World’s strongest land-based crane
October 2024
Motion Control & Drives
Mammoet, the world’s largest engineered heavy lifting and transport company, has launched the world’s strongest land-based crane, the SK6000. As populations grow, so do our energy needs. The SK6000 redefines the scale of human construction, allowing large energy and infrastructure projects to build from bigger pieces in parallel, and reaching first power sooner and more cost effectively.
The SK6000 has a key role in offshore wind, where fast growth of components in recent years has led to supply chain issues. Lifting 3000 t to a height of 220 m, the SK6000 ensures that wind farms in the planning phase can be safely executed and delivered.
In the oil and gas sector, the SK6000 delivers reduced integration times to offshore floating projects, while onshore, new build and expansion projects can be delivered with increased uptime. Both scopes then benefit from modular construction techniques that allow critical path components to be simultaneously built offsite anywhere in the world, before transporting to site ahead of installation.
As more new-build nuclear plants are greenlit, the SK6000 helps the sector to benefit from similar tried-and-tested construction methodologies, helping projects to reach completion sooner and deliver low-carbon energy to communities.
The SK6000 has a maximum capacity of 6000 tons, utilising 4200 tons of ballast to lift with a maximum ground bearing pressure of 30 t/m2. The crane design uses containerisation techniques for ease of deployment, and can be transported using shipping containers to any location worldwide. It also offers full electric power capability from battery or supply from the grid, allowing customers to reduce the carbon impact of projects significantly.
“This crane is truly a world record feat of engineering, with a production schedule to match”, said Gavin Kerr, director of Global Services at Mammoet. “Hundreds of colleagues have been directly involved with its development across the business. There are very few companies, if any, that could have brought this crane into reality, and we are immensely proud to be able to do so.”
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