The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a

radius In classical geometry, a radius ( : radii) of a circle or sphere is any of the line segments from its center to its perimeter, and in more modern usage, it is also their length. The name comes from the latin ''radius'', meaning ray but also the ...

of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It includes the system of navigable waterways in the New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary, which runs along over of shoreline in the vicinity of New York City and northeastern New Jersey, and is considered one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Having long been the busiest port on the East Coast it became it the busiest port by

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Pri ...

cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...

volume in the United States in August 2022 and is a major economic engine for the region. The region's airports make the port the nation's top gateway for international flights and its busiest center for overall passenger and

air freight Air cargo is any property carried or to be carried in an aircraft. Air cargo comprises air freight, air express and airmail. Aircraft types Different cargo can be transported by passenger, cargo or combi aircraft: * Passenger aircraft use th ...

flights. There are two foreign-trade zones (FTZ) within the port.

Geography

Port district

Encompassing an area within an approximate radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, the port district comprises all or part of seventeen counties in the region. The nine that are completely within the district are Hudson,

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and ...

, Union (in New Jersey), and the

five boroughs 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an aw ...

of New York City, which are coterminous with the counties of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

Kings Kings or King's may refer to: * Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a bo ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, and Richmond. Abutting sections of

Passaic Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,7 ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbouri ...

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of Lond ...

, Morris, and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

in New Jersey, and Nassau, Westchester, and Rockland in New York are also within the district.

Waterways

Bodies of water

New York Harbor New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors i ...

is one of the world's largest natural harbors."Port in a Storm: The Port of New York in World War II"
, Joseph F. Meany Jr. ''& al.'', NY State Museum, 1992–1998. The Atlantic Ocean is to the southeast of the port. The sea at the entrance to the port is called the

New York Bight The New York Bight is the geological identification applied to a roughly triangular indentation, regarded as a bight, along the Atlantic coast of the United States that extends northeasterly from Cape May Inlet in New Jersey to Montauk Point ...

; it lies between the peninsulas of Sandy Hook and Rockaway. In

Lower New York Bay Lower New York Bay is a section of New York Bay south of the Narrows (the strait between Staten Island and Brooklyn). The eastern end of the Bay is marked by two spits of land, Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and Rockaway, Queens. The waterway b ...

and its western arm,

Raritan Bay Raritan Bay is a bay located at the southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey and is part of the New York Bight. The bay is bounded on the northwest by New York's Staten Island, on the west by ...

, vessels orient themselves for passage to the west into

Arthur Kill The Arthur Kill (sometimes referred to as the Staten Island Sound) is a tidal strait between Staten Island (also known as Richmond County), New York and Union and Middlesex counties, New Jersey. It is a major navigational channel of the Port ...

Raritan River Raritan River is a major river of New Jersey. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean. History Geologists assert that the lower Raritan provided ...

or to the north to The Narrows. To the east lies the Rockaway Inlet, which leads to

Jamaica Bay Jamaica Bay is an estuary on the southern portion of the western tip of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. The estuary is partially man-made, and partially natural. The bay connects with Lower New York Bay to the west, through Rocka ...

. The Narrows connects to the

Upper New York Bay New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in ...

at the mouth of the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

, which is sometimes (particularly in navigation) called the North River. Large ships are able to

navigate Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

upstream to the Port of Albany-Rensselaer. To the west lies

Kill van Kull __NOTOC__ The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York and Bayonne, New Jersey in the United States. It is approximately long and wide and connects Newark Bay with Upper New York Bay. The Robbins Reef Light marks ...

, the

strait A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean cha ...

leading to

Newark Bay Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jer ...

, fed by the

Passaic River Passaic River ( ) is a river, approximately long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jerse ...

and

Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the subu ...

, and the northern entrance of Arthur Kill. The Gowanus Canal and Buttermilk Channel are entered from the east. The

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...

is a broad strait that travels north to

Newtown Creek Newtown Creek, a long tributary of the East River, is an estuary that forms part of the border between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, in New York City. Channelization made it one of the most heavily-used bodies of water in the Port of ...

and the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York, United States, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spu ...

, turning east at

Hell Gate Hell Gate is a narrow tidal strait in the East River in New York City. It separates Astoria, Queens, from Randall's and Wards Islands. Etymology The name "Hell Gate" is a corruption of the Dutch phrase ''Hellegat'' (it first appeared on ...

before opening to

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Ea ...

, which provides an outlet to the open sea.

Channels

The port consists of a complex of approximately of shipping channels, as well as anchorages and

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

facilities.Chapter 11
, New York Harbor and Approaches

, 35th Edition, 2006
Office of Coast Survey
,

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditi ...

