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12Maritime Reporter & Engineering News INTERVIEWJOE R. BEKKER, PRESIDENT, THRUSTMASTER Talk to Joe Bekker for five minutes and you know he?s living the ?American Dream.? Bekker, the founder, owner and president of Thrustmaster of Texas, came to Houston from The Netherlands in 1979 and has never looked back. An innovator and entrepreneur, Bekker has helped Thrustmaster of Texas evolve from its ini- tial contract ? a single 85 hp outboardpropulsion unit for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the early 1980s ? to a $150million company today: here?s how. By Greg Trauthwein, editor Joe Bekker, President, Thrustmaster of Texas From 85 hptoInfinityThe maritime industry is repletewith interesting stories, andThrustmaster of Texas and its founder Joe R. Bekker are no exception. Bekker moved from Holland to the U.S. in the late 1970s, gainfully employed at the time but clearly itching to make his own mark in what he viewed as the land of opportunity. ?I came to the U.S. in 1979; I came toHouston from Amsterdam, and at the time I was working for Byron Jackson Pump Company. And at this time, Hous- ton was an amazing place. It was a booming market for the oil industry in general. You couldn?t help but be suc- cessful in Houston at that time. After two years, I figured that this was a great place to start your own company, to do your own thing,? Bekker said in a recent interview in his office, located at 6900 Thrustmaster Drive in Houston. ?I started first as a trading company, and it was fairly successful, but in fact I got a little bored with it as I always en- joyed manufacturing. I was looking for an opportunity to start my own manu- facturing business, and I got the oppor- tunity when we received an order (through the trading company) for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a small 85 horsepower outboard propul- sion unit.? And so was born, unbeknownst to Bekker at the time, Thrustmaster of Texas and a leading player in supplying powerful thrusters ? up to 8 MW each ? for some of the most sophisticated andhigh-value ships in the world, modern deepwater drillships. Government Contracting 101 The initial ordered product from hiscompany, the 85 horsepower outboard propulsion unit, was targeted for a small lock and dam maintenance barge. When Bekker won the contract, he freely ad- mits: ?At the time, I didn?t even know what an outboard propulsion unit was.? The plan was to procure the product form a European supplier, but once the order was place, the European supplier ??Those are nice orders, because a drillship typically has six 5MW thrusters; and semi submersibles gen-erally have eight 4MW thrusters, and they?re all iden- tical so that?s nice business for us. MR#11 (10-17):MR Template 11/4/2012 12:22 PM Page 12