“Of all the economic activities a state can have, ports have the highest multiplier.
Every dollar spent importing or exporting through a port adds $12 to state income.”
-Jim Smith, UNC economist
Business North Carolina, June 2005
Martin Associates, a national transportation and economic consulting firm, produced the North Carolina State Ports Authority’s economic impact report. The study uses a standard port industry model which measures economic impact in terms of jobs directly and indirectly related to port activities.
What the study shows is that North Carolina’s Ports in Morehead City and Wilmington directly and indirectly support 85,000 jobs, which contribute $299 million annually in state and local tax revenues, based on the Ports’ fiscal 2005 cargo volumes.
Only 5,000 of those jobs are at the Ports, or otherwise directly related to maritime activity - including some 300 employees of the Ports Authority, members of the International Longshoremen's Association, trucking companies, ship's chandlers, fuel companies and so forth. Another 6,500 jobs are created by the purchasing power of those direct jobs.
So where are the other 70,000-plus jobs, if they are not created by the Ports? They are the real reason the Ports are such a key part of the State’s economy. These jobs exist from the coastal plains to the mountains, in big manufacturers’ factories and in Mom-and-Pop startups.
What they all have in common is that in order to exist, they need the momentum provided by the economic engine that is the State Ports Authority. They need access to the global markets where their products are sold and where their resources are found.
This map provides an overview of the economic impact of North Carolina’s Ports. First, you will see the entire state, with economic development regions, with both the Ports-related jobs and the annual tax revenue from Ports-related business indicated. Click on each regional map for a closeup view, listing the Ports’ top customers in that region.
In 2008, Martin Associates produced a second study, this time examining the potential economic impact of the proposed North Carolina International Terminal on the west bank of the Cape Fear River in Brunswick County. The projections confirm planners' early expectations: by the time the facility is completely built out, around 2030, it will support nearly half a billion jobs and generate state and local tax revenues of well over a billion dollars each year.
Click here for more information about the proposed International Terminal.
