Meet SGC-250 – known as “ Big Carl ” to his friends – the biggest land - based crane in the world .
amply upright , Big Carl can reach tiptop of up to 250 meters ( 820 feet ) , concord toSarens , the Belgian construction company that owns the crane . The heavy lifter is able to wind up an telling 5,000 tonnes with the assist of 12 high - operation engines working in unison . For context , that weight is the equivalent of around 1,000 auto .
The crane can revolve 360 degrees with a radius of 100 measure ( 330 metrical unit ) thanks to several rack that are attached to a set of tracks . Another set of wheels also earmark Big Carl to have some limited movement around a construction site along the tracks , which is pretty singular for a beast this size .
Big Carl working more of its magic during the construction of Hinkley Point C nuclear power stationImage credit: EDF Energy
You believably wo n’t see Big Carl on any one-time construction land site . The machinery is generally used to raise extremely fleshy pre - assembled module on specialised construction yards . For representative , in 2022 , itcompletedits first line of place a 304 - metric ton steel lining band , the last of three , onto a nuclear reactor atHinkley Point Cnuclear power station in the UK .
" This Stephen Crane was inspired by the increasing course towards modularisation and the move away from stick - built building . Instead of putting a refinery together piece by piece , our client now prefer to pre - assemble expectant portions , or module , in a control environment and then transport and pilfer them into their final position , " Carl Sarens , the ship’s company ’s director of technological solutions who the crane is bring up after , said in a statement .
“ Because of their weight , these modules require high lifting capacity . This trend , together with our in - house engine room expertness , led to the construction of this tremendous Stephen Crane , ” he sum .
observation we said that the Big Carl is the humans ’s biggestland - basedcrane . That ’s because there is , in fact , a larger Grus that sit on top of a gargantuan ship - similar vas . Sleipniris a Dutch - owned semi - submersible vessel that ’s equipped with two cranes , capable of overturn 10,000 metric metric ton each . Named after Odin ’s eight - legged sawhorse , the floating behemoth is typically used for installing and decommissioning offshore vim projection , like oil outfit .
Who would get ahead in a fight ? It ’s knockout to enjoin , but Sleipnir for certain has the weightlifting advantage .
