Chinese crane and aerial lift manufacturer XCMG has launched a new 4,000t tonne, 11 axle wheeled crane, the XCA4000, the worlds largest. Quite how this 11 axle crane differs to the previous ‘record’ 3,000 tonne XCA3000 shipped in January, is hard to see or understand. So far we have not seen a detailed specification sheet or load chart.
The XCA4000 leaves the factory
The new XCA4000 was designed for the installation of turbines of 10MW or more and can lift 230 tonnes to heights of 170 metres. The first unit was sold to Hebei Rongcheng Technology and went from factory to a wind farm in Jing County, Hengshui, China, for its first job. The crane lifted a series of components, including a 130 tonne nacelle, a 40 tonne wheel hub, and three 95 metre blades weighing 28 tonnes each, to a height of 162 metres. It was rigged with a superlift system, 300 tonnes of counterweight, all of its six section 85 metre boom extended, topped by an 85 metre heavy duty jib.
Rigging the crane
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Hebei Rongcheng Technology’s chairman Yang Xiaobin said: "With unprecedented lifting capacity and operating height, XCMG not only breaks the record for the largest crane, but also provides strong support for our users and the development of wind power in China."
Lifting the nacelle The videos below show more of the new crane in action
Vertkal Comment
Chinese manufacturers have been building larger and larger cranes and vying to outdo each other for almost a decade. Quite how practical such a large telescopic is compared to a smaller lattice crane - wheeled or crawler - is interesting. The 2,000, 3,000 and now 4,000 tonne telescopics are unwieldy things - this crane has an overall width of 3.68 metres in transport mode - and seem to need almost as much support and delivery logistics as a big lattice, and yet are possibly less versatile.
European manufacturers and users quit at 1,200 tonne telescopics, but could it be that the Chinese companies have taken a different track and not attempted to make the cranes adaptable, but design them purely for lifting large loads to great height? To put it another way, are these cranes more wind turbine installation lifting machines, than telescopic cranes.
It will be interesting to see the load chart for this 4,000 tonne and see what it can lift at anything more than a limited radius. We will update when we learn more. We do now know that the theoretical maximum capacity of 4,000 tonnes is rated at two metres, however, at three metres and up to 10 metres it can manage 500 tonnes - and not just on the fully retracted boom. More on this going forward.
Timno
Hairy, Agreed, but you then have a very limited market and even with boom off still have the 3.68 m width to contend with and probably the weight as well, to get to said windfarm.
Eric_L
Looks like they just want to show who has the biggest pipi. Little actual use, impractical, and probably will never sell enough to cover the R&D and manufacturing costs. In short, not a viable business, but it hey, they can say they have the biggest.
Stevie P
If they can fit a 4,000t SWL hook block on it, I'll accept it!!
Timno
Hairy, Agreed, but you then have a very limited market and even with boom off still have the 3.68 m width to contend with and probably the weight as well, to get to said windfarm.
hairy
“Timno", I hear you, but none of that matters inside the wind farm, and I think that’s the key.
Timno
Mmmm!! 3.68 metres wide and extremely high so boom off anyway for road travel.
hairy
I think, it comes down to faster setup time, why this may make more sense compared to a smaller lattice crane.
Eric_L
Oh, I count 11 axles ?
Eric_L
Looks like they just want to show who has the biggest pipi. Little actual use, impractical, and probably will never sell enough to cover the R&D and manufacturing costs. In short, not a viable business, but it hey, they can say they have the biggest.