The port is envisioned as being a component of the supply chain for the development of windpower in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New Jersey.

[9] For much of the 20th century, the waterfront along the Salem River Cut-off and Fenwick Creek was dominated by industries centered around glass manufacturing, food processing, and mineral/oil storage.

[11][12] Mannington Mills, Anchor Glass, and AluChem[13][14] are located proximate to the port, as well as the South Jersey Farmers Exchange in nearby Woodstown.

[15] It is now a port of entry in United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) District 21, which is headquartered in Newark and covers New Jersey.

[9] The river is entered though Salem Cove about 50 miles (80 km) from the Atlantic Ocean at the entrance of the Delaware Bay.

[5][34] The rail line serving the port is called the Glass House Running Track and is an extension of the Salem Branch.

The line is undergoing upgrades to the rail bed, trackage, a trestle at Oldman's Creek, and other work.

At Swedesboro, SRNJ interchanges with Conrail Shared Assets Operations to reach Pavonia Yard, the regional rail center.

[15] In 2005, the 230-acre (93 ha) Salem City Industrial District Brownfield Development Area was created to spur re-use of brownfields, including numerous properties within and adjacent to the port district,[40][41][42][43][44] which is located along the southern banks of the river between the Salem River Cut-Off and the Route 49 bridge just outside the downtown area.

The terminal handles barges and container ships for construction aggregate, clothing, fishing apparel, motor vehicles, agricultural produce, seafood, and consumer goods.

[54][55] Mid-Atlantic Shipping and Stevedoring relocated from Maine to Salem in the 1980s to be closer to the source of products they export and utilize the newly established port facilities.

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.

[56][57][58] While it was determined that Salem was not an ideal location within the program for handling container shipping for intermodal freight transport,[59] a private sector service provider began in 2010 the short sea shipping of aggregate products with a barge service between Salem and Tremley Point, Linden on the Arthur Kill in the Port of New York and New Jersey.

It addresses a critical missing link in multimodal freight transport between ports in the Delaware Valley and the Northern New Jersey's urban Gateway Region.

[69] Salem has been an occasional port of call for promotional and educational functions for the A. J. Meerwald, the New Jersey State Tall Ship.