. Most vessels require

pilotage Piloting or pilotage is the process of navigating on water or in the air using fixed points of reference on the sea or on land, usually with reference to a nautical chart or aeronautical chart to obtain a fix of the position of the vessel or ai ...

, and larger vessels require

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

assistance for the sharper channel turns. The

Ambrose Ambrose of Milan ( la, Aurelius Ambrosius; ), venerated as Saint Ambrose, ; lmo, Sant Ambroeus . was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promo ...

leads from the sea to the Upper Bay, where it becomes the Anchorage Channel. Connecting channels are the Bay Ridge, the Red Hook, the Buttermilk, the Claremont, the Port Jersey, the Kill Van Kull, the Newark Bay, the Port Newark, the Elizabeth, and the Arthur Kill. Anchorages are known as Stapleton, Bay Ridge and Gravesend. The natural depth of the harbor is about , but it was deepened over the years, to a controlling depth of about in 1880.Interview
with Kate Ascher on her book, ''The Works: Anatomy of a City'' , GothamGazette.com, February 13, 2006. By 1891, the Main Ship Channel was minimally deep. Following the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 over $1.2 million of initial funding was appropriated for the dredging of 40 ft (12.2 m)-deep channels at

Bay Ridge Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, Dyker Heights to the east, the Na ...

, Red Hook, and Sandy Hook. In 1914, Ambrose Channel became the main entrance to the port, at deep and wide. During World War II the main channel was dredged to deep to accommodate larger ships up to

Panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...

size. In 2016, the Army Corps of Engineers completed a $2.1 billion dredging project, deepening harbor channels to in order to accommodate Post-Panamax container vessels, which can pass through the widened

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

as well as the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popula ...

.Why Deepen the Port?
, USACE.Dredging Fleet Deepening NY/NJ Harbor
, PortViews, Vol. 2, No. 3 October 2003, PANYNJ. This has been a source of environmental concern along channels connecting the container facilities in

Port Newark A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

to the Atlantic.

PCBs Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by ...

and other pollutants lay in a blanket just underneath the soil.Dredging In New York Harbor – Economy vs. Environment?
, ''Gotham Gazette'', April 2006. In June 2009 it was announced that 200,000 cubic yards of dredged PCBs would be "cleaned" and stored en masse at the site of the former Yankee Stadium and at Brooklyn Bridge Park. In many areas the sandy bottom has been excavated down to rock and now requires blasting. Dredging equipment then picks up the rock and disposes of it. At one point in 2005, there were 70 pieces of dredging equipment working to deepen channels, the largest fleet of dredging equipment anywhere in the world. The channel of the Hudson is the Anchorage Channel and is approximately 50 feet deep in the midpoint of Upper Bay. A project to replace two water mains between Brooklyn and Staten Island, which will eventually allowing for dredging of the channel to nearly , was begun in April 2012. The Army Corps has recommended that most channels in the port be maintained at 50 feet deep. Dredging of the canals to 50 feet was completed in August 2016. The channels also include bridges that limit the heights of vessels that can use the harbor. The

Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ( ) is a suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. It spans the Narrows, a body of water linking the relatively enclosed New York Harbor with Lower New York Bay and ...

has a clearance of at mean high water. The

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East Riv ...

has of clearance, while the Bayonne Bridge has been raised from to .

Pilotage

The Sandy Hook Pilots are licensed

maritime pilot A maritime pilot, marine pilot, harbor pilot, port pilot, ship pilot, or simply pilot, is a mariner who maneuvers ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbors or river mouths. Maritime pilots are regarded as skilled professional ...

s that go aboard oceangoing vessels, passenger liners, freighters, and tankers and are responsible for the navigation of larger ships through port district.

History

The

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environmen ...

was originally the territory of the

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...

, a seasonally migrational people who would relocate summer encampments along its shore and use its waterways for transport and fishing. Many of the

tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

salt marshes supported vast oyster banks that remained a major source of food for the region until the end of the 19th century, by which time contamination and landfilling had obliterated most of them. The first recorded European visit was that of

Giovanni da Verrazzano Giovanni da Verrazzano ( , , often misspelled Verrazano in English; 1485–1528) was an Italian ( Florentine) explorer of North America, in the service of King Francis I of France. He is renowned as the first European to explore the Atlantic ...

, who anchored in The Narrows in 1524. For the next hundred years, the region was visited sporadically by ships on fishing trips and slave raids. European colonization began after

Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States. In 1607 and ...

's 1609 exploration of the region with the establishment of

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading '' factory'' gave ri ...

, the capital of the Dutch province of

New Netherland New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva ...

at the tip of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The British colonial era saw a concerted effort to expand the port in the

triangular trade Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It has been used to offset ...

between Europe,

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

with a concentration of

wharves A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths ( mooring locatio ...

along the mouth of the

. After the Battle of Brooklyn, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

controlled the harbor for the duration of

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, and prison ships housed thousands at Wallabout Bay. In the early 19th century, the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reduc ...

