World’s Top 4 Biggest and Strongest Cranes
By: Dustin Eusebio
The remarkably powerful cranes that exist today are part of an engineering tradition that spans at least 2,500 years, dating back to Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. These early cranes employed a rudimentary system of pulleys and rope that enabled them to carry up to 6,000 pounds, or three tons, when operated by eight men.
Ancient cranes represent impressive engineering feats given the technology of the time. However, the weight capacity of those early cranes is completely overwhelmed by the working load limits of today’s biggest cranes, the largest of which is capable of lifting 44 million pounds.
Since there are many different types of cranes, determining the biggest and strongest requires a bit more specification. In our research, we scoured the world for the most impressive cranes and came up with four that rise above the rest:
Strongest Mobile Crane: Liebherr LTM 11200-9.1
Mobile cranes are staples on nearly every construction site due to their portability and versatility. Easily assembled, highly customizable, and very capable, mobile cranes enable small crews to lift the substantial weight, speeding up the construction process significantly.
While mobile cranes can be used for small jobs like moving pallets or building materials, some sites require enormous power in a mobile package. For those jobs, the best choice is the Liebherr LTM 11200-9.1, an absolute beast of a mobile crane and the clear winner of the title for the strongest mobile crane.
The boom arm for the Liebherr crane is massive—as long as the wingspan of fifty basketball players.
With an incredible lifting capacity, strong base and remarkable hoist height, the Liebherr LTM 11200-9.1 is ideal for massive construction projects. For example, this crane was recently used to construct a massive 538-foot-tall gantry crane at an industrial port, and it was also part of an operation to hoist a huge 23-ton jib, part of a crane that will help erect a new wind turbine in Germany.
Tallest Tower Crane: Kroll K10000
Tower cranes enable the construction of massive buildings that would never be possible with mobile cranes, which are overshadowed by the height of skyscrapers. Some tower cranes are self-climbing, able to construct their own tower as they rise alongside a building in progress.
Many tower cranes used to build skyscrapers are anchored externally to the building or sit in the middle of the building itself, which helps secure the crane and allows it to reach incredible heights.
Because many tower cranes are anchored to buildings, the tallest tower cranes are technically those that were used to construct the tallest buildings. For our research, though, we wanted to find the tallest freestanding tower crane, one that reaches impressive heights supported only by a foundation.
After looking at dozens of miraculous models, our search ended with the Kroll K10000, a soaring tower crane that operators around the world dream of working with.
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The tower of the Kroll K10000 is gigantic—way taller than the Statue of Liberty.
The Kroll K10000 is capable of extremely heavy lifts on a fairly small foundation, making it ideal for large-scale industrial projects. Relatively few K10000s exist, but several of them that were famously used in the construction of the Chernobyl power plant are still in operation today.
Most Powerful Crane: Taisun
While most cranes are set up for a particular job and then moved or disassembled, others are built for a specific, long-term purpose. These industrial super cranes are typically placed in ports where they are responsible for lifting unimaginable loads weighing millions of pounds.
Because these cranes are so impressive, massive, and majestic, they often take on individual personalities and become tourist attractions. For example, the SGC-250 (or “Sarens Giant Crane”) that was built in the United Kingdom has been affectionately named “Big Carl.” Big Carl is impressive: It will help move 600 components, some of which weigh 3,000 tons, for a nuclear power plant project.
That said, its lifting power is clearly eclipsed by the world record holder for “heaviest weight lifted by a crane,” set in 2008 by Taisun, a Chinese crane that assembles semi-submersible vessels in the Yentai Raffles Shipyard.
Taisun can lift massive amounts of weight—the equivalent of 8,000 Ford F-150 trucks.
Taisun is a phenomenal crane with a mind-boggling maximum load capacity that exceeds 40 million pounds. The crane is impressive as it currently exists, and it’s also astounding to watch a video of the crane as it was constructed.
Biggest Crane Vessel: SSCV Sleipnir
Crane vessels are essential for offshore construction or maritime engineering. These types of cranes can be used to construct offshore wind power, floating oil platforms and subsea developments. Though crane vessels resemble boats, they very rarely use monohull construction, implementing catamaran (two hull) or semi-submersible approaches for increased stability.
Though they have existed since the Middle Ages, crane vessels exploded in popularity and power during the 20th century, largely due to the increased demand for offshore oil rigs. Over time, the lifting capacity of these vessels improved significantly, as did their stability and maneuverability.
The giant in this industry is Heerema Marine Contractors, responsible for the SSCV Sleipnir, a semi-submersible crane vessel with the largest lifting capacity in the world.
The SSCV Sleipnir is an incredibly long vessel—six times as long as a blue whale.
Silamas Group Thailand Technical adviser
11 个月Nice post however mobiles cannot compete with crawler cranes for capacity or if required for durations of weeks or months on construction sites. One off lifts or couple of days mobiles fantastic tool. Other cranes such as PTC cranes when construction plants are planed around this type of crane standing in one or 2 positions or on rail system install all equipment better choice over Super lift crawlers. The ballast is on rails so it’s continuous lifting. Nice post on evolution of cranes ect. Only comment is strongest cranes ton for ton hydraulic versus other cranes of same capacity P.S just my view on heavy cranes.