Industrial History: World's Largest Crane(s)

(Another claim to the world's largest crane was used to lift a 288' tall, 29' diameter, 2000 ton quench tower when building Shell's polyethylene plant in Monaca, PA.)

Ashley Daniels via TheConstructionIndex2019

"The SGC250, which Belgian lifting contractor Sarens designed and built in house, has a safe lifting capacity of 5,000 tonnes at 40 metres radius....The 250-metre high crane was delivered to site in component parts. Heavy transport specialist Collett took four months to make the 400 deliveries required to get the crane from Avonmouth docks to site." [TheConstructionIndex2019]

The crane is the fourth generation of the SGC [ Sarens Giant Crane] series. With a maximum main boom length of 160m, the crane can be equipped with or without a fly-jib and it can operate on a ring or on straight rails. At Hinkley Point [C nuclear power project], the SGC 250 will travel along 6km of rail that is being laid in preparation for it. This means that it can travel between three different lift locations without the need for disassembly or reassembly.
At Hinkley Point C the crane will lift components ranging from 50 tonnes to 1,150 tonnes at radii of up to 165m. It will pick up and install prefabricated concrete elements, steel structures and reactor equipment directly from each prefabrication position. A second crane, a 600t-capacity Terex Demag CC 2800, will assist as a rigging crane.
There are many ways of defining the size of a crane; the basis of Sarens’ claim for world’s biggest appears to rely on the machine’s nominal load-moment – the load it can lift at a given outreach. And as CEO Carl Sarens explains, outreach isn’t necessarily the same as radius.
“Radius equals the distance from the centre of rotation to the lifting position; outreach equals the distance from the boom pin to the lifting position. For our clients, it’s the outreach which has most value,” he says.
Crucially, the geometry of the SGC 250 means that the boom hinge pin is located 19m from the centre of rotation. The absolute maximum lifting capacity of the machine can be achieved when it is rigged with 118m of main boom and 5,200 tonnes of counterweight sitting on the 48.5m-diameter slewing rails on the opposite side from the boom pin.
Working at 40m radius, the crane’s outreach is 21m – because the boom pin is situated 19m from the centre of rotation. At this outreach, and in this configuration, the SGC 250 can lift a load of 5,000 tonnes, says Carl Sarens.
“On an outreach of 21m, the SGC-250 is the only crane that can reach 5,000 tonnes capacity with a main boom of 118m,” he concludes.
Other contenders for ‘world’s biggest’ include Mammoet’s PTC 200 DS and ALE’s AL.SK190, used by contractor Keltbray on the Earls Court demolition project in London last year.
Load tables for the PTC 200 DS – rated at 200,000 tonne-metres – show that, when rigged with 117m of main boom a maximum load of 3,200 tonnes can be lifted at a radius of 46m, or an outreach of 26m.
The AL.SK190 boasts a lifting capacity of 4,300 tonnes, a load moment of 196,000 tonne-metres and a maximum boom height of almost 200m – although it was rigged with only 120m of boom at Earls Court.
ALE also has the SK350, which rivals the SGC 250 with a maximum rated lifting capacity of 5,000. This machine has a nominal load moment of 354,000 tonne-metres. ALE says it has designs for doubling up the SK350 to make the SK700, with two winches and booms in parallel lifting 8,000 tonnes with a load moment of 708,000 tonne-metres.
[TheConstructionIndex2018]

TheConstructionIndex2018

Crane Operators Forum - Heavy Lift profession. posted
Kris Smekens: SGC-250 at Hinckley Point nuclear power plant 👀🧐🧐 awesome machinery 💪💪💪💪

Daniel Badman commented on a post
Big Carl doing its thing

Daniel Badman commented on a post

Marcin Modrzyk Hanys commented on a post
Poland, Orlen

The Taisun crane is a gantry crane in a shipyard. So Sarens should be using the adjective deployable instead of land-based. But it is a stationary ring crane. See further below for some big crawler cranes.

HoistMagazine

The day after I discovered the above links, I came across information about an ALE SK350 crane. (Update: it now has its own notes.)

This photo and a description has been moved to "ALE SK350."

This photo has been moved to "ALE SK350."

This photo has been moved to "ALE SK350."

Husky

And in Toledo, OH, they are claiming a LR 13000 is the largest crane in the world. But it can lift "just" 3000 metric tons and needs "just" 218 truckloads to haul.

Screenshot

Brandon Storie commented on Aaron's post, cropped

Brandon Storie commented on Aaron's post

Crane Operators Forum - Heavy Lift profession. posted

The Demag CC 8800-1 TWIN is double the fun!

This crane boasts a lifting capacity of 3200 tonne/ 3525 ton, made possible by the twin boom technology, and offers a max tip height of 234 m/768 ft!

This impressive crane is currently in use in Saudia Arabia.

Crane Operators Forum - Heavy Lift profession. posted again

Angel Simulata: Al Jaber Heavy Lift CC 88OO-1 a 3200 tons capacity and only 3 Pcs in the whole world.

Jean Michel Wagner commented on the above initial post

This is before the twin.

BarnhartCrane
The Demag CC 8800 crawler crane has a nominal capacity of 1600 tons.