(often used for

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

) and

Morris Canal The Morris Canal (1829–1924) was a common carrier anthracite coal canal across northern New Jersey that connected the two industrial canals at Easton, Pennsylvania across the Delaware River from its western terminus at Phillipsburg, New Jer ...

(mostly used for

anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the hig ...

) gave the port access to the American interior, leading to

transshipment Transshipment, trans-shipment or transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, then to another destination. One possible reason for transshipment is to change the means of transport during the journey (e. ...

operations, manufacturing, and

industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an eco ...

. The invention of the

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tran ...

led to expansion of the railroads and vast terminals along the western banks of the

, complemented by an extensive network of

ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...

and carfloats, with a large cluster along the

. The era of the

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). ...

around the turn of the 20th century led to the creation of berths at North River piers and

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,69 ...

. This coincided with the

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, ...

of millions, processed at

Castle Clinton Castle Clinton (also known as Fort Clinton and Castle Garden) is a circular sandstone fort within Battery Park at the southern end of Manhattan in New York City. Built from 1808 to 1811, it was the first American immigration station, predating ...

and later at

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mil ...

, some staying in the region, others boarding barges, ships, and trains to points across the United States. In 1910, the port was the busiest in the world. During the

World Wars A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

the waterfront supported

shipyards A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance ...

and

military installations A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

such as the

Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was a United States shipyard, active from 1917 to 1948. It was founded during World War I to build ships for the United States Shipping Board. During World War II, it built ships as part of the U.S. Go ...

and the

Brooklyn Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular ben ...

and played an important role in

troop transport A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

as a Port of Embarkation. The mid-century also saw the construction of major highways such as the

Belt Parkway The Belt Parkway is the name given to a series of connected limited-access highways that form a belt-like circle around the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The Belt Parkway comprises three of the four parkways in what is known as ...

, East River Drive, and

Major Deegan Expressway Interstate 87 (I-87) is a north–south Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of New York. It is most of the main highway between New York City and Montreal. The highway begins at exit 47 off I-278 in the New York ...

along parts of the shoreline. The era of the

longshoreman A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number o ...

, captured in the classic film ''

On the Waterfront ''On the Waterfront'' is a 1954 American crime drama film, directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando and features Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning, and Eva Marie Saint in her film d ...

'', faded by the 1970s as much of the waterfront became obsolete due to changing transportation patterns. The nation's first facility for container shipping, which became the

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used t ...

, opened in 1958. Expanded intermodal freight transport systems and the

Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...

effected a shift to new terminals at

. Since the 1980s, sections of waterfront in the traditional harbor have been being redeveloped to include public access to the water's edge, with the creation of

linear park A linear park is a type of park that is significantly longer than it is wide. These linear parks are strips of public land running along canals, rivers, streams, defensive walls, electrical lines, or highways and shorelines. Examples of linea ...

greenways such as Hudson River Park, Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, and Brooklyn Bridge Park. The ''

CMA CGM CMA CGM S.A. is a French container transportation and shipping company. It is the world’s 3rd largest container shipping company, using 257 shipping routes between 420 ports in 160 countries. Its headquarters are in Marseille, France The name ...

'' ''

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

,'' the largest ship to call at an East Coast port'','' passed under the raised Bayonne Bridge in July 2017, signalling a new era of container capacity.

Jurisdiction and regulation

Responsibilities within the port are divided among all levels of government, from municipal to federal, as well as public and private agencies. Established in 1921, the bi-state Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, in addition to overseeing maritime facilities, is responsible for the vehicular crossings and the

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...

system between

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware R ...

, several of the region's airports, and other transportation and real estate development projects. The Port Authority maintains its own

police force The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest an ...

, as does the

Waterfront Commission The Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor (WCNYH) is a regulatory agency in Port of New York and New Jersey in the United States. The bi-state agency was founded in 1953 by a Congressional authorized compact between New York and New Jersey "for t ...

, created in 1953 to investigate, prosecute, and prevent criminal activity.Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor
(WCNYH) The

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

, which has been involved in harbor maintenance since about 1826, when Congress passed an omnibus rivers and harbors act,Chapter 3
, River and Harbor Improvement
''History of the Waterways of the Atlantic Coast of the United States''
, Publication Number NWS 83-10, January 1983, USACE. is responsible for

bulkhead Bulkhead may refer to: Structural safety devices * Bulkhead (partition), a wall within the hull of a ship, vehicle, or container *Torpedo bulkhead, a type of armor plate or protective covering designed to keep a ship afloat even if the hull is ...

and

channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...

maintenance. The

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, ...

deals with issues such as floatable debris, spills, vessel rescues, and counter-terrorism.U.S. Coast Guard Sector New York Homepage
. Both states, and some municipal governments (New York City, in particular), maintain maritime police units. The United States Park Police monitors federal properties. The

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational proper ...

oversees some of the region's

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological ...

s, and

parks A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

. The port is a

port of entry In general, a port of entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas and to inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. Internat ...

