About | San Diego Working Waterfront

Formed in 1989, the San Diego Working Waterfront* is a coalition of businesses and industries dedicated to enhancing trade, recreation, commerce, and tourism on San Diego Bay tidelands, while protecting the environment. These businesses operate on leases administered by the Port of San Diego.

Working Waterfront members represent manufacturing; ship building and repair; shipping and trade operating on two cargo terminals; marinas; commercial fishing and sportfishing; energy; the cruise industry operating from two terminals; yacht clubs, aerospace, and airport industries; the hospitality industry, including 18 major hotels and resorts, more than 100 restaurants, and retail merchants; as well as the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard.

The San Diego Working Waterfront has a Board of Directors with 45 representatives of master-lease holders, sub-tenants, and associate members. The impact of our members on the San Diego regional economy is extraordinary.

An analysis by the Port of San Diego on the “Economic Impacts of the San Diego Unified Port District” for fiscal year 2023 (July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023), showed that the Port’s overall economic impact on the San Diego County region was $13.8 billion, a 41 percent increase from 2019. (For comparison purposes, the numbers are adjusted for inflation and are in 2021 dollars.)

According to a January 2025 press release from the Port: “The Port’s job growth was also strong with a 10 percent increase from 2019 to more than 71,000 total jobs supported. Through a multiplier effect, approximately one in 30 San Diego County jobs were generated by the Port, and every direct Port job supported six more jobs in other industries throughout the county, state, and the U.S.”

Through the hard work of San Diego Working Waterfront members in these sectors, the numbers demonstrated the port and its tenants’ resiliency to the effects of the pandemic. In FY2023 visitors to hotels along the Port’s San Diego Bay waterfront spent $2.6 billion. And direct spending by the cruise industry in FY2023 totaled over $104 million. In addition, according to the Port, more than 2.4 million tons of cargo were shipped through the cargo terminals, an increase of 12 percent between FY2021 and FY2023.

View the complete FY2023 Economic Impact Report at portofsandiego.org/economicimpact.

The San Diego Working Waterfront association represents the tenants of the Port along 34 miles of waterfront in the five member cities of San Diego, National City, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, and Coronado. The Port includes about 2,400 acres of land and 11,800 acres of water.

The Working Waterfront has committees to work through public policy, regulatory or lease issues that could affect or do affect negotiations with the Port of San Diego, the costs of doing business, or worker safety. Currently those committees are Marine Recreation, Environment Maritime, and Public Policy.

In 2016, the association won a $6 million grant from the California Energy Commission to electrify cargo handling vehicles being operated by six working waterfront port tenants and to develop an Intelligent Transportation System for trucks on terminal adjacent roads. The successful San Diego Port Sustainable Freight Demonstration Project ended in 2019 and was key to meeting the Port of San Diego’s Climate Action Plan goals.

The SDWW holds three fundraising events every year. The Annual Dinner is held in spring and features a silent auction and networking program in one of the bayfront hotels. To ensure that the bayfront is kept clean, the SDWW hosts Operation Clean Sweep in August. More than 100 organizations and 1,000 volunteers, including many from the military, gather at parks and public sites to clean the water and along the land of all trash. Usually, more than 30,000 tons of trash is collected during this media-attended event. And finally, the Annual Golf Tournament is held in October and features about 80 foursomes teeing off in the early morning, with lunch and prizes afterward.

Every year, challenges unfold and we strive to remain focused on protecting the interests of our members while fulfilling our motto of: “Advancing trade, commerce, and tourism while protecting the environment.”

* The San Diego Working Waterfront was formerly known as the San Diego Port Tenants Association.

If your company is on the Tidelands or does business with the Port or its Tenants, the San Diego Working Waterfront can be of help to you. Call (619) 226-6546 for more information.

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