Page 10: of Marine News Magazine (July 2011)

Describe the market you serve and what the outlookis right now. We acquired the company in 1998 and at that time we represented Yanmar Marine and Industrial engines in a five state area. Yanmar is a wonderful marine product, but its best known in the U.S. market for recreational appli- cations. Our senior management team decided immedi- ately, if we were going to be successful in the Gulf Coast marine industry, we were going to have to secure engines for commercial applications. We have been successful in securing the right to represent Mitsubishi Heavy Duty Marine Propulsion engines in the 400 - 1,500 hp range as well as Fiat Power Train Technologies high speed engines for commercial applications and we have been instrumen- tal in getting Yanmar to allow us to use some of their engines in light-duty commercial applications. As a result we have tripled the size of the company and been able to grow the business in spite of some current economic trends. We are very optimistic about an improving marine engine market as we plan for 2012 and beyond. How is your company investing for the future? We have recently added a second facility, located in Channelview, Texas, to support our Texas based cus- tomers. As a sales and marketing company, we are also expanding our sales team with sales offices in St. Louis, Houston, New Orleans, Central Louisiana and soon in Florida. We also have a full-time Dealer Development Manager, who is focused on building our parts and serv- ice dealer network. Our mission statement talks about having the right product? for the application, and then the right service? and the right parts support? to make sure that we keep our customers engines running. We think of the engine business being somewhat like a three legged stool. Our legs are right product?, right service? and right support? and we understand that if we allow anyone of these legs to fail, the entire stool comes down. We are investing in making sure that we have a solid foun- dation in these three important areas. What are the top priorities for your company for the short and long term?We believe we represent some exceptional companies and engine brands, but we clearly understand that we are the new guy on the block. Accordingly, both the short term and long term top priorities of our business is toexpand the brand recognition of our suppliers products by making sure that we have selected the right engine for a customers application and that the application is done correctly, then making sure we have the right parts and service support in place to keep that engine working. We believe if we do that, our business will continue to grow. How is legislation impacting your company?The BP oil spill was a tragic event, and certainly dis- turbing to all of us that live along the Gulf Coast, but the real damage to the Gulf Coast economy has come from the over reaction of the current administration, not from the spill itself. Shutting down deep-water drilling has cost thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in opportunities for people living in South Louisiana and the Gulf Coast States. Add to that the events in the Middle East and Japan, and it seems clear that unless the current adminis- tration, or the one that replaces it, is willing to embrace safe and efficient drilling in the United States that we will all need to prepare for $5-10 gasoline. We have recently read that the U.S. Geological Service new reports on oil reserves has indicate that there is sufficient oil in the ground to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil if legislators would encourage and embrace more domestic drilling. While we embrace renewable energy sources like wind, solar and others, legislators need to understand that this economy isnt going to be able to run without oil in the foreseeable future. INSIGHTS10MNJuly 2011?The BP oil spill was a tragic event, and certainly disturbing to all of us that live along the Gulf Coast, but the real damage to the Gulf Coast economy has come from the overreaction of the current administration, not from the spill itself. Shutting down deep-water drilling has cost thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in opportunities?