. The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and

Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration th ...

(ICE) regulate international imports and passenger arrivals. The "green lane" program, in which trusted shippers have fewer containers inspected.The Docks of New York
, ''The New Yorker'', June 19, 2006. There are two foreign trade zones in the port: FTZ 1, the first in the nation, established in 1937, on the New York side of the port; and FTZ 49, on the New Jersey side. In March 2006, some of the passenger facilities management was to be transferred to Dubai Ports World. There was considerable controversy over security and ownership by a foreign corporation, particularly one of Arab origin, of a U.S. port operation, despite the fact that the operator was British-based P&O Ports.Fact Sheet on Acquisition of P&O Ports by DP World
, American Association of Port Authorities, 2006. DP World later sold P&O's American operations to

American International Group American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/amer ...

's asset management division, Global Investment Group, for an undisclosed sum. Seamen's Church Institute of New York and New Jersey, the

Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), also known as the Teamsters Union, is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of The Team Drivers International Union and The Teamsters National Union, the u ...

, and the

International Longshoremen's Association The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) is a North American labor union representing longshore workers along the East Coast of the United States and Canada, the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, Puerto Rico, and inland waterways. The ILA ...

assist and represent some of the port's

mariner A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

s and dockworkers.

Cargo infrastructure

Airports

The airports in the Port of New York and New Jersey combine to create the largest airport system in the United States, the second in the world in terms of passenger traffic, and the first in the world in terms of total flight operations. JFK air freight cargo operations make it the busiest in the US.

FedEx Express FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation, is a major American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2020, it is one of the world's largest airlines in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the na ...

, the world's busiest

cargo airline Cargo airlines (or air freight carriers, and derivatives of these names) are airlines mainly dedicated to the transport of cargo by air. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of larger passenger airlines. In 2018, airline cargo tr ...

, uses

Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport , originally Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport straddling the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union Co ...

as its regional hub.

Container terminals

There are four

container terminal A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example tra ...

s in the port: * Howland Hook Marine Terminal * Port Jersey Marine Terminal *

Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

* Red Hook Marine Terminal Terminals are leased to different

port operator A port operator is a port authority or company that contracts with the port authority to move cargo through a port at a contracted minimum level of productivity. They may be state-owned (particularly for port authorities) or privately run. The wor ...

s, such as A. P. Moller-Maersk Group, American Stevedoring, NYCT, and Global Marine Terminal. In June 2010, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey agreed to purchase from

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine ...

of land at the

Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne (MOTBY) was a U.S. military ocean terminal located in the Port of New York and New Jersey which operated from 1967 to 1999. From 1942 to 1967 the site was the Bayonne Naval Drydock. The site is on Upper New Y ...

, indicating that additional container port facilities would be created. The agency is expected to develop a terminal capable of handling the larger container ships to be in service once the new, wider

opens in 2014, some of which would not have passed under the original Bayonne Bridge at the

. A project to raise to the roadway of the bridge within the existing arch was completed in May, 2019. New York - New Jersey container port traffic

The terminal's combined volume makes it the largest on the East Coast, the second busiest in the United States, Handling a cargo volume in the ten months through October 2022 of over 8.2 million

TEUs The twenty-foot equivalent unit (abbreviated TEU or teu) is an inexact unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports.Rowlett, 2004. It is based on the volume of a intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box whi ...

, benefitting

post-Panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...

from the expansion of the

, and surpassing of California seaports in monthly cargo volumes to become the nation's busiest.

ExpressRail

ExpressRail is the rail network supporting

intermodal freight transport Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation (e.g., rail, ship, aircraft, and truck), without any handling of the freight itself when changing ...

at the major container terminals of the port. The development of dockside trackage and

railyard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or ...

s for

transloading Transloading, also known as cross-docking, is the process of transferring a shipment from one mode of transportation to another. It is most commonly employed when one mode cannot be used for the entire trip, such as when goods must be shipped i ...

has been overseen by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey which works in partnership other public and private stakeholders. Various

switching and terminal railroad A switching and terminal railroad is a freight railroad company whose primary purpose is to perform local switching services or to own and operate a terminal facility. Switching is a type of operation done within the limits of a yard. It gener ...

s, including the

Conrail Shared Assets Operations Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO) is the commonly used name for modern-day Conrail ( reporting mark CRCX), an American railroad company. It operates three networks, the North Jersey, South Jersey/Philadelphia, and Detroit Shared Assets Area ...

