Highline Community College’s Center of Excellence for International Trade, Transportation and Logistics (ITTL) received $250,000 to provide additional job training opportunities for positions in the international trade sector. The project, part of the final version of the 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act signed by President Obama on Dec. 16, 2009, will lead to a 20 percent increase in the number of trained ITTL workers in Washington state.

Positions in the ITTL sector include managers, logisticians, cargo and freight agents, shipping and receiving clerks, locomotive engineers, drivers and warehouse workers. Washington state will need nearly 77,000 new employees in ITTL by 2018, according to estimates based on data from the state’s Employment Security Department.