A video of several Sarens ringers (source)

The ties are off and the champagne is open as Sarens celebrates the inauguration of the #SGC-250, the biggest #Crane on the planet! Our epic video shows the whole family of the world’s biggest heavy lifters#sarens #HeavyLift

Mammoet posted
Mammoet's SK6,000 crane features in this month's

Cranes Today

!
Read more: http://ow.ly/JUfi50D9hWm
The SK6,000 will increase the efficiency of FPSO [Floating Production Storage and Offloading] and FLNG [Floating Liquefied Natural Gas] construction, allowing integration of of modules exceeding 3,000 and even 4,000t.
The SK6,000 is containerized and can be assembled quickly on site, delivering super heavy lift capability to anywhere on Earth.
[Mammoet is "just" 4,000t. Given the name, I wonder if they plan on doing a 6,000t version. In fact, it has been announced. And the 6,000 figure is tonnes or 6,614 tons. It will also be able to handle "a 1,654-ton 492-foot tall, flare tower in one piece."]

Meanwhile, ALE is going for 10,000 tonnes.

KHL

Of course, the bar keeps going up (May 2021). But it is important that the correct adjectives be used. I don't know what the qualifiers should be for this crane because it can lift just 5000 tons. (I don't know what kind of tons.) But the boom is 820' so maybe it is the biggest in terms of load moment.

Screenshot

Mammoet posted
Due to the global demand for SK cranes and for even greater capacity, the SK350, launched in 2013 has now taken its place as the world’s largest capacity land based crane by some distance. With a lifting capacity of 5,000t and a load moment of 354,000tm [252m radius], this crane enables the development of new and groundbreaking construction methodologies. It can save our clients time and money on the construction site by reducing schedule, risk and cost.

To watch the SK350 in action in Newfoundland, #Canada, check out: https://mmoet.me/2WnxX4A [A YouTube video]

The SK350 minimized disruption to the site as it lifted from one location, away from other ongoing activities.
[Do they hook up those two anchor lines when high winds are predicted? Actually, they probably do it between lift jobs. Because they have to build the modules first, I doubt if it does lifts very frequently.]
Richard Thornton: https://www.ale-heavylift.com/sk10000/ [This crane also pivots around the ballast box.]
James Chamberlin: Guarantee nothing about the rental of that crane saves money.

Crane Operators Forum - Heavy Lift profession. posted
One of the world's largest cranes set a new world lifting record, lifting 36,000 metric tonnes!
[Talk about "click bait." Actually, a AL.SK350 lifted 40 modules that totaled to 36kmt. That crane is called the world's largest, but it can lift "only" 4kmt. [dyneema]]
Bjørnar Berg: Heaviest lift ever lifted by a single shorecrane is 20133 metric tonnes during testlift of the Taisun crane at Yantai Raffles shipyard. Single biggest offshorcrane is located onboard Chen Hua 30, lifting 7000 t revolving and 12000 t over stern.
[Some comments on the post debate if stationary cranes should be considered cranes.]
[ALE is Abnormal Load Engineering, and it was bought by Mammoet in 2020. [YouTube]]

dyneema
"The benefits of going cutting-edge became clear in early 2017 when the crane/sling combination set a new world lifting record. At more than 3,000t, it was the heaviest commercial load ever to be lifted by a land-based mobile crane."
[I noticed that the AL.SK350 was called a mobile crane. I guess that is because its parts fit in containers and it can be shipped from place to place.]

Mammoet posted three photos with the comment:

Mammoet launches world’s strongest land-based crane. [SK6000]
6,000t capacity giant enables faster construction methodologies across the energy sector.
Read more: https://mmoet.me/3AJ5WbJ

1 of 20 photos posted by Jelco Stouthandel Photography
Mammoet Unveils World's Strongest Land-Based Crane: The SK6000! Yesterday Mammoet's Westdorpe location opened its doors to an exclusive audience to unveil the world's largest land-based crane, the SK6000. According to Mammoet, "The SK6000 has a key role in offshore wind, where fast growth of components in recent years has led to supply chain issues. Lifting 3,000t to a height of 220m, the SK6000 ensures that wind farms in the planning phase today can be safely executed and delivered in the future." Let's hope to see more of this mighty machine in the future! 📸

5 photos and a long description of the SK6000

3 photos of its certification testing

Now back to some crawlers

safe_image for Liebherr announces 2,500 tonne crawler crane
"The LR 12500-1.0 fits in the upper end of the product range between the 1,350 tonne capacity LR 11350 and the 3,000 tonne capacity LR 13000....Easy transport is a key element of the new design. Largest is the 4 metre wide superstructure front section which can be transported on a low bed trailer. Other components come in at 3.5 metres wide or less. Crawler units can have the tracks removed to reduce the 150 tonne overall weight of each one. Without tracks the crawler frames each weigh 97 tonnes and they can be split further, into two pieces. Counterweight slabs are the same 25 tonne concrete ones as used on the LR 13000. They have twistlocks on each corner and can be transported like a 20 foot container."

So is this the largest in Australia instead of in the world? That is what come comments seem to confirm. Also Sany SCL must be a Chinese company.

safe_image for Largest ever lattice boom mobile crane arrives in Australia
"With 133m of main boom and 12m of fixed jib, the 1,000t capacity crane was being commissioned before delivery to its first job at a wind farm site in Queensland."

Aug 2021: The SCC40000A crawler crane claims to be the largest in the world at 4000 tons.