‘Disaster’ predicted if yard closes 10,000 jobs, $1.3B at stake in Hawaii

HONOLULU – Hawaii’s economy would lose $1.3 billion and nearly 10,000 jobs if the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard is closed, according to a new report.

The report by Enterprise Honolulu, an economic development group, was compiled as Hawaii’s military, political and business leaders prepare to defend the 97-year-old shipyard next week in Washington before the Base Realignment and Closure commission.

The commission is considering adding Pearl Harbor to the list of bases under consideration to be closed or realigned.

“This would be a huge economic disaster for Hawaii,” said Mike Fitzgerald, president and chief executive of Enterprise Honolulu.

The Pearl Harbor shipyard is Hawaii’s largest industrial employer, with 4,355 civilian and 778 military employees and a payroll last year of $385 million.

Other factors, such as the economic impact on retailers, subcontractors and other providers of goods and services, have to be taken into consideration, and that put the annual economic loss of closing the shipyard at $1.3 billion, the report said.

The report also estimates that closing the shipyard and its related facilities would eliminate 2.2 percent of Oahu’s labor force, including the loss of another 4,500 jobs outside of the yard that are dependent on it for survival.

The average wage at the shipyard is $75,000 meaning “it will take seven to 10 years, if ever, to replace the 5,000 $75,000 per year jobs in Hawaii,” the report said.

In May, the base closure commission placed Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine on the list of proposed closures, but then two weeks ago asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to explain why the Pentagon chose Portsmouth instead of Pearl to be closed.

Gov. Linda Lingle, Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, the state’s adjutant general, Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann and a team of retired high-ranking military officials assembled by the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii will be in Washington next week to lobby for the Pearl Harbor shipyard.

“We’re taking this very seriously,” said the Chamber’s president, Jim Tollefson.

Lingle, Hannemann, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and other state leaders are scheduled to meet with commissioners on Monday, the day before the commission’s vote on whether to add the Pearl Harbor shipyard to the list of military bases to be closed or downsized.

Officials in Maine and New Hampshire have said shutting down Portsmouth could directly eliminate 4,400 shipyard jobs and as many as 7,500 additional jobs in the two states.