If you don’t like heights then please turn away now… I undertook some industrial photography in Kent of some of their new maritime cranes. The view of the cab of this Liebherr LHM 550 is 25m from the ground and the tower stretches for another 10m above that. The driver raced up to his cab like a wiry monkey whilst I tried to keep up with my backpack full of camera gear and a tripod. I came second.
The Port of Dover is the UK’s premier trade hub with the EU and handles 33% of trade by managing a wide range of containers, general cargo and breakbulk refrigerated cargo vessels. This ensures high cargo throughput and plenty of operations for the third new mobile harbour crane in the port’s fleet.
The LHM 550, with its outreach of 54 metres and a configured lifting capacity of up to 104 tonnes. It runs on Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), an alternative fuel made from 100% renewable raw materials. This aligns with the Port of Dover’s drive towards achieving its decarbonization targets and promoting sustainability in its operations. The cranes are also capable of working in wind speeds of up to a force 9 severe gale, or 75-88 km/h, allowing vessels to be unloaded in nearly all-weather conditions throughout the year.
The shooting conditions were a low sun and shorter day of light – very cold but crisp and dry. The created interesting shadow detail but really only meant that we could shoot from one side during the whole day (the sun rising and setting from the direction of the English Channel). 
#industrial photography in Kent