Posted on September 12, 2018
The MV Arubaborg cargo ship is docked on the Fox River at KK Integrated Logistics in Green Bay on Wednesday.
The ships that bring downtown Green Bay bridge traffic to a halt right when you need it least help contribute nearly $150 million and 1,300 jobs to the local economy.
The Port of Green Bay has no say over when ships arrive, so don’t go blaming them for arrivals and departures. Instead, just take a breath and realize those ships help keep your friends and neighbors working.
A new economic impact study found the Port of Green Bay contributed $147 million to the local economy in 2017, up 77 percent from the port’s $83 million impact in 2010. The number of jobs supported increased 54.9 percent from 832 in 2010 to 1,289 in 2017.
The amount of cargo moving through the port’s 14 terminal operators peaked at 2.3 million metric tons in 2013. In 2017, the 14 port operators moved 1.8 million metric tons. So far this year, tonnage is up 16 percent, at 1 million tons.
Port Director Dean Haen said the difference in impact isn’t due to more tonnage as much as a shift to raw materials for manufacturers. Declines in cement and salt shipments have been offset by growth in petroleum, coal and limestone, port data shows.
“The more humans that have to touch it, the greater impact the port has,” Haen said.
Haen said the port supplies materials to companies in an area bounded by Sheboygan, Wausau and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
The port’s impact on the local economy got Streetwise to thinking about where that ranks compared to some of the other economic engines here in the Green Bay area. Forbes puts the Green Bay area’s total economic output at $19.1 billion.
Source: Green Bay
