By Sam Wroblewski 630wpro.com

To celebrate twenty years of operation, ProvPort released the results of an economic impact study to showcase how the port has contributed to the city and the state.

According to the report, the city of Providence has netted $164 million from the ports industries since 1994; and the state $211 million. Furthermore, the port has contributed $2.3 billion to the state in the form of indirect economic benefit in the form of businesses and jobs that have risen up as a result of the port opening; Providence received $1 billion.

To date, the port is responsible for the creation of over 5,000 jobs at the port and indirectly created more than 5,000 jobs across the state.

Spokesperson for ProvPort Bill Fischer says the impact study is a testament to the port’s success, but that there is also room for expansion.

“We think there’s room for growth,  we want to work in a spirit of cooperation with Providence’s new Mayor Jorge Elorza and the City Council to seek ways to further enhance the activity that is happening at the port and to create future jobs,” said Fischer.

During the campaign in 2014, Mayor Jorge Elorza championed the as a potential economic juggernaut for the state if its shipping operations were expanded further. Fischer said the port has already begun initial discussion with the new administration.

“We’re hopeful we’ll be unveiling good news in the coming year.”