The Gateway Pacific Terminal project at Cherry Point could create more than 1,200 permanent jobs when indirect impacts are factored in, three local economists said Thursday, Oct. 27, at a Bellingham-Whatcom Chamber of Commerce and Industry breakfast presentation.
The economists said they were hired by SSA Marine to review an earlier jobs analysis provided for the company by Martin Associates of Pennsylvania.
If the shipping terminal for coal and other bulk cargoes is built to its full 54 million-metric-ton annual capacity, the Martin firm estimated 1,229 direct and indirect jobs. The local economic trio’s estimate was 1,273.