Study says Port of Virginia made $60.3 billion impact on commonwealth

The Port of Virginia contributed $60.3 billion to Virginia’s economy in fiscal year 2013, according to a study by The College of William & Mary’s Mason School of Business.

The study, last done for fiscal year 2006, shows the port’s impact growing along with its increased cargo volume.

The 36-page study released Monday considered the port’s direct and indirect impact during its 2013 fiscal year, which ran from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013..

From 2006 to 2013, the study found:

• The port’s economic impact in the commonwealth grew 47 percent to $60.3 billion in 2013, compared with $41.1 billion in fiscal year 2006;
• Port-related employment grew 9 percent to 374,646 jobs, up from 343,001 jobs in 2006. The number of jobs accounted for 9.4 percent of Virginia’s resident workforce;
• Tax collections from port activity grew 17 percent to $1.4 billion from $1.2 billion in 2006 (including corporate and individual taxes, general sales taxes and local property taxes);
• Employee compensation grew 30 percent to $17.5 billion from $13.5 billion.

“The findings of this work emphasize the importance of The Port of Virginia and further underscore why a healthy port is critical to so many sectors of the economy as we go forward,” John F. Reinhart, the Virginia Port Authority’s CEO and executive director, said in a statement.

The study found that the port’s contribution to gross state product (GSP) was $30.5 billion, equal to about 6.8 percent of the estimated $448.8 billion total GSP in fiscal year 2013.

The study considered how the port affects Virginia’s economy in three ways: the transportation of export and import cargo; the export of goods made in Virginia; and the processing and distribution of imports retained in the commonwealth.