Aqua-Gulf Transport Revenue and Competitors

Aqua-Gulf was founded in 1966 as a Staten Island, New York based trucking company. Initially Aqua-Gulf only served the waterfront areas of the Northeastern United States. With only a single white cabover tractor, driven by Bob Browne, the owner and founder, Aqua-Gulf was born. Slowly, but surely, Aqua-Gulf's trucking operations expanded. New terminals were opened in Brooklyn, New York and also in Bayonne, New Jersey. Eventually Aqua-Gulf's first warehousing operation began out of Bayonne, New Jersey, and by the early 1980's, Aqua-Gulf had grown to be the largest bonded warehouse facility on the east coast of the United States. Services included export crating, coffee storage-grading, and packaging. Also, through "Worldwide Transportation, Inc.", Aqua-Gulf began shipping and consolidating LTLs internationally. Aqua-Gulf also began working with food distribution for the Wakefern Foods grocery chain in New York City. In 1987 The Elmira, New York terminal was created to service clients in Western New York and Northern Pennsylvania. Also, in order to service Maryland, Virginia, Philadelphia, and Southern Pennsylvania, a terminal was opened in Pennsauken, New Jersey. In 1990 Key Cargo Marine was formed to structure and standardize warehousing operations in Newark, New Jersey, Elmira, New York, Pennsauken, New Jersey, and Jacksonville, Florida. Shortly thereafter the trucking operation, Aqua-Gulf Xpress, dramatically expanded its scope of operations in Florida and Southern New Jersey. Company wide safety programs, driver training, improved radio dispatch systems, and preventative maintenance resulted in various industry awards and customer recognition. In addition, Aqua-Gulf computer systems, in-house staffing, and equipment expansion continued in order to meet the demands of a growing clientelle and major service expansions. In 1991 Aqua-Gulf relocated its main headquarters to South Florida, at which time facilities were improved in San Juan, Jacksonville, and New Jersey. Due to improving these facilities, intermodal services to Puerto Rico continued growing. Aqua-Gulf's partnerships with global ocean carriers and intermodal carriers resulted in record growth for the Puerto Rico tradelane as an intermodal marketing company. By 1995 in-house service capabilities grew to include refrigerated cold storage in the Caribbean, air-freight service, international freight forwarding, and customs brokerage. Also, refrigerated service for LTLs and full loads were increased dramatically to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Aqua-Gulf's innovations of guaranteed intermodal "flat rates" and computerized cargo reports are hailed by customers. Significant investment in employee training, upgraded communications systems, and state of the art cargo-handling methods ensure that Aqua-Gulf is always ahead of the curve.