JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (August 21, 2007) –Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC (BFNT) today took the first step in completing a modernization program of its distribution center system by hosting an official groundbreaking for its new Jacksonville distribution center. The City of Jacksonville, Jacksonville City Council, the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission and The Conlan Company all participated in today’s ceremony. As part of the groundbreaking celebration, BFNT also announced a monetary donation for nearby Chaffee Trail Elementary School.

Once completed, the new 1-million-square-foot Jacksonville warehouse, which will be located in the Cecil Commerce Center North, will be the largest Bridgestone Firestone distribution center in the country and will employ 250 people.

“Today marks an important milestone for Jacksonville,” said Mayor John Peyton. “The Bridgestone Firestone project is the first step in the private development of Cecil Commerce Center North, and it will greatly complement the city’s commercial growth and redevelopment initiatives in the area. We are pleased to have Bridgestone Firestone as a partner in these efforts.”

With a capacity for more than a million tires ranging from small passenger and industrial to commercial truck tires, this center will supply tires and automotive parts to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. In addition, the distribution center will ultimately supply the entire United States with imports from Latin America and the Eastern half of the United States with tires from Japan and other Asian countries.

“We view our arrival into Jacksonville today as not just a simple groundbreaking — but as a new alliance with Florida and also with the people of this community,” said Nelson Miller, Vice President of Logistics, BFNT. “Our primary motivation for selecting Jacksonville is its strategic location near the Port of Jacksonville, which is expanding and will give us the ability to provide overnight delivery service to more than 96 percent of our customers.”

Miller continued, “The City of Jacksonville, the City Council and the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission have helped us every step of the way. They’ve shown us that Jacksonville is a great place to live and do business. I also want to recognize The Conlan Company, our general contractor, for its work in helping to keep this project on schedule. We are very fortunate to have such great partners in this endeavor.”

Other companies that played a key role in making the Jacksonville distribution center a reality include: Gresham, Smith and Partners; England-Thims & Miller, Inc.; and Hydro Rock, Inc.

“The facility will provide 250 good-paying jobs,” Miller said. “Further, this new distribution center is not designed to be simply a storage facility. Rather, it will be a superhighway of inventory. Tires will move quickly through the warehouse to their final destination, typically staying at the facility less than four weeks.”

The goal of BFNT’s state-of-the-art distribution system is to always get the right tire to the right customer at the right time. This new Jacksonville distribution center is the culmination of a modernization program that BFNT undertook more than a dozen years ago. The company’s fleet of trucks was recently honored as the best private fleet in the United States by Fleet Owner magazine.

BFNT’s commitment goes much deeper than this distribution center. This is the beginning of a commitment to the people of Jacksonville, and BFNT’s contribution to the economy of the area and to the community as a whole. That is why BFNT donated $5,000 to Chaffee Trail Elementary School.

“Our company has a long history of giving back to the communities in which we do business,” Miller said. “As a new neighbor, we wanted to do something special for the people of Jacksonville, and especially for the new Chaffee Trail Elementary School.”