Daily Astorian: Proposed tarriff on port's seafood processors a bad idea
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Daily Astorian] - August 21, 2014 -
(Editorial)
Port runs risk of losing competitive advantage
No port at the mouth of the Columbia River or the largest ports on the Oregon Coast has a seafood tariff. Not Ilwaco, not Newport, not Coos Bay.
Why then would the Port of Astoria Commission consider burdening its seafood processor tenants with a new fee? Why would the Port choose to make itself less competitive?
Andrew Bornstein suspects the answer is that Port Commissioner Bill Hunsinger aims “to destroy the seafood cluster that (former Port Director) Peter Gearin created.” That cluster includes Bornstein Seafoods, three other seafood processors and Englund Marine & Industrial Supply.
Bornstein notes that two sites are being considered for cold storage plants: at the Port of Astoria or Ilwaco. If the Port of Astoria adopts a seafood tariff, he asks rhetorically: Where do you think the cold storage plant will be built?
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