The world’s first ring rail crane with a lifting capacity of 14,000 tonnes has rolled off the assembly line of XCMG (Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co Ltd) headquartered in Xuzhou, in China’s Jiangsu Province. Co-developed with Sinopec Heavy Lifting & Transportation Co Ltd, this system provides unprecedented modular construction capabilities for clean energy, petrochemical, and marine projects. State-owned XCMG is a multinational heavy machinery manufacturer and the third-largest construction equipment producer in the world.
By handling the massive, fully integrated modules of projects such as Hualong-One Version 2.0 nuclear reactors, this crane eliminates the need for sectional lifting. It allows giant towers, offshore wind components, and containment vessels to be hoisted cleanly as single units, significantly shortening overall project construction cycles.
As well as a 14,000-tonne maximum lifting capacity it has a historic 700,000-tonne-metre maximum lifting moment, making it the largest-capacity ring crane ever built. The system consists of two 7,000-tonne main units. They can operate independently or combine to work in tandem. The crane incorporates a pioneering electric direct-drive system, which cuts fuel usage and emissions, securing over 30% energy savings and boosting efficiency by 20%. In nuclear power applications, it can manage the modules and heavy equipment for two complete nuclear islands from a single setup position.
The release ceremony was attended by the President of the China Road Construction Engineering Association Su Zimeng, Deputy General Director of Sinopec Engineering Group, General Director of the transport company Wang Guohua, as well as the XCMG Board Chairman and other company officials.
The XCMG ring rail crane fundamentally redefines the scaling limits of mega-lifting, nearly tripling the sheer weight capacity of the current industry leader, the Sarens SGC-250 (Big Carl), which has a lifting capacity of 5,000 tonnes.
Unlike Big Carl, which is built as one massive, monolithic structure, the XCMG crane uses a unique twin-module architecture. This approach prevents a massive piece of machinery from sitting idle during lighter lifting stages.
The first 7,000-tonne main has now transitioned from assembly to operational evaluation. While the second module is being manufactured, this first module is being tested as a standalone 7,000-tonne crane to verify its stability, electronic synchronisation, and independent lifting operations. Once the second 7,000-tonne half is completed by XCMG and Sinopec, both units will undergo integration testing to sync the revolutionary electric direct-drive system across the full 14,000-tonne frame.
