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Study finds Seaway supports over 225,000 jobs, generates billions in other benefits

Posted 10/18/11

According to a new study released today, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway navigation system supports over 225,000 jobs and generates billions of dollars in income and revenues annually in both the …

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Study finds Seaway supports over 225,000 jobs, generates billions in other benefits

Posted

According to a new study released today, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway navigation system supports over 225,000 jobs and generates billions of dollars in income and revenues annually in both the U.S. and Canada.

The comprehensive study, “The Economic Impacts of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System 2010,” was commissioned by the marine shipping industry in partnership with government agencies, and was peer-reviewed by U.S. and Canadian economists.

“This report bears out what we’ve long known – that the St. Lawrence Seaway is crucial to the U.S. economy,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Not only is marine transportation the single most fuel-efficient and cost-effective way to haul goods from one place to another, but it also supports hundreds of thousands of essential jobs and generates billions of dollars in economic activity.”

The study measured the effects of 2010 cargo movements at U.S. and Canadian Great Lakes ports, including employment, personal income, business revenue, local purchases, and federal, state, provincial, and local taxes. Analysts found that maritime commerce on the Great Lakes Seaway System helped support 226,833 U.S. and Canadian jobs, including 92,923 direct jobs. In addition, maritime activity on the waterway supported $34 billion in business revenue, $14 billion in personal income, and $4.6 billion in federal, state, provincial, and local tax revenue.

“This study documents the enormous contribution that the maritime industry provides to the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway region,” said Collister Johnson, Jr., Administrator of the U.S. Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. “The jobs sustained by the maritime industry include not only those located directly on the waterfront, but also many industrial sector jobs such as construction workers, miners and steelworkers, many of which would disappear if it was not for a vibrant, healthy maritime industry operating along the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System.”

In 2010, U.S. and Canadian ports and marine terminals on the Great Lakes Seaway System handled 322.1 million metric tons of cargo, including grain, iron ore, coal, manufactured iron and steel products, stone, and specialty cargoes such as wind energy components.

A link to the full study can be found at www.marinedelivers.com.