A ring crane rated at 14,000 tonnes: XCMG and Sinopec commit to their next super-heavy lifting machine
XCMG and Sinopec Heavy Lifting & Transportation have signed a contract for what both companies describe as the world’s first 14,000-tonne circular rail crane, a decade after they began joint development work on the concept.
A second project after the XGC88000
The contract was signed on 10 October and follows the XGC88000 crawler crane, the 4,000-tonne machine the two companies previously brought to market together. Circular rail cranes — ring cranes running on a fixed track rather than crawling — are the tool of choice for the heaviest petrochemical and power modules, where a machine can be erected once and then serve an entire site.
Yang Dongsheng, chairman of XCMG Group and XCMG Machinery, said at the signing that the two companies had built a research, manufacturing and application model for joint development that sets a benchmark for the domestic engineering of major technical equipment.
Electric direct drive
XCMG says joint research began in 2015 and that two technical barriers had to be cleared before the machine could be committed. The first was an electric direct-drive system, which the company claims is a world first in this class and which testing and optimisation work has shown to cut energy use by more than 30 per cent while raising operating efficiency by 25 per cent.
The second was structural. Ring cranes have historically been tuned either for very large working radii or for compact, close-in work; XCMG says the new design balances both, giving what it calls a one-machine, multiple-function capability able to adapt to chemical engineering and nuclear power layouts.
Both claims come from XCMG and have not been independently verified; no boom or radius figures for the machine have been released.
What it is meant to change
The commercial argument for a crane of this size is programme time. XCMG expects the 14,000-tonne machine to shorten construction cycles on large plant projects by allowing heavier modules to be assembled at ground level and set in one piece, bringing forward commissioning dates.
For XCMG the project is also part of a wider push to localise ultra-large lifting equipment that Chinese contractors have previously had to import or hire in, and the company says it intends to take the resulting technology into further engineering sectors and export markets. No delivery date for the crane has been announced.
Source: XCMG — Photos: XCMG
Circular rail crane
- Capacity: 14,000 tonnes
- Contract signed: 10 October 2025
- Partners: XCMG and Sinopec Heavy Lifting & Transportation Co., Ltd
- Joint development started: 2015
- Drive: electric direct drive
- Claimed gains: energy use down more than 30%, efficiency up 25%
- Target applications: chemical engineering, nuclear power