What’s Going on at Port Milwaukee?

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Photo courtesy of Port Milwaukee

Port Milwaukee

Port Milwaukee

When people talk about Milwaukee’s economy, Port Milwaukee isn’t usually the first thing that comes up. But tucked along the Lake Michigan shoreline just south of downtown, Port Milwaukee is a quiet giant, powering commerce and global trade in ways most residents rarely understand. Hosting hundreds of cargo ships each year, the port generates vital income, jobs and resources not only for Milwaukee, but also for southeastern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and southeastern Minnesota.

This active hub moves everything from steel and salt to grain and cement. Port Milwaukee can store up to 300,000 barrels or 12.6 million gallons of bulk liquid commodities. There is over 330,000 square feet of warehouse space, 30,000 of it climate controlled, and 50 acres set aside just for dry bulk materials. Four massive domes on site can hold up to 50,000 tons. Port Milwaukee connects to two major rail lines and owns 14 miles of track, making it easy to move goods by land or water.

To learn more, I talked with Jackie Q. Carter, the director of Port Milwaukee, at the administration building on Lincoln Memorial Drive. Through the conference room windows, we could view the harbor busy with ships and cranes in full gear. Carter, now in her third year leading the port, is the first woman and first Black American to hold the role. Raised in Milwaukee’s inner city by her devoted grandmother, she climbed her way up through city government, earned two master’s degrees, and now runs one of the city’s most important operations with articulate business sense and a calm confidence.

What does Port Milwaukee do?

Port Milwaukee is a big part of the Milwaukee, regional and state economies. We work with private businesses and public partners to support the movement of goods from our state to international markets and vice versa. Our primary business is commercial shipping operations. But we have three sections of business: commercial shipping, tourism in the form of cruising, and recreational, which includes festivals along the lakefront, Discovery World, Harbor House, Summerfest and the Lake Express Ferry. Those recreational operations aren’t operated by Port Milwaukee, but they rent the property we own. 

Tell me more about the commercial shipping operations. 

Commodities are moved through Port Milwaukee, steel, salt, and cement, for instance. A lot of people are surprised to know we even have a port, and that is not good for us because in order for business to support us, business has to know we are here. We are networking to market in spaces we had not done before like meetings where businesspeople gather, the Rotary Club, for instance. We even educate students because not enough students are interested in doing this work. We are also a smaller port compared to ocean ports. Our vessels are smaller. But as an inland port, we need to get the products out to U.S. cities and international countries. In the Midwest region, the U.S. has a lot of agricultural land, and those farming businesses need to move their products all over the world.

Let’s say I am a western European steel maker, and I want to drop off my products in Milwaukee to be routed to this general region. How do my products get here? 

You ship your steel products across the Atlantic Ocean through the St. Lawrence River and to the St. Lawrence Seaway through the Great Lakes. You are traveling back and forth between Canadian and U.S. borders and through a series of locks because of the differences in elevation of the lakes. The locks raise or lower the ships. There are 15 locks, 13 owned by the Canadian government, and two by the U.S.

Once my ship or barge reaches Port Milwaukee, how is it unloaded, and where do the products go from here?

There are our port partners that operate at Port Milwaukee. They will assist in the unloading and may need special equipment like a crane. We have trained employees who are heavy equipment operators. For example, the company, Logistec, provides professional online order processing and inventory management. They have stevedores, longshoremen who assist in the operation. Port Milwaukee rents equipment and offers labor assistance. 

Do the products come into Milwaukee in huge containers?

We don’t have a U.S. Customs facility and so we don’t handle maritime containers. 

Then, how are the products on the ships unloaded and moved inland?

They are uploaded onto a truck or train car. In the reverse process, products can come into Milwaukee on a truck or train car and get unloaded to a cargo ship heading out. All three transportation modes operate here—trucks, trains, and cargo ships.

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Photo courtesy of Port Milwaukee

Port Milwaukee

Trains and train cars at Port Milwaukee

Let’s look at the process in reverse. Let’s say I am bringing my products by ground transport from a U.S. city to Port Milwaukee, and I want to move them overseas.

A lot of those products come in by train or truck. We have a reach throughout the Midwest and even some southern states. For example, one of the largest commodities coming here is road salt, generally from a salt mine in Canada. 

What are some of the other commodities you handle?

There are four main commodities. Salt is first. Fuel is another. Agricultural goods. And finally, cement. We also move gasoline type products.

Let’s look at an example. I decide I want to send a ship or vessel of goods through Port Milwaukee for the first time. What is the process? Who do I call?

