EVERETT — Maritime and government leaders from Western Canada, Alaska, and Washington descended on Everett to hone the efforts of commerce and job creation at Puget Sound’s working waterfronts, including Everett.
The Pacific Northwest Economic Region, PNWER, would constitute the 12th largest economy in the world with the combined economic forces of five Canadian provinces and territories and five American states, Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.
The PNWER conference in Everett was represented by officials from the Port of Everett, Seattle and Tacoma as well as private industry boat builders, and education institutions in the apprentice maritime trades, resulting in a 17-person panel.
Rep. Rick Larsen (D—WA2) addressed the international economic leadership group saying, “Everyone at this table has a very important role to play in this conversation on ship building. The maritime economy is aligned well in Washington. You are all proof positive of that. There are challenges, but we’re not waiting around for others to help us. We’re trying to help ourselves first.”
Larsen’s seniority on the U.S. House Transportation Committee as ranking Democrat is a significant resource for the various levels of maritime jobs from the workforce training side of the industry to the commerce side of building and repairing ships to keep them efficient and operational.
Larsen noted, “A strong local maritime industry is good for our local economy and its great for our national security as well. Unfortunately, in some respects, shipbuilding over-all is suffering. We’re working in Committee to reverse that trend.”
After the panel, Gavin Higgins, CEO of Nichols Brothers Shipbuilders on Whidbey Island, told the EverettPost.com, shipbuilding, “is very much an up and down business, so anything that can be done to help stabilize it is a very good thing. Our big effort last year was to win the Washington State Ferries (contract) that, of course, fell through with them (WSF) going to Florida. It was massive opportunity lost for the state. Our ability to respond to the RFP (state bid process), of course, was completely kiboshed because of having to follow prevailing wage.”
The state requirements were echoed by Jon Shaton, general manager of Everett Ship Repair, “One of the things that holds us back is that we have a state requirement for a prevailing wage. And that’s not us disagreeing with that (wage law). We want to pay everyone (employees) as much as we possibly can, right? But if you send the (ferry boat) work to a state like Florida, where they don’t have that requirement, how do we compete with that without getting some kind of consideration?” Nichols Brothers and Everett Ship Repair are both owned by the same parent company, Ice Cap Holding LLC.
“It could look a lot of different ways.” (per labor requirements or incentives)
Demand for maritime workers is increasing, Shaton tells the EverettPost.com, “It’s a vital part of the economy. Not just in Everett, but in, you know, Washington, through out the Puget Sound ‘s and how we connect to Alaska, and you know, and how, how dependent they are on our economy, and how intertwined ours is with theirs.”
“We need more people to do this kind of work,” to build, refit and repair ships, Shaton elaborates, citing shipyard jobs, maritime supporting jobs, and ports.
One of the in-demand maritime jobs is welder, according to Ann Avary, director of the NW Center of Excellence for Marine Manufacturing & Technology in Anacortes. Avary advised PNWER, “We know that the American Welding Society is estimating a need for over 320 000 new welders by 2029,” across both maritime and non-maritime sectors. The Center of Excellence for Marine Manufacturing & Technology offers classes in hands-on technical training that lead to family wage jobs without the astronomical costs of tuition from a 4-year degree program.
Avary says, “we think we could take the welding project to the next level now and really make an impact,” to match class graduates with maritime business who need reliable employees.
Larsen underscored, “We are hyper-focused on workforce here,” touting both the Center of Excellence for Marine Manufacturing & Technology and the Maritime Institute in Everett that is now one of 16 maritime workforce centers opening the door to “create good paying jobs in maritime.”