The world’s largest crane

Designed and manufactured by Sarens company in Belgium, the SGC-250 crane, also nicknamed Big Carl, has a lifting force of up to 5,000 tons, thanks to a maximum load moment of 250,000 tons – meters, which means if the load is Located 100 m from the central pillar, the maximum lifting force is 2,500 tons. SGC-250 operated for the first time in a project at the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in the UK, according to Worldsteel.

The SGC-250 has a height of 0.25 km in its highest configuration. The vehicle’s huge lifting force is a result of the crane’s main beam made from high-strength steel with a height of 160 m and a horizontal arm of nearly 100 m. The crane design process included 16,000 hours of research and development, 6,000 hours of design and more than 25,000 hours of detail work. Manufacturing began in August 2017, using parts from across Europe, and was completed in 14 months for launch in November 2018.

Conceptually, SGC-250 is inspired by the trend of modularity in construction. Accordingly, large components are prefabricated in a controlled environment, then transported to the construction site to be lifted into final position. They are so heavy that they require cranes with very high lifting capacities to handle a large-scale project like Hinckley Point C.

After production in Belgium, the SGC-250 was shipped to the UK in 2019, using 280 trucks along with five smaller cranes to transport each part for on-site reassembly. After 10 weeks, the SGC-250 was ready for operation in August 2019 and began lifting cargo for the first time in mid-September of the same year. Vehicles lifting heavy loads in spring 2020.

Unlike smaller models such as the SGC-120 which are located on steel rings, due to the scale of operation, the SGC-250 moves on steel rails allowing the machine to move between positions without needing to be reassembled. SGC-250 runs on 96 wheels. Despite the massive weight, the design of 4 bogies running on toroidal beams made from high-strength steel and accompanied by a crane helps the vehicle only create a maximum pressure on the ground of 25 tons/m2. It can also rotate 360 ​​degrees thanks to 128 other wheels.

The SGC-250 is equipped with a collision avoidance system and operates mainly at night to minimize impact on the local community. This machine with a record lifting force is a technical achievement that promises to change the face of the large-scale construction industry. However, the SGC-250 is only the world’s largest crane on land because there is a larger crane located on the Dutch semi-submersible ship Sleipnir. The ship has two cranes, each of which can lift 10,000 tons.