(CRCX) on the Chemical Coast Secondary connect to the East Coast rail freight network carriers

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

(NS),

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

(CSX), and

Canadian Pacific The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...

(CP). In the year period ending October 2014 the total amount of

Intermodal container An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, is a large standardized shipping container, designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – from sh ...

s handled at the port included 391,596 rail lifts. As of 2014, three ExpressRail systems (Newark, Elizabeth, and Staten Island) were in operation. Construction of a fourth, with connection to the

National Docks Secondary National Docks Secondary is a freight rail line within Conrail's North Jersey Shared Assets Area in Hudson County, New Jersey, used by CSX Transportation. It provides access for the national rail network to maritime, industrial, and distribut ...

, is underway at Port Jersey. Financed by a surcharge on all containers passing through the port by train or truck and the system in 2014 handled just over 14% of total container volume.

Bulk cargo and marine transfer

Small tankers unload in Newtown Creek jeh

While most

consumer goods A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike a intermediate good, which is used to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good, but ...

are transported in

containers A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The ter ...

, other

commodities In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. The price of a co ...

such as

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

and scrap metal are handled at facilities for marine transfer operations,

bulk cargo Bulk cargo is commodity cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities. Description Bulk cargo refers to material in either liquid or granular, particulate form, as a mass of relatively small solids, such as petroleum/crude oi ...

, and

break bulk cargo In shipping, break-bulk, breakbulk, or break bulk cargo, also called general cargo, refers to goods that are stowed on board ship in individually counted units. Traditionally, the large numbers of items are recorded on distinct bills of ladin ...

throughout the port, many along its

straits A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean cha ...

and

canals Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

. At some locations,

water pollution Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. Wate ...

has led to inclusion on the

list of Superfund sites in the United States Superfund sites are polluted locations in the United States requiring a long-term response to clean up hazardous material contaminations. They were designated under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCL ...

. *

, along its shore the Bayway Refinery and the

Chemical Coast The Chemical Coast is a section of Union and Middlesex counties in New Jersey located along the shores of the Arthur Kill, across from Staten Island, New York. The name is taken from the Conrail Chemical Coast Line, an important component in the ...

at Constable Hook * Gowanus Canal in

South Brooklyn South Brooklyn is a historic term for a section of the former City of Brooklyn – now the New York City borough of Brooklyn – encompassing what are now the Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope, Windsor ...

at Greenpoint and Hunter's Point *

from

* South Brooklyn Marine Terminal

Car float and Cross Harbor Tunnel

At one time nearly 600,000 railcars were transferred annually by barge between the region's extensive rail facilities. Today approximately 1,600 cars are "floated" on the remaining

car float A railroad car float or rail barge is a specialised form of lighter with railway tracks mounted on its deck used to move rolling stock across water obstacles, or to locations they could not otherwise go. An unpowered barge, it is towed by a t ...

in the port. The New York New Jersey Rail, LLC transfers freight cars across the Upper Bay between the Greenville Yard in

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.65th Street Yard and the Bush Terminal Yard in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behin ...

. At the Greenville end,

operates through Conrail's North Jersey Shared Assets Area along the

. At

, end connections are made to the

New York and Atlantic Railway The New York and Atlantic Railway (NY&A) is a short line railroad formed in 1997 to provide freight service over the tracks of the Long Island Rail Road, a public commuter rail agency which had decided to privatize its freight operations. An ...

's Bay Ridge Branch and the South Brooklyn Railway. The crossing takes approximately 45 minutes. The equivalent truck trip would be 35 to long.

Freight rail Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons ( International Union of Railways) haule ...

has never used the

New York Tunnel Extension The New York Tunnel Extension (also New York Improvement and Tunnel Extension) is a combination of railroad tunnels and approaches from New Jersey and Long Island to Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan. It was built by Pennsylvania Railr ...

under the Hudson Palisades,

, and

due to electrified lines and lack of ventilation. Overland travel crosses the

140 miles (225 km) to the north using a right of way known as the Selkirk hurdle. The Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel is a proposed rail

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

under the Upper Bay. The western portal would be located at Greenville Yard, while the eastern portal is undetermined and a source of controversy. In May 2010, the Port Authority announced that it would purchase the Greenville Yard and build a new barge-to-rail facility there, as well as improve the existing railcar float system. The barge-to-rail facility is expected to handle an estimated 60,000 to 90,000 containers of solid waste per year from New York City, eliminating up to 360,000 trash truck trips a year. The authority's board authorized $118.1 million for the project. The

rail line is being upgraded in anticipation of expanded volumes. In September 2014, the PANYNJ announced a $356 million capital project to upgrade and expand the facility, including

Roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or us ...

operations. Expected to be operational about July 2016, an initial capacity of at least 125,000 cargo container lifts a year is projected.

