Heavy Duty Overhead Crane: Types, Pricing, and How to Choose the Right Duty Class

Selecting the right heavy duty overhead crane isn't just a matter of lifting capacity—it's a strategic decision that affects safety, productivity, and long-term operational efficiency. With multiple overhead crane types available—ranging from double girder models to custom-engineered solutions—understanding the differences is critical.
This guide provides a clear breakdown of heavy duty crane classifications, pricing structures, and the criteria for choosing the optimal crane working class based on your application demands. Whether you’re planning for a new facility or upgrading existing systems, this page offers the insight needed to make an informed, cost-effective investment.

What is a Heavy Duty Overhead Crane?

A heavy duty overhead crane refers to a crane system designed for intensive use in demanding industrial environments, such as steel mills, shipyards, foundries, and heavy machinery workshops. Contrary to common assumptions, “heavy duty” does not solely refer to lifting a high tonnage. Instead, it describes a crane's ability to withstand frequent, high-load operations over an extended period, as defined by its crane duty classification.

According to the Chinese national standard GB/T 3811-2008, overhead cranes are categorized into eight duty classes, from A1 to A8, with A7 and A8 representing the highest levels of load handling frequency and operational intensity. In industry practice, these upper-tier classifications are commonly what professionals refer to when discussing “heavy duty” cranes.

Choosing a heavy duty overhead crane means selecting a system built not just for capacity, but for endurance, reliability, and safety under continuous, rigorous workloads.

Heavy Duty Overhead Crane Types

Double Girder Overhead Crane

The double girder overhead crane, with a lifting capacity of up to 800 tons and spans up to 34 meters, enables safe and precise handling of heavy loads. With various designs and spreaders, it can grab different materials, making it the most versatile heavy-duty crane across industries.

Specifications

• capacity: 5-800/150ton
• Span length: 10.5-34m
• Lifting height: 12-50m
• Work duty: A5, A6
• Rated voltage: 220V/380V/400V/415V/660V, 50-60Hz, 3ph AC
• Crane control mode: Remote control / Cabin room

Cases

Grab Bucket Overhead Crane

Grab Bucket Overhead Cranes are widely used in power plants, freight yards, workshops, and ports for loading, unloading, and transporting bulk materials. This type of grab crane adopts a heavy-duty working system, with a duty class of A6, and the rated lifting capacity includes the weight of the grab bucket itself. The access to the operator's cabin can be from the end, side, or top.

Specifications

• Capacity: 5-20 ton
• Span length: 10.5-31.5m
• Lifting height: 18/20/26/28m
• Work duty: A6 (A8 for waste grab cranes)
• Rated voltage: 220V/380V/400V/415V/660V, 50-60Hz, 3ph AC
• Crane control mode: Remote control / Cabin room

Cases

Guangxi 2060m³ Blast Furnace Project Construction

More Types And Configurations

Clamp Overhead Crane

Clamp cranes are used in steel mills, shipyards, ports, depots and warehouses and other indoor or open-air fixed spans to load, unload and carry steel slabs, profiles and other materials.

Especially used for hoisting slabs of different specifications, it can match different clamps to meet the needs of hoisting according to the specifications (different thicknesses, lengths, sheets, etc.) and weight of the materials being hoisted.

Specifications

• Capacity: 35/50/65ton
• Span length: 27-34m
• Lifting height: 12m
• Work duty: A7
• Rated voltage: 220V/380V/400V/415V/660V, 50-60Hz, 3ph AC
• Crane control mode: Remote control / Cabin room

Electromagnetic Overhead Cranes with Lifting Magnet

The electromagnetic heavy duty overhead crane with lifting magnets is a type of electric overhead crane that uses magnets to handle metal loads. It is widely used in industries such as steel mills, foundries, scrap processing plants, machine workshops, steel storage facilities, and ports.

