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.

About 70% of the cargo arriving in Puget Sound’s ports is destined for the American Mid-West and that cargo will move through whichever port (British Columbia, Puget Sound, California, Panama Canal) that will get it to Chicago or St. Louis the fastest.

While the ports of Seattle and Tacoma have spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decade transforming mid twentieth century ports into globally competitive twenty-first century ports, our state needs a twenty-first century freight transportation system if the Port of Seattle is to remain a competitive job generating engine for King County.

That is why the Port of Seattle is involved in the construction of 519, the expansion of the Spokane Street Viaduct and of West Marginal Way, the redevelopment of SR99 and the bored tunnel, and freight related traffic improvements in Kent and Auburn.

Jobs in King County depend on a road and transit system that moves people and freight efficiently.

To learn how many King Co. jobs depend upon the Port of Seattle, click here.

A study released in March 2009 concluded that the Port of Seattle generates over 111,000 jobs in the King County area.

Those jobs are in businesses that exist because passengers and cargo move through SeaTac and Elliot Bay. That makes the port one of our region’s largest job generators. Now, the port itself isn’t employing 111,000 people; it only has about 1,700 people on payroll, but even if you only counted the jobs directly related to Fisherman’s Terminal, cruise ships, SeaTac and our sea container yards, you’d still count over 40,000 people who owe their jobs to port facilities and operations.

The study documents billions of dollar in port-induced payroll moving through King County and calculates that port operations generate over $800 million in state and local taxes.

Our port is a job generating engine. In economic times like these it is even more critical we keep this engine running efficiently and for all our benefit.