No tandem crane arrangement, no shared load calculations between two machines — just one crane rated well above the load it needed to lift. On 10 April 2021, XCMG's XGC88000 crawler crane raised a 2,600-tonne hydrogenation reactor into position at the Shenghong refinery in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, ten days ahead of schedule.

The lift broke the crane's own previous engineering-applied record of 2,155 tonnes, set in 2013 — a reminder that at sufficient single-crane capacity, some of the industry's most complex lift problems reduce to a scheduling and rigging exercise rather than a coordination one.

2,600 t
Reactor lift weight
4,000 t
Crane rated capacity
2,155 t
Prior record broken
−10 days
Ahead of schedule
Phase 1 — Selecting single-crane capacity
A 4,000-tonne machine for a 2,600-tonne load
The XGC88000, developed by XCMG and described at the time as the world's largest crawler crane, was engineered with a 4,000-tonne rated capacity — comfortably above the reactor's weight, removing the need for tandem-lift load-sharing calculations between two separate cranes.
Phase 2 — Site and vessel context
Part of a 16-million-tonne-per-year refinery
The reactor was one component of the Shenghong Refining and Chemical Integration Project, a petrochemical complex with a planned annual crude oil processing capacity of 16 million tonnes, listed in China's national Petrochemical Industry Planning and Layout Plan.
Phase 3 — The record lift
Breaking the crane's own prior record
Completed on 10 April 2021, the 2,600-tonne lift surpassed the XGC88000's own previous engineering-applied record of 2,155 tonnes, set in 2013 — and finished ten days ahead of the construction schedule.
Phase 4 — A proven track record
200,000 tonnes lifted across 26 projects
By the time of this lift, the XGC88000 model had already installed more than 100 loads exceeding 1,000 tonnes each, for a cumulative lifting weight of roughly 200,000 tonnes across 26 major construction projects worldwide, including refinery work in Saudi Arabia and Oman.

No dual-crane coordination, no shared load calculations — just one machine rated for more than the load itself demanded.

The Shenghong reactor lift stands as a reference case for single-crane capacity as a scheduling advantage: when a single machine is rated comfortably above the load, the engineering and coordination overhead of a tandem lift disappears, and the remaining work becomes a matter of rigging, sequencing, and site logistics.

For further reading on crane selection and lift planning, see Erection Engineering in Industrial Construction

Related case studies: Zhejiang Reactor Lift · ITER Tokamak Assembly · Bertha TBM

Sources: XCMG — crane manufacturer's record announcement, giving the 2,600-tonne hydrogenation reactor lift on 10 April 2021 and the previous 2,155-tonne record; Seetao. The record is as claimed by XCMG.

Frequently Asked Questions

The hydrogenation reactor weighed 2,600 tonnes and was lifted and installed on 10 April 2021 by XCMG's XGC88000, a crawler crane rated at 4,000 tonnes capacity, at the Shenghong refinery construction site in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China.

The 2,600-tonne lift broke the XGC88000's own previous engineering-applied lifting record of 2,155 tonnes, set in 2013, and was completed 10 days ahead of schedule.

The XGC88000 is a 4,000-tonne-capacity crawler crane developed by XCMG, described at the time as the world's largest crawler crane. It was the first model in its class to use a modular design for more agile construction, and by 2021 had lifted and installed more than 100 loads over 1,000 tonnes each, for a cumulative lifting weight of roughly 200,000 tonnes across 26 major projects worldwide.

The reactor is part of the Shenghong Refining and Chemical Integration Project in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province — a petrochemical complex with a planned annual crude oil processing capacity of 16 million tonnes, listed in China's national Petrochemical Industry Planning and Layout Plan.