Port Inland Distribution Network

The Port Inland Distribution Network involves new or expanded transportation systems for redistribution by barge and rail for the shipped goods and containers that are delivered at area ports in an effort to curtail the use of trucks and their burden on the environment, traffic, and highway systems. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ),

New Jersey Department of Transportation The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, including maintaining and operating the state's highway and public road system, planning and developing transportat ...

(NJDOT), and Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), are involved in initiatives to review and develop this network. To instantiate PIDN, the PANYNJ signed an agreement November 29, 2003 with the Port of Albany to provide twice weekly barge service. By 2014, the service had been discontinued. In 2018, service between Newark and Brooklyn to Port of Davisville in Rhode Island was initiated.

America's Marine Highway

America's Marine Highway is a similar

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States ...

initiative to capitalize on U.S. waterways for the transport of goods. In 2016, MARAD made a grant of $1.6 million to improve the terminal at Red Hook as part of the Marine Highway program. Barges carrying containers on a route between Red Hook and Newark began operation in September 2016. In 2010, a private sector service provider began short sea shipping of

aggregate Aggregate or aggregates may refer to: Computing and mathematics * collection of objects that are bound together by a root entity, otherwise known as an aggregate root. The aggregate root guarantees the consistency of changes being made within the ...

products with a

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

service between Tremley Point, Linden on the

and the Port of Salem to address a critical, yet weak link in freight transport with ports in the

Delaware Valley The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Val ...

Cruise terminals and ferries

Cruise terminals

The golden age of the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

lasted from the end of the 19th century to the post– World War II period, after which innovations in air travel became commercially viable. Many berths for the great ships that lined the

North River (Hudson River) North River is an alternative name for the southernmost portion of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City and Gateway Region, northeastern New Jersey in the United States. The entire watercourse was known as the North River by the Du ...

were more or less abandoned by the 1970s. Nowadays most travel is recreational. While many cruises are to points in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, there are also ships calling at the port that sail transatlantically and to the Southern Hemisphere, notably

RMS Queen Mary 2 RMS ''Queen Mary 2'' (also referred to as the ''QM2'') is a British transatlantic ocean liner. She has served as the flagship of Cunard Line since succeeding ''Queen Elizabeth 2'' in 2004. As of 2022, ''Queen Mary 2'' is the only ocean liner ...

. The passenger

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as " ...

terminals in the port are located in the traditional, or "inner", harbor. Collectively the cruise terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey are the sixth busiest in the United States and 16th busiest in the world for passenger travel. *

Cape Liberty Cruise Port The Cape Liberty Cruise Port is one of three trans- Atlantic passenger terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey. It is located in Bayonne, New Jersey at the north side of the long pier of the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor, a former milita ...

MOTBY Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne (MOTBY) was a U.S. military ocean terminal located in the Port of New York and New Jersey which operated from 1967 to 1999. From 1942 to 1967 the site was the Bayonne Naval Drydock. The site is on Upper New Yo ...

, Upper Bay * Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, Buttermilk Channel, Upper Bay * New York Passenger Ship Terminal,

Ferries and sightseeing

There has been continuous

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ...

service between

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull ...

and

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States wit ...

since the 18th century. Travelling across the Upper Bay between South Ferry and St. George Ferry Terminal, the free

Staten Island Ferry The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry route operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. The ferry's single route runs through New York Harbor between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island, with ferry ...

transports on average 75,000 passengers per day. Service on the East River ended in the early 20th century and on the Hudson River in the 1960s. It has been restored and grown significantly since the 1980s providing regular service to points in

, mostly below 42nd Street. Major terminals are

Hoboken Terminal Hoboken Terminal is a commuter-oriented intermodal passenger station in Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, it is served by nine NJ Transit (NJT) commuter rail lines, one ...

, Battery Park City Ferry Terminal at World Financial Center, Paulus Hook Ferry Terminal, Weehawken Port Imperial, Pier 11/Wall Street, West Midtown Ferry Terminal, and the East 34th Street Ferry Landing. There also are numerous

ferry slip A ferry slip is a specialized docking facility that receives a ferryboat or train ferry. A similar structure called a barge slip receives a barge or car float that is used to carry wheeled vehicles across a body of water. Often a ferry intende ...

s that each serve one route only, including the historic Fulton Ferry. In addition to regular and

rush hour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: o ...

routes, there are excursions, trips, and seasonal service to

Gateway National Recreation Area Gateway National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area in New York City and Monmouth County, New Jersey. It provides recreational opportunities that are not commonly found in a dense urban environment, including ocean swimming, b ...

beaches. Sightseeing boats

circumnavigate Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the Mage ...

or make excursions into the

. * Circle Line Downtown * Circle Line Sightseeing * Ellis Island and Liberty Island * Governor's Island Ferry (seasonal) * Liberty Water Taxi * New York Water Taxi *

NY Waterway NY Waterway (or New York Waterway) is a private transportation company running ferry and bus service in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in the Hudson Valley. The company utilizes public-private partnership with agencies such as the ...

