In 1990 Dave Wharton and Jan Rietdijk founded Gulf Stream Marine. A lot has changed since these two men brought their vision of unparalleled customer service to the stevedoring industry. Gulf Stream Marine is now one of the largest privately owned stevedore companies in the Gulf Coast area. In addition, expansion into the Brownsville area established Gulf Stream Marine in this NAFTA port. The foremost contributing factors to our success are the basic ideals on which the company was founded -- quality customer service and employee participation at all levels. Our primary goal is to build enduring and equitable relationships with our customers and their products. To illustrate the extent to which our founders believed in active employee participation, Gulf Stream Marine is now owned wholly by its executive officers and senior management.