By Investigative Reporter, Linda Sutter – October 26, 2026 Today Newport Oregon’s Pacific Seafood processing plant caught fire and is pretty much devastated. I asked the Crescent City Harbor District Harbormaster Rademaker how this will affect our local seafood pacific plant. This was his response. The loss of Pacific Seafood’s 11,000-square-foot Newport facility just weeks before the winter Dungeness crab season is a significant setback. To assess the potential implications for CCHD, it is helpful to consider how the company might redistribute their operations affected by the fire. The facility was the primary source of flake ice and cold storage for their Newport operations, as well as their primary shrimp and crab processing line there. With the shrimp season largely over, the company has some time to adjust those operations. The immediate challenge will be accommodating the upcoming crab season. Pacific Seafood has other facilities within roughly half a mile, including some larger than the building that burned, which will allow it to shift vessel offloading to nearby locations. Replacing the lost flake ice capacity will be more difficult. The company now faces a situation similar to the one CCHD encountered several years ago, potentially requiring it to truck ice from Charleston/Coos Bay or Warrenton/Astoria, or install a portable, containerized ice machine. They probably have enough time to implement a solution before crab season, but it won't be easy. Even if Pac Seafood restores access to ice so vessels can keep their catch chilled while at sea, the company will likely still need to transfer much of the landed catch directly into Pacific Group Transport reefer trucks for shipment to Charleston/Coos Bay or Warrenton/Astoria for processing, blast-freezing, and cold storage. There will probably be some spillover effects in Brookings and Crescent City, but I don't think it will be dramatic. For CCHD, the key question is whether Pacific Seafood will expand operations at the building it currently leases from us on Starfish Way. Historically, their building here in Crescent City has been used primarily for storage. However, a couple of months ago, the company requested plumbing repairs, which we completed, and indicated that it was preparing to conduct some new processing there. The Newport fire could accelerate those plans or prompt the company to consider an even larger processing operation in Crescent City. We do not yet know whether its plans have changed, but that is the possibility most relevant to the Harbor. I will keep you informed as I learn more.