Our trade development team takes your call. The team would then connect you to the partners to make that happen. An example is a freight forwarder who will connect the pieces and track the movement. Our employees will support that process.

A Freight Forwarder specializes in organizing and managing the shipment of goods for individuals or businesses, coordinating the transportation of freight from the shipper to the recipient, often internationally, by arranging logistics, handling documentation and negotiating with carriers. 

So then, how does Port Milwaukee make money?

We make revenue through leases from businesses who are permanently located here like Logistec. Other large clients here are Kinder Morgan, Cargill and U.S. Energy. We also make revenue from our services.  

What is the Port Milwaukee director’s job responsibility?

Port Milwaukee staff has four different focuses: trade development, engineers, operation services and finance & administration. The port director’s job is to ensure that all four of these functions operate in concert. The director also serves the city government, reporting to the seven harbor commissioners but also reporting to the common council, who approve our budgets and leases. 

Who does the marketing from your staff, getting and keeping clients?

Our trade development team does the business marketing, and we have a public relations officer to get the word out.

As I understand, the Port has a $6.7 million budget and nearly 500 acres. That large piece of land stretches from the Milwaukee Art Museum, south past the Lake Express Ferry building, and west underneath I-794 to Jones Island. What happens on those 500 acres?

On the north harbor tract, Summerfest, Discovery World and Harbor House lease the land from us. Everything south of there is considered Jones Island except for the Lake Express Ferry. The Coast Guard and Navy also have facilities.  

Jones Island has an interesting history, home to early Indian tribes, French fur traders and later, Polish immigrants. What happens on historic Jones Island today? 

Jones Island is now the site of all our commercial shipping operations, all the terminal and cargo movement. 

Interesting. How big is Jones Island?

Out of our 467 acres, about 75% is Jones Island.

Port Milwaukee is a key cruise ship destination on Lake Michigan. The port received 33 cruise ship vessel calls and well over 13,000 passengers and 4,900 cruise members in 2024. Why do cruise ships stop in Milwaukee? What do the passengers do here and what is the value of cruise ships stopping at Milwaukee?

The Great Lakes has a lot to offer in terms of the tourist experience. We have one of the world’s largest bodies of fresh water right in our backyard, and that interests tourists, including the cultural experiences. 

As a cruise ship tourist passenger visiting Milwaukee, what do I do when I step off the boat?

There are two types of tourism. One, you get off the boat and visit Milwaukee for a day, have lunch, go shopping, visit the sites and then get back on. Two is the turn -round, passengers either ending or starting their journey. Most folks stay in hotels, eat dinner out and shop. This is very good for our economy. In terms of turn around, we have a back-and-forth relationship with Toronto, Canada. Also, word of mouth, meaning those passengers taking back their experiences to where they came from.

What is Port Milwaukee’s largest cruise ship client?

Viking Cruises has the largest vessel calling on Milwaukee with the most frequent stops. Their maximum capacity for their cruise ships that visit Milwaukee is 378. Small compared to their ocean-going vessels. Kind of a boutique cruise ship.

The port is also home to the Lake Express Ferry, which offers service from Milwaukee to Muskegon, Michigan. Tell me more about the ferry service.

The trip time for the Lake Express Ferry is about two and a half hours from Milwaukee to Muskegon. You can go as a passenger, or you can also have your car shipped—one way ticket or round trip. It is well worth the price compared to driving through Chicago traffic and then on up north to Muskegon, Michigan.

Last April, the U.S. Trade Representative announced that Great Lakes vessels will now be exempt from a $1.5 million port fee. As a result, the port can expand its role in moving goods, creating jobs and boosting trade across the Great Lakes network. How will this help Milwaukee business?

That is good for us. It incentivizes people to get back to U.S. commercial shipbuilding, but building ships takes time. The benefit for exempting the port fee is that a shipper can come into Port Milwaukee with one commodity and go back with another commodity and only pay the single port fee. As an example, the steel that comes into Milwaukee is sometimes used for making soup and soda cans. If it costs more to ship at the port, the steel shipper will pass that onto the canners who will pass it onto consumers. That is why the Great Lakes associations around the country went to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and asked for the exemption of the $1.5 million port fee. The reason for the exemption is that Great Lakes ports are small and cannot absorb the previous port fees, meaning shippers would not make stops in many Great Lakes ports. 

Mayor Cavalier Johnson has selected Jackie Q. Carter to serve as the city’s director of employee relations.  A new Port Milwaukee director will be named in the future.