New agricultural export facility officially opens at Port Milwaukee

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A project that’s been in the works for years at Port Milwaukee is finally complete. The completion is bringing city and state leaders together to mark the grand opening of Milwaukee's Agriculture Maritime Export Facility.

This is a $40 million investment and is the largest investment in Port Milwaukee since the 1950s. "We've been working on this project; we got a grant for it from the federal government in 2019 to build this facility, and we know it's going to be a great resource to many of our agricultural partners throughout the state," said Port Milwaukee Director Jackie Q. Carter.

The facility has a storage capacity to hold 30,000 metric tons. Tuesday, city and state leaders gathered for a ribbon-cutting and tour of the facility which is located on the west side of Jones Island. It’s the first export facility on the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Seaway System to handle various agricultural commodities.

"It's going to help producers, farmers, growers, right here in the state of Wisconsin to be able to get the products that we grow into international markets," said Carter. This is all made possible by both public and private funds. The facility is owned and operated by the DeLong company and the site is leased from Port Milwaukee.

"This is going to help to improve the economy in Milwaukee and show the nexus...the connection between the city of Milwaukee and its importance to the entire state of Wisconsin," said Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson.

Officials say the facility will help save on freight shipping costs, open new markets for producers and increase earnings for grain producers in the upper Midwest.

"As more markets are made for Wisconsin products, the better it's going to be for our state, and most importantly, for our farmers. They struggle and we must make sure we can do whatever we can to make sure their product gets from point A to point B," said Governor Tony Evers.

The facility is already fully operational, and in June successfully loaded its first vessel of Wisconsin produced products.