The port features several tourist attractions as well, such as USS Slater, the only destroyer escort still afloat in the United States.

[3] From New York Harbor to the Federal Dam three miles (5 km) north of Albany, the Hudson River is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean.

Furs (especially beaver), timber, and farm produce were important exports while European people and goods were shipped in.

[8] In 1809 Robert Fulton's Clermont became the first commercially viable steamboat when it left Albany and sailed down the Hudson to the city of New York.

[9] Along with two bridges the pier enclosed roughly 32 acres (13 ha) of the Hudson River as the Albany Basin.

[11] The Maiden Lane Bridge was constructed in 1871 over the basin to connect Albany with the east side of the river, it was open to railroad traffic only.

[15] In 1979 remnants of the basin wall were excavated from the preserve's lagoon by Phillip Lord working for the New York State Museum.

The port helped in financing the project and in the construction of two bulkheads which have seasonal floating docks attached.

The United States Coast Guard determined that poor communication resulting from the supervisors speaking Dutch while the crew spoke Russian, with English being used as a relay, was a contributing factor to mismanagement of ballast tanks.

[21] This in turn led to investigations of employee theft which resulted in the arrest of an operations manager and a maintenance foreman for larceny.

One award was for customer satisfaction and the other for being the most improved port in the United States for handling heavy lift cargo.

[24] In late March 2008 a proposal for a $350 million ethanol plant was approved by the Albany Port District Commission,[25] but the project has been held up due to financing issues.

[28] In 2017, the commission had operating expenses in the amount of $5.98 million, no outstanding debt, and a staff level of 55 people.

[17] The Port of Albany and the private companies located there bring to the Capital District's economy $428 million in direct spending and 1,382 jobs;[24] in 2015 the Port was supporting 4,500 jobs across the state and contributing $800 million to the economic output of the region.

The Albany Port Customs District includes all of the following counties: Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Warren, and Washington; along with the parts of Dutchess, Sullivan, and Ulster counties north of 41° 42' N. latitude.

Grain, molasses, animal feed, wood pulp, and steel often go from inbound trains to outbound trucks.

Major Interstates in proximity are: The Port of Albany is just south of where the New York State Canal System begins at the Federal Dam in Troy.

[30] Tenants include Ardent Mills, Buckeye Partners, Callanan Industries, Cargill (the oldest tenant at the port), Cargill Nutrena, CCI Rensselaer, Durham School Services, Federal Marine Terminals, Gorman Brothers, Mohawk Paper, Newcastle Construction, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Normal Truck and Trailer, Rensselaer Iron and Steel, San Greco Construction, Upstate Shredding, Waste Management, Inc. of New York, Westway Feed Products, and W.M.

Such limited time cargo includes subway cars shipped to Albany from Brazil in 2006 for six months and most recently subway cars from China bound for Springfield and Boston's MBTA,[39][40] and 30-inch (760 mm) diameter pipes with associated materials from Italy first shipped in May 2007.

[42] USS Slater, which is the only destroyer escort still afloat in the United States, sits at Steamboat Square near the foot of Madison Avenue.

The destroyer closes to the public from December to March and moves from the Steamboat Square to the port's Rensselaer side.

In 1954 the club moved to the Rensselaer side and since 1971 has been at its current location just south of the Dunn Memorial Bridge.