Two cargo ships in one raise at the Kingsferry Lift Bridge, Kent

Date filmed: 15/10/2022
Video filmed at 15:37

This bridge crosses the River Swale.

Featuring: ‪@RileysTransportVideos‬

Location: Sheppey Way, near Sittingbourne
Useful information:
https://www.myshiptracking.com/ports/... - For vessels that use the bridge and need it to raise
https://ntslf.org/tides/tidepred?port... - For tide times (large vessels can only proceed through this bridge when the tide is above a certain level.

Vessels featured:
1) KARMEL (Malta): Schiedam Port (NL) ➡ Ridham Dock (GB)
2) CEMGULF (Antigua and Barbuda): Gijón Port (ES) ➡ Ridham Dock (GB)

Video guide:
Class 375 (Southeastern) heads from Sheerness-on-Sea to Sittingbourne – 0:00
Sequence begins – 0:43
Bridge starts to raise – 1:56
Bridge fully-raised & Clackson sounds – 3:54
Vessel 1 passes – 5:03
Vessel 2 passes – 7:23
Bridge begins to lower again – 9:03
Bridge lowered and gates open – 10:57

A video of the full raising sequence of the unique Kingsferry Bridge across the Swale, which connects mainland Kent with the Isle of Sheppey and opened in 1960. It was the only route onto/off of the Isle of Sheppey until the Sheppey Crossing (the large road bridge visible from here) was completed in 2006. This is a fairly unique lift bridge as the deck comprises of both the road and also a single-track railway line. The bridge deck is winched up two concrete structures in each of its four corners when a cargo ship is to pass to access Ridham Dock. There is also quite a unique set-up of the road traffic lights here too as there’s a combination of both LED normally-oriented wigwags, and two white-bordered vertical halogen-bulb type ones which resemble a traffic light albeit with the place where the ‘green’ module would be mounted having the second ‘red’ module. The LED wigwags / road traffic lights show up odd on camera due to the ‘Strobe effect’ where the shutter speed doesn’t match up with the alternating frequency of their electrical feed. A bell rings both when the gates to road traffic close and the bridge is about to be lowered again, and a loud claxon announces when the bridge deck reaches the top and is fully-raised.

This bridge only raises when cargo vessels need to navigate the Swale to access a port at Ridham Dock via a double-bend in the river, and vessels can only proceed to the docks when the tide is above a certain level, with those that miss this tide window mooring elsewhere until the next tide window comes and they can be guided through the River Swale and into the port by a tugboat. The bridge is operated from a small office in the concrete structure closest to mainland Kent, and will only be raised to allow approaching vessels through when there are no trains due to pass on the branch line in the time that’s needed to complete a raise. The railway line in question is the Sheerness Line, a branch line which runs from Sittingbourne on the Chatham Main Line to a terminus at Sheerness-on-Sea Railway Station. It's served half-hourly in the week, and hourly on the weekend.

In this video, two vessels used the bridge in the same raise. Both had missed their respective tide windows and the one that was due to arrive first waited for the second to catch up with it, and both cargo ships followed each other into Ridham Dock and past the bridge in the same raise.

Thanks for watching!