November 21, 2013 — As the second day of Seattle’s Pacific Marine Expo kicked off Thursday, the buzz among the attendees — fishermen and legislators alike — was a newly released economic report boasting of Washington’s $30 billion maritime industry.
In the state, a maritime industry that traces its roots back to Hudson’s Bay Co.’s commissioning of the S.S. Beaver, the first steamship in the Pacific Northwest, generates $15.2 billion in direct revenues and is responsible for 57,700 jobs.
When combined with indirect revenues, the numbers increased to $30 billion and more than 148,000 jobs in 2012, according to the comprehensive study commissioned by the Economic Development Council of Seattle and King County and the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County.
Among the 250 people at the Maritime Industry Forecast Breakfast on Thursday morning at CenturyLink Field was state Rep. Gael Tarleton, D-Seattle, who said she was blown away by the numbers.
“It is staggering,” said Tarleton, a former Port of Seattle commissioner. “The maritime industry is much more intertwined in the critical economy of Washington state than anyone would have imagined.”
Read the full story at the Seattle Times