* New York Beach Ferry * SeaStreak *

Lights and lighthouses

There are both historic and modern lighthouses throughout the port, some of which have been decommissioned *

Ambrose Light Ambrose Light, often called Ambrose Tower, was the light station at the convergence of several major shipping lanes in Lower New York Bay, including Ambrose Channel, the primary passage for ships entering and departing the Port of New York an ...

, Lower Bay (dismantled 2008) * Bergen Point Light,

(replaced) * Blackwell Island Light, Roosevelt Island,

(retired 1940) *

Chapel Hill Rear Range Light The Chapel Hill Rear Range Light is a lighthouse located off of Middletown Township in Monmouth County, New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north a ...

, Sandy Hook Bay (deactivated 1957) * Conover Beacon (front range light), Leonardo * Coney Island (Nortons Point) Light,

, Sea Gate, Brooklyn * Elm Tree Beacon Light, The Narrows, New Dorp, Staten Island * Execution Rocks Light,

* Fort Tompkins Light, The Narrows,

(retired) * Fort Wadsworth Light, The Narrows,

* Great Beds Light,

, South Amboy * Kings Point Light,

, Great Neck * Kingsborough Community College Light,

Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn Sheepshead Bay is a neighborhood in southern Brooklyn, New York City. It is bounded by Ocean Parkway to the west; Avenue T and Kings Highway to the north; Nostrand Avenue and Gerritsen Avenue to the east; and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. ...

* Little Gull Island Light,

* Little Red Lighthouse (Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse), Fort Washington,

* Navesink Twin Lights, Sandy Hook Bay,

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia * S ...

* New Dorp Light, The Narrows,

Swash Channel (retired) * North Brother Island Light,

* Old Orchard Shoal Light, Gedney Channel, Lower Bay * Princes Bay Light,

Robbins Reef Light The Robbins Reef Light Station is a sparkplug lighthouse located off Constable Hook in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, along the west side of Main Channel, Upper New York Bay. Note that although the light is clearly shown on ...

, Constable Hook, Upper Bay * Romer Shoal Light, Lower Bay near Sandy Hook Bay * Sandy Hook Light, Sandy Hook *

Staten Island Light The Staten Island Range Light, also known as the Ambrose Channel Range Light, is the rear range light companion to the West Bank Lighthouse. Built in 1912, the 90-foot tower sits more than five miles northwest of the West Bank Lighthouse, on Stat ...

Lighthouse Hill, Staten Island Lighthouse Hill is the name of a hill, and the neighborhood situated thereon, in the New York City borough of Staten Island. Lighthouse Hill is situated to the north of Richmondtown, Staten Island, Richmondtown, south of Todt Hill, Staten Island, ...

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, ...

Liberty Island Liberty Island is a federally owned island in Upper New York Bay in the United States. Its most notable feature is the Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''), a large statue by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi that was dedicated in ...

, Upper Bay (until 1902) * Stepping Stones Light,

, near City Island * Stony Point light,

* Throgs Neck Light, Throggs Neck,

(decommissioned) * Titanic Memorial,

South Street Seaport The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, centered where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District, in Lower Manhattan. The Seaport is a designated historic distri ...

* West Bank Light,

Ambrose Channel Ambrose Channel is the only shipping channel in and out of the Port of New York and New Jersey. The channel is considered to be part of Lower New York Bay and is located several miles off the coasts of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and Breezy Point ...

, Lower Bay (range front) * Whitestone Point Light, Whitestone Point, southerly side of

Land reclamation and ocean dumping

Channelization and landfilling began in the colonial era and continued well into the 20th century. The expansion of the land area of Lower Manhattan through encroachment began in the 17th-century Dutch settlement of

and continued into 20th century. Early materials were

shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater enviro ...

and other refuse, and later construction debris from projects such as the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October ...

and Pennsylvania Station.

Rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

from the bombing of London was transported for

ballast Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, shi ...

during World War II. New land has been created throughout the port, including large swaths that are now Battery Park City,

Liberty State Park Liberty State Park (LSP) is a park in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located on Upper New York Bay in Jersey City opposite Liberty Island and Ellis Island. The park opened in 1976 to coincide with bicentennial celebrations and is operated ...

