Boston Harbor is a busy port. It gets a lot of commercial traffic, and on nice summer days, you’ll also see ferry and pleasure boats. Be aware of the LNG tankers that come and go – they have a strong presence of USCG and police boats. There’s a 500-foot security zone around these tankers.
Commercial container ships dock at the Conley Container Terminal in South Boston, which is just past Castle Island. This terminal was recently upgraded to handle larger container ships. When these big ships need to turn around, they sometimes back into the channel, which can block traffic for a short time. Most other commercial vessels go to either Chelsea or Charlestown. Cruise ships have been visiting more often this year and dock at Black Falcon Pier – their numbers are still going up.