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Maritime Jobs and Competitive Threats
Because of our port’s marine cargo facilities, its grain terminal, its bulk cargo facilities, industrial lands and Fisherman’s Terminal, King County has a vibrant maritime industrial cluster of companies.
According to a March 2009 study by professors at Seattle University and the University of Washington, King County’s maritime industries employ almost 17,000 people, many of whom are paid over $70,000 as year.
Just as important, the maritime industries support employment of over 60,000 workers in King County and generate over $10 billion in revenues.
To keep these jobs in King County, the Port of Seattle needs to continue supporting the North Pacific fishing fleet at Fisherman’s Terminal and appropriately using our industrial lands, and needs to work with local, state and federal authorities to ensure we have the road and freight infrastructure needed to move cargo to the Mid-West faster and more reliably than our competitors.
For a copy of the report on Seattle’s maritime cluster, click here.
Bill Bryant is president of the King Co./Seattle Port Commission. He is also founder and chairman of BCI, an investor in Deneki Outdoors, and lives in Seattle with his wife Barbara.