Flushing Meadows–Corona Park Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, often referred to as Flushing Meadows Park, or simply Flushing Meadows, is a public park in the northern part of Queens, New York City. It is bounded by I-678 (Van Wyck Expressway) on the east, Grand Central P ...

, and the Meadowlands Sports Complex. From 1924 until 1986, sewerage

sludge Sludge is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. For example, it can be produced as a settled suspension obtained from conventio ...

was hauled by

and barge to a point offshore in the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

. From 1986 to 1992 it was dumped at a site 106 nautical miles from

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

, after which ocean dumping was banned. Barges were also used to transport waste to

Fresh Kills Landfill The Fresh Kills Landfill was a landfill covering in the New York City borough of Staten Island in the United States. The name comes from the landfill's location along the banks of the Fresh Kills estuary in western Staten Island. The landfill ...

, the world's largest, which operated from 1948 to 1991. Both operations were known to be detrimental to

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

and

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May ...

beaches, notably the 1987 Syringe Tide.

Shipwrecks and abandoned boats

The port has many sunken ships, some of which can be seen, others that lie on the floor of the ports waterways. The Staten Island boat graveyard is a marine scrapyard located in the

near the

, on the West Shore of

Tourism and recreation

Harbor-related

s, promenades, and

nature preserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

s within the port district include: *

* USS ''Intrepid'' Sea, Air & Space Museum (Pier 86) *

* Statue of Liberty National Monument, Ellis Island and Liberty Island and Governor's Island * Hudson River Park, Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, Brooklyn Bridge Park *

and

Communipaw Terminal The Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, also known as Communipaw Terminal and Jersey City Terminal, was the Central Railroad of New Jersey's waterfront passenger terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey. The terminal was built in 1889, replacin ...

Battery Park The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. It is bounded by Battery Place on the north, State Street on the east, New York Harbor to t ...

and

* Hackensack Meadowlands, Riverwalk, and Environment Center * Pier 63, New York Central Railroad 69th Street Transfer Bridge, and 79th Street Boat Basin * Gantry Plaza State Park *

Manhattan Waterfront Greenway The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is a waterfront greenway for walking or cycling, long, around the island of Manhattan, in New York City. The largest portions are operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. It is separa ...

* City Island

Economy

In 2010, 4,811 ships entered the harbor carrying over 32.2 million metric tons of

valued at over $175 billion. In 2010, the New York-New Jersey Port industry supported: # 170,770 direct jobs # 279,200 total jobs in the NY-NJ region # Nearly $11.6 billion in personal income # Over $37.1 billion in business income # Almost $5.2 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues # Local and State Tax Revenue: $1.6 billion # Federal Tax Revenue: $3.6 billion Approximately 3.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of containers and 700,000 automobiles are handled per year. In the first half of 2014, the port handled 1,583,449 containers, a 35,000-container increase above the six-month record set in 2012, while the port handled a monthly record of 306,805 containers in October 2014. In 2014, the port handled 3,342,286 containers and 393,931 automobiles. In January through June 2015, the top 10 imports that went through the port of New York and New Jersey were: # Petroleum: $6.78 billion # Appliances: $3.80 billion # Vehicles: $2.59 billion # Plastics: $1.72 billion # Electronics: $1.46 billion # Chemicals: $1.45 billion # Oils and perfumes: $928.7 million # Pharmaceuticals: $897.5 million # Optical and photographic: $801.8 million # Pearls and precious gems and metals: $562.4 million

References

External links

Official homepage

PANYNJ Rail terminal and intermodal facilities

Port Master Plan 2050

New York Sector for US Coast Guard (Home Port website)
* *
New York-New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program

Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey
(Schedule of latest ship departures and related information)
NY Times 2004 slide show of port facilities and activities
*

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Port Of New York And New Jersey Ferry transportation in New Jersey Geography of New Jersey Geography of New York City Port Authority of New York and New Jersey New York And New Jersey New York And New Jersey New York And New Jersey Regions of New Jersey Tourism in New Jersey Water transportation in New Jersey Water transportation in New York (state) Water transportation in New York City Foreign trade zones of the United States Air pollution in New York City

Geography

Port district

Waterways

Bodies of water

Channels

Pilotage

History

Jurisdiction and regulation

Cargo infrastructure

Airports

Container terminals

ExpressRail

Bulk cargo and marine transfer

Car float and Cross Harbor Tunnel

Port Inland Distribution Network

America's Marine Highway

Cruise terminals and ferries

Cruise terminals

Ferries and sightseeing

Lights and lighthouses

Land reclamation and ocean dumping

Shipwrecks and abandoned boats

Tourism and recreation

Economy

See also

References

External links