Large vessels and container ships pull in and out of Port Liberty in Bayonne every day, bringing in goods from all over the world. And to ensure that this doesn't change, future improvements are on the horizon.

"People take for granted where that stuff comes from and how it gets here,” said Bethann Rooney, director of the Port Department at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

“So all of those materials, goods and food, beverages, automobiles - all come into the Port of New York and New Jersey.”

The Port Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced more than $50 million through the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund for the seaport’s berth maintenance dredging, berth rehabilitation and berth reconstruction. A berth is a location in the water where ships can pull up and dock.

A separate $32 million project will deepen and widen the Gravesend Anchorage outside the Kill van Kull waterway from its current depth of 47 feet to 50 feet. The work is expected to be completed in 2025.

“This particular port, largest on the East Coast, needs to be able to handle that level of capacity. At the same time, improves safety for the navigators. That's an important aspect of what we’re doing here and long term, we’re also looking at taking the dredge material that we do from this deepening project and reinvesting it into environmental benefits," said Michael Connor, assistant secretary of civil works of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Even further ahead is a project to deepen the harbor from 50 to 55 feet.

Twenty-eight miles of federal channel will get dredged as part of that project, but it won't happen anytime soon. Officials say the project will help increase capacity, and it will also help make the port more competitive in the future.

"Long-term effort to make sure that this particular port can handle the largest container ships, the largest cargo barring vessels overall that we see the future is moving too," said Connor.

"We have to be doing it today so that we're ready in the 2040-2045 timeframe," Rooney said.

Officials believe these investments will continue to help the country's second-busiest port play a critical and crucial role in people getting their goods.