[LETTERHEAD]


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                                       CONTACT: TIMOTHY LEPPAR
                                                                PRESIDENT & CEO
                                                                (800) 421-2757


Corona, California, January 8, 1997 - Country Wide Transport Services, Inc.
(OTC-CWTS) today announced that its subsidiary, Country Wide Truck Service,
Inc., effective January 2, 1997, has made a General Assignment for the Benefit
of Creditors. An assignment for the benefit of creditors is a liquidation
process similar to a Chapter 7 filing.

     The Hamer Group of Los Angeles, California, will act as assignee in this
General Assignment. Among other tasks, they will complete a sale of the assets
of Country Wide Truck Service, Inc. to Mid-Cal Express, Inc.

     Timothy Leppar, President and CEO of Country Wide Transport Services,
commented that "continued losses, since September 1995, in conjunction with a
difficult trucking environment prompted the Company to make this decision. The
move to liquidate the trucking operation came shortly after an anticipated
merger with Continental American Transportation, Inc. was suspended."

     Country Wide Transport Services, Inc., the corporate holding company, will
now consist of only one operating subsidiary, Vertex Transportation, Inc., a
logistics services company.