Port Milwaukee and The DeLong Company’s new $35-million agricultural maritime export facility, located on the west side of Jones Island, will be one of the first on the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Seaway system to handle various agricultural commodities via truck, rail and international vessel including Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles, or DDGs.
DDGs are an animal feed supplement derived as a byproduct of ethanol high in nutrients. The facility will open Wisconsin’s maritime and agricultural economies to new international markets for this and other products. Future service at the facility will also include the export of Wisconsin-grown soybeans, corn and grain.
This development is the largest one-time investment in Port Milwaukee since the 1950s, when the St. Lawrence Seaway was being built. Port Milwaukee was one of the first nationwide grant recipients of the Port Infrastructure Development Program through the U.S. Department of Transportation. Additional facility funding has been provided by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Port Milwaukee and The DeLong Company.
DeLong Company Vice President Bo DeLong says the facility will open export opportunities to places like Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Redevelopment of the property includes the demolition of out-of-date, underutilized structures and construction of upgraded mooring infrastructure, if required. A fabric building will be erected in place of the existing structure. The transload facilities will include rail and truck gravity dump hoppers connected to a conveyance system to transport the material into the fabric building. Inside the fabric building, a reclaim system will be installed to take stored material and
convey it for bulk loading into the covered bulk material cargo vessel. Vertical storage structures will also be added to handle soybeans and grain.
The facility is expected to be fully operational by April 2023, coinciding with the annual start of Port Milwaukee’s international shipping season.
