DE PERE, Wis. — Tony Fietzer has tons of road salt left over from last winter — literally.
He’s the street superintendent in De Pere.
“Last year we didn’t have a very high number of (snow) events where we had to respond out with rock salt, so we did have a surplus on hand,” he said.
Road salt is one of the commodities that comes through the Port of Green Bay. Fietzer submits the city’s salt order in March.
“We always like to have a good stockpile as it doesn’t go bad and we can use it the next year, like we are here,” he said.
Though July, the Port of Green Bay handled almost 865,000 tons of cargo. Port Director Dean Haen said that’s about 7% less than the same time last year.
“The reason for that is the need to bring in salt, which is primarily used for road maintenance in the winter,” he said. “Last year, with our mild winter, we have not depleted northeastern Wisconsin’s salt reserves so, we don’t have a need to bring in a large quantity for the municipalities and state and road maintenance.”
Limestone, cement, petroleum products, coal and wood pulp are among the key products moving through the port.
“Some other gains we’re seeing is petroleum products coming into northeastern Wisconsin. Diesel and gasoline inbound and ethanol outbound. Those continue to grow,” Haen said. “Then we have a variety of smaller cargoes that are showing growth and taking up some of the loss of salt tons.”
Fietzer said the city is using several different applications methods for salt, including a mixed solution.
Minimizing the impact on the environment and infrastructure is one of the goals of careful use of the commodity. Then there’s the cost.
“Salt has gone up dramatically from 2007, 2008 and 2009. It’s more than tripled and quadrupled its price,” he said. “In the last two years it’s gone up more than $10 per ton, so if we can purchase it from the previous year and carry it over and not use it all, we’re not having to buy it at that higher rate right now.”