Using a massive crane, workers ship out thousands of containers to countries all over the world everyday at the Global New York Container Terminal here in Howland Hook.
"It's wonderful to see it to know the progress that has been made," said Entrepreneur Kenneth Johns.
Johns worked in the container industry for more than 30 years. He was invited by the Port Authority to tour the terminal Tuesday.
Johns worked for Malcom McClean, a businessman who invented the first shipping container.
McClean was also the first person to successfully transport the metal containers, 58 to be exact from Newark to Houston on April 26, 1956.
"I believe this concept shrunk the globe. It opened the door to trading as we know it today," said Johns.
The container terminal on Staten Island has been around since the 1970s. It is one of 6 in the tristate area. The Port Authority says more than 6.4 million containers come in and out of those ports every year.
"95 percent of the goods we use in our daily lives come on ships like this," said Bethann Rooney of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Officials say the Staten Island site is the most efficient citywide. They say the terminal has seen a 10 percent increase in cargo in the last year.
The Port Authority says it is in the process of lifting the Bayonne Bridge 50 feet. Officials say when the project is complete that will give ships the same clearance as the Verrazano.
"The industry will change. The number of ships we handle will decrease but the number of cargo on those ships at any one time will increase significantly," said Rooney.
You are likely to see those larger ships come through the harbor as early as next year.