As a city of Milwaukee department, Port Milwaukee is eligible to take advantage of financial resources that are available for current and future projects. One of the city’s plans that addresses infrastructure maintenance is the Capital Asset Renewal Plan (CARP), which will be a great asset for the Port’s diversification plans, according to Carter.

“The Capital Asset Renewal Plan (CARP) is used internally as a guide to plan capital project requests each budget cycle. While the plan lays out what infrastructure maintenance should be addressed, unexpected repairs may require that we make adjustments from time to time.”

Carter continued, “With the plan for Port Milwaukee, we are focused on diversifying the cargoes handled and elevating our overall business. Currently, Port Milwaukee is heavily dependent on salt, as it is the commodity handled in largest volume by current tenants. As we think ahead about the types of businesses we would like to attract, we are thinking about the overall supply chain and looking for businesses that are complimentary to current tenants.”

She added, “We also know that growing our business means being competitive, and a big part of being competitive involves keeping costs down. With the new Agricultural Maritime Export Facility (AMEF), operated by the Delong Company, Inc., coming online at Port Milwaukee in 2023, there is an opportunity to bring international cargoes in, and send the vessel back out loaded with exports from another Port Milwaukee tenant, which would be ideal. That situation creates an efficiency that saves time and money but requires communication and collaboration between Port tenants.”

Carter summed up, “As I learned more about the businesses that operate at and through Port Milwaukee, it became evident to me that our connection with our tenants was very transactional. I often say that when our tenants do well, Port Milwaukee does well. It would make sense then that we would work to support their businesses however we can. With that being said, Port Milwaukee is working to shift the perspective of our relationships with tenants from a landlord-tenant exchange to be more reflective of a business partnership. We have been working to understand their messaging and ideas so that we can bring them into the many rooms we enter through our presence there. If I can carry their elevator pitch and understand their audience, I can speak about their business in a way that they would – that’s the goal.”