The Port of Camden lies on the eastern shores of the Delaware River in New Jersey opposite the Port of Philadelphia. It is the seat of Camden County. Until the mid-1960s, the Port of Camden was a thriving city and business and commercial center. At its peak, it was the home of RCA Victor, New York Shipbuilding, and Campbell Soup.

However, during the 1960s, the city began to both residents and lose jobs, and it fell victim to urban decay and racial conflict. By the 1990s, nearly half of the Port of Camden's population was under 21 years of age, the unemployment rate was double that of the rest of the State, and nearly half of the city's residents lived below the "poverty line." In 2000, almost 80 thousand people lived in the Port of Camden.

The year the City of Philadelphia was founded in 1682, William Cooper built a house where the Cooper River entered the Delaware. Settlement of the area was slow, and most of the people who came there were Quakers.

The town site was planned by Jacob Cooper in 1773, and it was named after Charles Pratt, the first Earl of Camden, who had opposed British taxation on the American colonies. The American Revolution slowed development of the new village, and the British dominated the town when the occupied nearby Philadelphia.

Much of the Port of Camden's growth was tied to the growth of its neighbor, Philadelphia. In the early 19th Century, growth of the Port of Camden was encouraged by an increase in ferry services that could take people across the river to Philadelphia and the arrival of the railroad. The Port of Camden was incorporated as a city in 1828. For more than a century, the Port of Camden had played second fiddle to Philadelphia, but things began to change.

One of the first railroads in the United States was chartered in the Port of Camden in 1830, and it began to transport passengers between New York and Philadelphia via the ferries operating in South Amboy and Camden, where the railroad ended. What had been a suburb of Philadelphia grew into a city in its own right, and industries moved to town while the neighborhoods grew.

Through the early 20th Century, the Port of Camden was home to several major businesses. RCA Victor was the world's biggest maker of phonographs and records, and it maintained dozens of factories in the city as well as an early commercial recording studio that served luminaries like Enrico Caruso. The New York Shipbuilding corporation was a major employer, and Campbell Soup was headquartered in Port of Camden.

The New York Shipbuilding Corporation operated from the Port of Camden from 1899 until 1967, and it was the biggest and busiest shipyard in the world at its peak during World War II. It built the ill-fated USS Indianapolis, the famous aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk, as well as the first commercial nuclear-powered ship.

Like many large urban centers in the United States, the Port of Camden began to decline in the 20th Century as manufacturers and residents moved away from the city center. After the 1960s, companies closed or moved to new locations, affluent residents escaped the aging city for the suburbs and greener pastures, and much of the city fell into decay. Today's main employers are government, education, and healthcare, but most workers commute to the city from the suburbs.

Revitalization efforts have improved the Port of Camden Waterfront and some neighborhoods with easy access to Philadelphia. Some of the old RCA Victor buildings have been converted into luxury apartments or condominiums or have been occupied by city government.

The South Jersey Port Corporation (SJPC) is the port authority for the Port of Camden. It owns and operates the Port of Camden's Beckett Street Terminal and the Broadway Terminal (also called the Port of Camden). The SJPC has a solid reputation for its outstanding expertise in handling breakbulk cargoes, particularly in handling wood and steel products. Over the past 20 years, the SJPC has become the major United States port handling imported wood products. It is also handling an increasing volume of steel products.

The Port of Camden has a solid modern infrastructure that includes channel depths to handle the biggest vessels, quick access to the nation's land transportation networks, ample space for handling and storage of a wide range of cargoes, and expertise in handling commercial and industrial cargoes. The port facilities are served by three major railroads, and both terminals have direct rail service.

In 2001, the Port of Camden welcomed 344 vessels carrying a total of over 2.3 million tons of cargo, including almost two million tons of imports and 387.9 thousand tons of exports. Of the total, 1.3 million tons was breakbulk, 900.7 thousand tons was bulk, and 162.7 thousand tons was containerized cargo.

The Port of Camden's Beckett Street Terminal offers one-stop service for breakbulk and bulk cargoes that include steel and wood products, cocoa beans, project cargoes, iron ore, scrap metal, and containers. The terminal covers 42.5 hectares and contains four berths with total length of 701 meters and alongside depths from 9.1 to 12.2 meters. The Port of Camden's Beckett Street Terminal offers 13 warehouses totaling 65 thousand square meters. The terminal offers direct transfer to and from trucks, rail, and vessels. All storage warehouses and sheds are served by rail.

The Port of Camden's Broadway Terminal handles all types of bulk and breakbulk cargoes. It is also a busy industrial park housing more than 25 maritime business tenants. The Broadway Terminal specializes in handling petroleum coke, furnace slag, wood and steel products, dolomite, minerals, fresh fruit, and cocoa beans. The terminal covers 72.9 hectares and has two berths with alongside depth of 10.7 meters. Pier 1 is 228.6 meters long, and Pier 5 is 345.9 meters long. The Broadway Terminal contains 30 dry storage warehouses totaling 115.3 thousand square meters, two temperature-controlled warehouses covering 5.6 and 7.0 thousand square meters, respectively. The terminal also contains 130 reefer plugs. The terminal offers a 12-hectare open lay-down space, bulk cargo storage areas with direct rail service, and over 609 meters of rail siding for intermodal transfer.

The Broadway Produce Terminal at the Port of Camden handles bananas, pineapples, and other perishable products. The Del Monte facility at the Port of Camden is the company's biggest fruit port and distribution center anywhere in the world. The produce terminal covers 10.5 hectares and has a birth that is 346 meters long with alongside depth of 10.7 meters.

The Port of Camden's Salem Terminal has been a port of entry since 1682, making it one of the oldest ports on the East Coast, though it is new to the Port of Camden. The terminal covers 8.9 hectares and offers 106.6 meters of berthing space. The main cargoes handled at the Salem Terminal are apparel, motor vehicles, consumer goods, and food products. The terminal includes 7.4 thousand square meters of covered shed and warehouse storage. This Port of Camden terminal is leased and operated by Salem Terminals Limited.

The City of Camden has suffered much economic stress over the past decades, and it is not a well-known tourist destination. However, the Port of Camden Waterfront is located on the scenic Delaware River just over a kilometer from the historic district of one of America's great historic treasures, Philadelphia.

The Port of Camden Waterfront contains several wonderful attractions that visitors will not want to miss. The New Jersey State Academy for Aquatic Sciences and Adventure Aquarium gives visitors a hands-on experience with the sea's creatures. The Aquarium Adventures program offers opportunities to swim with sharks, train or feed seals, or play with the penguins. About eight thousand animals live in a variety of marine habitats in a facility that covers over 18 thousand square meters and has tanks holding more than two million gallons of water.

The Port of Camden is also home to the Walt Whitman House, a National Historic Landmark and New Jersey State Historic Site that was the only home the poet ever owned. In this 1848 home, Whitman penned the Leaves of Grass, welcomed visitors from countries across the world, and finished his last volume of poetry. The restored house recalls the memory of one of America's most beloved poets.

Visitors can also explore the famous USS Battleship New Jersey. They can sit in the same chair Admiral Halsey used as he commanded the fleet or learn how to load the 16" gun turrets.