Template revised April 12, 2018.
COMMISSION
AGENDA MEMORANDUM
Item No.
7b
BRIEFING ITEM
Date of Meeting
May 14, 2019
DATE: April 25, 2019
TO: Stephen P. Metruck, Executive Director
FROM: Stephanie Jones Stebbins, Managing Director Maritime
Joseph Gellings, Senior Planner
SUBJECT: Briefing on the results of the 2019 maritime economic impact analysis
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This briefing provides the Commission with a summary of the “2019 Port of Seattle, Port of
Tacoma, and The Northwest Seaport Alliance Maritime Economic Impact Analysis.” It is the first
such study to be performed since 2014. The study does not cover Aviation, which was the
subject of separate study in 2018. The purpose of this study was to develop various metrics that
convey the extensiveness of Maritime-related commerce for the three Ports within the overall
economy of Central Puget Sound. The study results affirm the fact that port-related jobs are
significant in number and can pay relatively high wages.
FINDINGS
The fundamental economic metrics that have been developed for every port line of business
are:
Total number of jobs
Total labor income
Total business output (business revenue)
Total state taxes
For the infographic below, the metrics featured for each line of business include some of the
above and also selected metrics that have a special significance for a given line of business. For
example, cargo volumes are featured for The Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) and our
record-setting number of passengers is featured for the cruise business.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Briefing Item No. 7b____
Meeting Date: May 14, 2019
Template revised September 22, 2016. Page 2 of 4
COMMISSION AGENDA – Briefing Item No. 7b____
Meeting Date: May 14, 2019
Template revised September 22, 2016. Page 3 of 4
In the case of commercial fishing, the infographic features the statistic of 1.3 million tons of
seafood product being harvested by vessels that homeport at the Port of Seattle in 2017.
Statistics about the seafood harvest caught by our vessels represent a completely new type of
analysis compared with the studies of past years. This analysis was added to the study scope
because the Port of Seattle is unique amongst the nation’s major fishing ports in that it attracts
a great deal of homeport activity from vessels that fish in distant waters. Other findings about
the seafood harvest include:
The revenues generated in 2017 by Port of Seattle vessels from fishing in Alaska --
$455.0 million – represented 44% of all gross earnings from the North Pacific Fisheries.
An estimated 72% of all commercially caught seafood biomass from the U.S. North
Pacific Fisheries by tonnage and value was exported.
Port of Seattle fishing vessel operator customers harvested catch (Alaska and non-
Alaska) are equal to an estimated 13% of total U.S. commercial fisheries, by value, in
2017.
To put the findings in the context of the overall local economy, the table below compares the
total jobs figures to the corresponding figures developed in separate studies, including separate
Washington industries. This study and the three separate studies were all performed by the
same consulting firm.
Scope of industry study
Study Year (1)
Total Jobs
Washington’s aerospace industry
2015
252,800
Washington’s agriculture and food processing
2013
220,600
Washington’s statewide maritime sector
2015
191,100
The combined Ports of Seattle and Tacoma and the
Northwest Seaport Alliance(2)
2017
83,600
Notes: 1) Study years are the years of the economic activity that is being featured. In many cases the
report is released one or two years after the activity that it features. 2) Excludes the impact of Sea-Tac
International Airport
ANALYTICAL APPROACH
For the new 2019 study, the Port used a Seattle-based consulting firm, Community Attributes
Inc. Community Attributes is widely acknowledged for their expertise in conducting economic
analyses.
The foundational sources of data used in the analysis were the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the Washington State Employment Security Dept, the Washington State Dept. of Revenue and
the Puget Sound Regional Council. A unique component of the commercial fishing analysis was
retrieving Alaska Commercial Fishing Entry Commission licensing data using the specific roster
of fishing vessels homeported with the Port of Seattle.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Briefing Item No. 7b____
Meeting Date: May 14, 2019
Template revised September 22, 2016. Page 4 of 4
A unique component of the cruise analysis was making use of a very extensive survey of cruise
passengers and their spending profile in the Seattle area before and after their cruise voyage.
That survey report is the “Port of Seattle Cruise Passenger Survey 2017,” November 8, 2017 by
The McDowell Group. In the end, Seattle area spending by cruise passengers was the largest
component of direct impact for cruise, followed by local procurement of goods and services by
the cruise lines, and Seattle area spending by crew members.
With the 2019 study we are continuing a past practice of modeling impacts in a way that allows
us to adjust the model for the next season’s number of cruise calls and number of cruise
passengers. Specifically, Community Attributes created a model that estimated the 2017 cruise
impact based on an extensive data set from multiple sources that included a great deal of
actual 2017 spending figures provided by the cruise lines. That model, in-turn, was applied to
the recently-finalized 2019 cruise call schedule and passenger estimate.
PORTS AND ECONOMIC IMPACT ANALYSIS
Conducting economic impact studies is a common strategy to build support for an industry. In
fact, economic impact analysis is particularly well-suited to some port lines of business
considering that the Port, together with NWSA, manages cruise terminals and container
terminals in the state. This simplifies the task of tracing economic activity around the state to
the terminals that make it all possible.
The findings of the study, such as the number of jobs created by the ports, will be used in
countless future public affairs and marketing efforts of the ports. Of course, numbers on their
own have limited meaning, so citations of this study will be supplemented by other storytelling
materials (videos, blogs, and paid promotions) being prepared by External Relations.
ATTACHMENTS TO THIS BRIEFING
(1) Presentation slides
(2) Full report: “2019 Port of Seattle, Port of Tacoma, and The Northwest Seaport Alliance
Economic Impact Analysis,” March 2019
PREVIOUS COMMISSION ACTIONS OR BRIEFINGS
None.
