New Great Lakes maritime facility could change export game for ag producers in northern states 

Officials of Port Milwaukee and The DeLong Co., Inc. recently celebrated the grand opening of the $40-million Agricultural Maritime Export Facility. They were joined by Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, and federal, state, and local officials to welcome the single largest investment in the port since the 1950s.

The 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, a high-nutrient animal feed supplement derived as a byproduct of ethanol refining.

The new transload facility has a storage capacity of 30,000 metric tons of DDGs or 45,000 tons of soybeans and can serve outbound vessels with a capacity between 7,000 and 22,000 metric tons. It can load 1,000 metric tons an hour. It includes rail and truck gravity dump hoppers connected to a conveyer system to transport the material into a fabric storage building.  

Inside the fabric building, a reclaim system conveys product to be loaded into bulk material cargo vessels or barges. The facility is fully operational and in June 2023 successfully loaded its first vessel of Wisconsin-produced DDGs, made with corn from Wisconsin. The first vessel, the Ebroborg, was loaded with 7,250 metric tons—the equivalent of 330 trucks or 92 rail cars—of Wisconsin-produced DDGs during the end of June and arrived in Belfast, United Kingdom, in mid-July.

No other facilities on the Great Lakes can load entire vessels of DDGs or other feed ingredients. Future service at the facility may include the export of Wisconsin-grown soybeans, corn and grain. The agricultural “draw area” will depend on the product, but will include Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and possibly Illinois. Currently most DDGs produced in Wisconsin, Minnesota, or Iowa are shipped by container to southeast Asia or by barge down the Mississippi to be loaded into bulk vessels for export.

Thanks to a public-private partnership, this development is the largest one-time investment in Port Milwaukee since the 1950s. 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 was provided by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Port Milwaukee, and The DeLong Co., Inc.

“Milwaukee is the economic engine for our state and region. This addition to the port’s operations will expand a strong partnership that includes The DeLong Co., the City of Milwaukee, our state and federal partners, Wisconsin agriculture, and world markets,” said Johnson. “Thank you to our many partners for advancing this continued growth at Port Milwaukee.”

“We want to thank the City of Milwaukee for their partnership on this project. We look forward to being part of the community,” said Bo DeLong, vice president of grain, The DeLong Co., Inc.

“Port Milwaukee is an integral link in the Wisconsin economy. In this case, we are connecting Wisconsin farmers, growers, and producers with new international markets,” said Jackie Q. Carter, director of Port Milwaukee.  

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has estimated the DeLong terminal will generate $63 million in new statewide economic impact annually, increasing exports through Port Milwaukee by as much as 400,000 metric tons per year.

“This new facility will have a tremendous impact here in the local Milwaukee community and around the state and will help ensure more of our farmers’ best-in-class, Wisconsin-made goods will be shared with folks all over the world,” said Gov. Evers. “I want to congratulate the DeLong Company, Port Milwaukee, and everyone that played a role in getting this project over the finish line.”

“The facility is among the first on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system that can handle a variety of agricultural commodities via truck, rail and international vessels,” said Wisconsin Transportation Secretary Craig Thompson. “It’s an important new resource for both shipping and agriculture, and its impact will be felt statewide.”

Port Milwaukee is governed by a seven-member Board of Harbor Commissioners, a panel appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the Common Council. It administers operations on the 467 acres that make up the Port.

The DeLong Co., Inc. is a sixth-generation family-owned business headquartered in Clinton, Wisconsin, operating 37 locations around the United States and comprising six divisions of agricultural and logistical sales and services: grain, exports, agronomy, seed, transportation and wholesale feed. Over the last 20 years, DeLong has grown to become a leader in containerized agricultural exports. With transload facilities around the country, it is the largest U.S. exporter of containerized agricultural products and the fifth largest container exporter overall of products originating from the U.S.

David Murray can be reached at [email protected].