The new Charleston ice plant is up and running, but increased prices concern customers

CHARLESTON, Ore. — The port of Coos Bay has its new ice plant up and running in Charleston.

The newly built ice plant replaces the plant that was destroyed by a fire in late December of last year.

The new ice plant has increased storage capacity and a higher production rate, both of which were problems with the old plant.

"We used to run into situations where we would need to either turn away vessels or else there would be long waiting lines because we were not able to keep up with the demand," said Brandon Collura, the Port of Coos Bay Harbor Master. "And now during peak times, we should have no problem meeting the demand of our fleet."

With new technology, the cost of running the "state of the art" facility brings new pricing. It will now cost $91 a ton – up from $75.

"We're basically at the mean price up and down the coast between the Puget Sound and San Francisco," said Collura. "And at this time it actually still cost the port more money to make ice per ton than what we sell it for."

But according to the director of Oregon Trawl Commission, this price is higher than the average West Coast price for commercial fishing ports.

"That jump in a cost, what it really means at the end of the day is, it will come at their expense not at yours or mine as consumers," said Yelena Nowak, director of the Oregon Trawl Commission. "We all probably know pretty well about the paper thin margins they have been operating on."

The cost of ice comes out of the fishermen's pocket. Some fishermen are having a hard time subsidizing the new facility,

"The fishing community is not in a good state right now with the pandemic and everything else going on," said Ty Cutting, the captain of fishing vessel Bernadette. "And so to raise it up to $91 a ton to be so much higher than anywhere else, I mean Hallmark's down the road is $75 a ton."

Cutting plans to eventually become self-sufficent when it comes to ice for his boat, and in the meantime, he plans to go elsewhere.

The manufacturer of the machines conducted tests in Charleston last week.