PHILADELPHIA, December 15, 2003 — BDP International (BDP) will implement an enhanced screening process for U.S. job applicants, in a continuing effort to integrate best practices set forth by the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism (C-TPAT).

Beginning January 1, 2004, the Philadelphia-based global logistics and transportation services firm will conduct criminal background checks, require residency information for the past seven years, and perform comprehensive job reference reviews for all applicants to whom it plans to extend offers of employment.

“C-TPAT is one of the rules of doing international business in the 21st century,” said BDP President Richard J. Bolte, Jr. “Building enhanced standards for employee hiring is a matter of taking the detailed security plan BDP established in concert with C-TPAT, and bringing policies into daily practice,” he continued. “The cost associated with conducting more assertive research of job candidates is an investment, which in due course will yield continuous improvement in BDP’s single most important customer service asset, its employees. Workforce quality and security are not mutually exclusive, they are intimately linked.”

Candidates for employment will be screened for both misdemeanors and felonies at the county, state and federal levels. To date, the company has conducted such checks in collaboration with its customers for which BDP employees are working on site.

BDP will deploy the new hiring policies at its 22 operations in the U.S. These procedures will also be recommended as best practices to the company’s Global Network of subsidiaries, joint ventures and affiliates in approximately 140 countries, subject to local laws and regulations.

BDP was certified as a member of C-TPAT back in June, based on the CBP’s review of the company’s extensive supply chain security profile commitment. The company applied for full participation under the program in August of 2002, making it one of the first third-party logistics (3PL) firms in North America to do so.

About BDP
BDP International operates freight logistics management centers in more than 20 cities throughout North America and a network of wholly owned subsidiaries, joint ventures and strategic partnerships in 140 countries. The company serves more than 4,000 customers worldwide. Clients include Air Products and Chemicals, Dow Chemical Company, Eastman Chemical, Heineken USA, Honeywell, Johnson & Johnson, Osram Sylvania, Rohm & Haas, Trek Bicycle, and others. BDP provides a range of services, including ocean, air and ground transportation management; 4PL Lead Logistics process analysis, design and management; export freight forwarding; import customs brokerage; and regulatory compliance; project logistics; warehousing/consolidation/distribution; and web-based shipping transaction/tracking management systems through its BDPXpedion platform.

For further information, contact
Arnie Bornstein,
Director - Marketing and Corporate Communications,
BDP International, Inc..
Phone: 215-629-8493
fax: 215-629-8995
e-mail: abornstein@bdpnet.com