Crawler Cranes Increased Usage Across Industries: Liebherr and ACE

Crawler crane manufacturers like Liebherr Cranes India and Action Construction Equipment are bullish on demand prospects in view of the large-scale infra development projects being planned across industries such as petrochemical, power stations, metallurgical, shipbuilding, and the numerous upcoming public projects, P.P. Basistha reports.

The year 2022 saw heightened demand for crawler lattice boom cranes across the lower, medium, and higher capacity segments. Demand was escalated by greenfield projects, expansions in refineries and the energy sector, and new developments in both public and industrial infrastructure. The windmill industry also saw increasing usage of higher capacity crawler cranes for erecting the larger blades, nacelles, and tower sections.

Says Subhajit Chandra-Head, Liebherr Cranes India, “We expect the demand for higher capacity crawler cranes to remain firm as there are more and more EPC contractors entering the construction sector where they are undertaking installation, erection, and other jobs that require use of such cranes. Industries such as windmills, require very safe and reliable cranes for erecting the heavy blades and nacelles that can range from 140 to 160 meter hub heights. We expect demand to come from the upcoming hydrogen plants as well.”

He informs that Liebherr is well positioned to cater to this demand with their new LR 700-1.0 700-ton, and LR 1800, 800-ton crawler lattice boom cranes, which can undertake all kinds of jobs in windmill projects at hub heights of 140-160 meters with 4-5 megawatts.

“These cranes have a very flexible design and provide economical operations. Their booms make them suitable for refineries that require erection of multiple trains and columns. Our new 2.8x3.3 meter H-boom with a very thick pipe can lift high loads with complete safety. The compact and modular design of the H-Boom enables easy disassembly and transportation in a minimum number of trailers, which makes operations more cost-effective. Even the lighter booms can be transporter within the H-boom thereby minimising the no's of trailers.”

“Our new LR 12500, 2500-ton crawler cranes are suitable for nuclear power projects and offshore wind power projects. We have delivered five units of the LR 12500 – three units to heavy lift specialist Sarens and two units to Mammoet. Along with the LR 12500, we have delivered several units of 700 and 800-ton crawler cranes to rental agencies in Australia, USA, and Europe; in fact, our orders are booked till 2024!”

“In India, we are expecting demand for our new cranes for use in industrial, energy, and transportation infrastructure projects. Our 600-ton crawler cranes are currently working in the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link Project.”

Safety, reliability, and optimum availability in delivering the rated lifting, are the key attributes of Liebherr ’s crawler cranes. “Our brand is synonymous with safe and reliable performance. We are the only company to undertake complete in-house designing and manufacturing of not only the cranes’ super structure, engines, gear boxes, pumps, and boom sections, but also the cranes’ electronic panels and software. Our dedicated facility at Kirchhoff in Germany manufactures the electronic panels of the cranes and also develops Liebherr 's dedicated new version of LICCON-3 software for optimum functioning of the cranes by its automatic load calculations,” informs Chandra.

Manoj Agarwal, Vice President, Marketing & Product Support, HED Vertical at Action Construction Equipments (ACE), informs that the company is geared up to cater to the large requirement of crawler cranes, and has developed models/ variants from 40T – 180T capacity. “We have a wide range of crawler cranes ranging from 40T, 45T, 55T and 75T, and have begun commercial production of our 80-ton, which was soft launched during Excon 2022. We are the only Indian crane manufacturing company who is working towards developing a 100-ton & 180ton crawler crane.”

“We at ACE feel that with the above range, we will be able to cater to 90 percent of the total crawler crane demand from the Indian construction equipment market. We are confident that our new variants will find ready buyers given our loyal customer base, and our motto of ‘right products at the right price’ has created a strong brand recall in the marketplace. We ensure maximum availability and safety of our cranes with their advanced boom design. We are using lighter materials, and have improved the tracks to give more stability, and we are sourcing all the important aggregates from manufacturers of global repute.”


“We will continue to strengthen our brand’s positioning with better customer services including operator training, timely supply of parts, and regular maintenance.”