PROVIDENCE – Marine trades in Rhode Island had a $4.6 billion effect on the Rhode Island economy in 2016, according to a University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island Marine Trades Association report released Tuesday.
The study estimated that the marine trades had $2.6 billion in direct output and accounted for 13,337 jobs. Including indirect and induced effects, the sector was estimated to have total output of $4.6 billion and involve 26,921 jobs.
The marine trades sector in Rhode Island accounted for 1,712 firms in 2016, which employed 7.8 workers on average. The labor income per firm was $632,200, compared with $619,700 for the Rhode Island economy at large in 2016.
The largest revenue concentration of firms in the marine trades in Rhode Island were marine services and supply firms, including wholesalers and marine maintenance services, accounting for $583.6 million in sales. The second largest subset of the marine trades in the Ocean State was marina, docks and yacht clubs at $367.4 million in sales.
The study reported that the marine construction sector had the highest reported gross sales per firm, at $4.1 million, and $410,490 per employee. Boat builders were the second highest subsector for sales per firm in the state at $2.4 million and $184,430 per employee.
The study was conducted by URI Associate Professor Tomas Sproul and Clayton Michaud, a Ph.D. student at URI.
RIMTA noted that the report will be a critical building block for its advocacy work.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor. He can be reached at Bergenheim@PBN.com.
