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$10M in Harbor Assistance Grants to support economic growth across the state

Apr 8, 2025

The situation?
Vital to Wisconsin’s economy, ports serve as hubs for transportation, commerce, and industry, connecting the state to national and global markets through the Great Lakes and Mississippi River systems. These ports facilitate the efficient movement of commodities and support shipbuilding, agriculture, manufacturing, recreation, tourism and many other industries, while generating jobs and economic activity.

How do these investments benefit the port communities and the state?
The state will invest $10 million to modernize the infrastructure of ports in Marinette, La Crosse, Green Bay, Manitowoc, and La Pointe. These projects will help strengthen supply chain reliability, support waterborne freight, and buoy economic development.

  • Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Marinette will receive $3 million to dredge, repair dock walls, and install mooring bollards and fenders to maintain navigation and moor vessels.
  • Hanke Terminals in La Crosse will receive $2.3 million to construct a commodity storage building to expand import and export operations on the Mississippi River.
  • The Port of Green Bay and the Fox River Port Development Site will receive $2 million to install a dock wall, dredge, fill behind a bulkhead, and regrade property to create a new transload facility at the mouth of the Fox River.
  • City Centre LLC, in Manitowoc, will receive $1.8 million to construct a load-out pad on the Manitowoc River for assembling, testing, and shipping new portal jibs designed by Konecranes Inc.
  • The Town of La Pointe Harbor Commission and the Madeline Island Ferry will receive $808,000 to construct pile clusters, modify the ferry landing, and dredge harbors the ferry uses to transport people, vehicles, and goods from Bayfield to Madeline Island.

What makes the investment possible?
Established in 1979 to support waterborne commerce by maintaining and upgrading harbor facilities, the Harbor Assistance Program (HAP) funds critical infrastructure upgrades such as dock reconstruction, mooring structure replacement, dredging, and facility construction.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation accepts applications for the Harbor Assistance Program from public or private harbor facilities for projects that benefit cargo transfer, shipbuilding, commercial fishing, vessel cruises, or ferry service. The deadline for the next cycle is Aug. 1, 2025.