Marine industry cluster idea gains steam in South Kitsap

By Rachel Pritchett

SOUTH KITSAP — Kitsap could be to the marine industry what Redmond is to computers.

That was the dream Port of Bremerton and county commissioners shared at a get-together Monday at the Trophy Lake Golf & Casting club.

The idea of forming a marine "industry cluster" took off like a water-skier in a no-wake zone, with everyone agreeing to take it a few steps further over the summer. At some point, they could maybe draw onboard the bigger port districts, the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance, the Olympic Workforce Development Council and the Kitsap Peninsula Visitor & Convention Bureau.

"If you put a team together, you get things done," said port Commissioner Larry Stokes.

Under the idea that started with port Commissioner Bill Mahan, various economic-development groups would hire a consultant at about $198,000 to identify existing components of a marine industry cluster like boat manufacturers and a skilled marine workforce based on workers retiring out of the shipyard.

Following that would be a widespread marketing of Kitsap as the place to go for marine needs. That would attract more marine builders, services and suppliers, and build a bigger private employment base.

In the near term, it could be one more tool to convince restless port tenant Safe Boats International to stay in Kitsap. Its leaders believe too much distance separates it from its suppliers, Mahan said.

Kitsap County Commissioners Charlotte Garrido and Robert Gelder agreed with port commissioners to learn more about the concept over the summer. Garrido and Stokes will come up with some recommendations. Mahan agreed to get the industry-clusters consultants who recently addressed the port commission to speak to the county commissioners.

Mahan said Kitsap has the beginnings of a cluster now, with the naval bases, Safe Boats, Defiance Marine and Power Equipment, the marine engineering firm Art Anderson Associates and Leader International Corp., which makes marina parts, among other things.

"But I think it could be a lot more," he said.

The enthusiasm wasn't universally shared. One port commissioner later cautioned that promoting and building a bigger marine industry cluster can't be done just to keep an important port tenant in Kitsap.

"Anything that we do should be done for the public benefit," Roger Zabinskisaid.

Read more: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2011/may/23/marine-industry-cluster-idea-gains-steam/#ixzz1ORzs8F00