It is a long way to work for the mobile container crane operators at South Port, Bluff.
To reach the upper cabs of the monolithic beasts involves negotiating 120 steps, most of them on a tight spiral staircase inside the tower.
Then, of course, it is 120 steps down again.
On the way up, I'm puffed by about step 95, but port operation manager Geoff Finnerty says the six operators - plus another two in training - are used to it, estimating they go up and down three times during each shift.
Once in the upper cab, 29m above the ground, there is a comfy leather chair, controls which would not look out of place in a tractor or excavator, a wall-mounted panel of buttons and a computer screen linking to the port's electronic container-tracking software.
There is glass all round, even on the floor.
That was so the operators could make sure they did not run into or over anything (or anyone) when the crane was in use, Mr Finnerty said.
The view is stunning, but I wonder who has the job of cleaning the exterior of the windows.
Way down below, a mere 2m or so above terra firma, is a duplicate cab which the operators use when it is time to move the 400-tonne cranes to their next position.
South Port's second German-made Liebherr crane arrived early last month to join another which has been in service since 2010.
It came in four pieces and took three and a-half weeks for engineers from Liebherr and South Port to put together, Mr Finnerty said.
There was the 115-tonne undercarriage with its 72 truck wheels and its four stabilisers; the slew housing which contains the winch, engine and other machinery; the 75-tonne tower, and the boom.
South Port, the only Southland company listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange, is majority-owned by Environment Southland.
It handles more than 2.5 million tonnes of dry and refrigerated import and export cargo annually including aluminium, timber, woodchips, dairy products, stock food and petroleum products.
The new crane and an eighth toplift container-handling forklift together set the company back about $6 million, Mr Finnerty said.
The investment was necessary to cope with increasing cargo volumes and to potentially double container handling capacity over the next five years, he said.
''Six or seven years ago we were handling 8000-10,000 20ft container unit equivalents (TEU) annually.
"Last financial year that was up to 32,000 TEU and we are expecting that to increase again in the next 12 months.''
He said the main shipping line calling at the port was the Mediterranean Shipping Company, a global transportation giant operating 465 vessels.
''For our port to be able to grow, we need to have the capacity to handle more containers.
"We need to be able to satisfy the needs of the export customers and shipping lines. If you haven't got the equipment you are instantly restricted.''
