Growing Maritime Industry in San Diego, USA

A report released yesterday detailed the growing impact of the Maritime Industry on the San Diego region. “The Maritime Industry Report,” conducted by the ERISS Corporation and sponsored by San Diego Workforce Partnership, The Maritime Alliance, and San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, found that nearly 46,000 people work in the Maritime Industry, with a fiscal impact on the region of more than $14 billion in direct spending.

The maritime industry, or “Blue Economy,” is extremely diverse, spanning across nearly 200 separate North American Industry Classifications. The industry presence in San Diego is comprised of traditional maritime-related sectors (i.e. fishing and shipbuilding), as well as more recent emerging high-tech industries (i.e. aquaculture, desalination, ocean energy and maritime robotics), also called “Blue Tech.”

“We are very pleased to have had the opportunity to work together with the San Diego Regional EDC and the Workforce Partnership to conduct this important industry survey. It is particularly gratifying to see the results confirm the economic importance of maritime to the region,” said Michael B. Jones, president of The Maritime Alliance. “We look forward to working with all of our partners to develop a maritime vision for the region.”

Identifying 14 sectors present in the region, the study further supports the growing importance of Maritime Employment, with the projected local employment growth of the industry, from 2011 to 2020, at 12 percent. As a testament to San Diego’s growing importance for the industry, the location quotient, or relative concentration of San Diego’s Maritime Industries compared to the U.S. as a whole, was high for the vast majority of sectors represented in the Maritime Industry. The Blue Tech portion is also highly export oriented.

“The Maritime Industry Report also shows that these employers are willing to hire from veteran and reentry populations,” comments Rebecca Smith, vice president of the San Diego Workforce Partnership. “Given the demographics of our region, and our charge as an organization to fund job training programs for these applicants, that news is great news.”

The report also includes qualitative interviews with maritime industry firms. Based on the findings of these interviews, the report concludes with policy recommendations on workforce development, business attraction and promotion, regulation and permitting, and infrastructure.

“With miles of shoreline, the presence of the Navy and one of the West coast’s most active ports, San Diego has historically played an important role in these industries,” said Mark Cafferty, president and CEO of San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation. “With the release of this study, we now have valuable data and information that can better inform our plans and priorities for this important sector of our economy.”

[mappress]

Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, September 18, 2012; Image: nassco