shurstad is returning to Pacer Stacktrain, having served as an executive of its previous operator, APL, Ltd., in the 1980s. At that time, he played a role in development and operation of the fuel-efficient container-distribution system, which uses special cars to carry two tiers of containers rather than one.

"Tom Shurstad is a highly customer-focused and experienced executive with more than 30 years in the intermodal and rail sectors. We look forward to his leadership in a challenging economic environment," said Don Orris, chairman and chief executive officer of Pacer International.

The Belt Railway, which Shurstad has headed since 1998, is owned by the six largest railroads in North America. It provides car classification and other services and handles 2.5 million cars per year.

Aside from Shurstad's experience with Belt and APL, other affiliations include Southern Pacific Lines, where he was vice president and general manager until SP's 1995 merger with Union Pacific Railroad; Port of Seattle, where he served as director of intermodal services; and Burlington Northern Railroad, where he rose from conductor, brakeman and switchman to assistant to the vice president of operations.

In his new Pacer Stacktrain role, Shurstad will succeed Don Orris, who has been acting head of the unit since the position was vacated last July. Orris continues in his leadership role for the parent organization.

ABOUT PACER -- Pacer International, a leading non-asset based international third-party logistics company, offers a broad array of logistics and other services to facilitate the movement of freight from origin to destination. Its services include wholesale stacktrain services (cost-efficient, two-tiered rail transportation for containerized shipments), and retail trucking, intermodal marketing, freight consolidation and handling, international freight forwarding, and supply-chain management services. Pacer International is headquartered in Concord, California. Its business units Pacer Stacktrain and Pacer Global Logistics are headquartered in Concord, California and in Dublin, Ohio, respectively. Web site: www.pacer-international.com

Ed. Note: issued by Steve Potash & Company, sjpotash@potashco.com.

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