Specifications

• Capacity: 5t-50t
• Span length: 10.5-31.5m
• Lifting height: 12m, 14m, 16m,18m, etc.
• Work duty: A6
• Crane control mode: Remote control / Cabin room
• Rated voltage: 380V, 50-60Hz, 3ph AC

Electromagnetic Overhead Cranes with Magnet Beam

The electromagnetic heavy duty overhead crane with a magnet beam is a lifting device that uses an electromagnetic chuck as the lifting tool. The direction of the hanging beam can be either parallel or perpendicular to the main beam. Electromagnetic chucks are installed below the hanging beam to perform material handling tasks. This crane is primarily used for lifting and transporting long items such as steel plates, sections, bars, pipes, wires, and coils.

Specifications

• Capacity: 15t-40t
• Span length: 19.5-34.5m
• Lifting height: 15m, 16m, etc.
• Work duty: A6, A7
• Rated voltage: 380V, 50-60Hz, 3ph AC
• Crane control mode: Remote control / Cabin room

Insulated Overhead Crane

The insulated heavy duty overhead overhead cranes are designed for use in the smelting workshops of non-ferrous metals, such as electrolytic aluminum, magnesium, lead, zinc, etc. To prevent the risk of electric current from powered equipment being transferred to the crane through the lifted components, which could endanger the operator’s life and damage the equipment, several insulation devices are installed at appropriate locations on the crane.

Specifications

• Capacity: 2-50/10t
• Span length: 10.5-31.5m
• Lifting height: 12/16/18m, etc.
• Work duty: A6
• Rated voltage: 380V, 50-60Hz, 3ph AC
• Crane control mode: Remote control / Cabin room

Ladle Crane

Ladle handling heavy duty overhead cranes are essential equipment in the steelmaking continuous casting process. They are primarily used for lifting and transporting molten iron from the converter charging bay to the converter, transferring molten steel to the refining furnace in the refining bay, or moving molten steel to the ladle turret on the continuous casting machine in the steel receiving bay. These cranes play a vital role throughout the entire steelmaking and continuous casting operation.

Specifications

• Capacity: 100/32~320/80t
• Span length: 19.5-28.5m
• Lifting height: 20-32m, etc.
• Work duty: A7
• Rated voltage: 380V, 50-60Hz, 3ph AC
• Crane control mode: Remote control / Cabin room

Charging Overhead Crane

Charging heavy duty overhead cranes are vital equipment in the metallurgical industry, used to load scrap steel and iron into furnaces like electric arc furnaces. They operate in high-temperature, dusty environments. In converter steelmaking, they add cold materials, while in electric furnace operations, they load scrap steel.

Heavy Duty Overhead Crane Price

The price of a heavy duty overhead crane can vary significantly depending on several technical and operational factors. Unlike standard models, heavy duty overhead cranes are often custom-engineered to match specific working conditions, which makes publishing a fixed price table impractical. Instead, real-world examples provide a more accurate picture of potential investment levels.

Below are selected DGCRANE heavy duty overhead crane examples, complete with reference prices.

Every project is unique, and our engineering team is ready to provide a tailored recommendation and quotation based on your specific requirements.
Contact us now to get a detailed proposal and price estimate for your heavy duty overhead crane.

Zora Zhao

Expert in Overhead Crane/Gantry Crane/Jib Crane/Crane Parts Solutions

With 10+ years of experience in the Crane Overseas Export Industry, helped 10,000+ customers with their pre-sales questions and concerns, if you have any related needs, please feel free to contact me!

WhatsApp: +86 158 3611 5029

Email: zorazhao@dgcrane.com

How to Choose the Right Duty Class for Your Overhead Crane

Selecting the appropriate duty class for your overhead crane is a critical step in the specification process. It directly impacts the crane's service life, structural strength, operating frequency, and maintenance cycle in your specific working environment.

The duty classification of an overhead crane is determined by two key technical factors: utilization level (U) and load spectrum (Q).

• Utilization Level (U):
  This refers to how frequently the crane is used, measured by the total number of working cycles over its entire service life.
• Load Spectrum (Q):
  This indicates the variation and severity of the loads lifted, expressed by the nominal load spectrum factor.

How to Choose the Right Duty Class Based on Your Working Conditions

Based on the key parameters, you can select the appropriate duty class for your crane by considering:

• Annual Operating Hours
  • Less than 500 hours/year (e.g., maintenance or gate cranes): choose A1–A3 (extra light).
  • 1,000–2,000 hours/year (typical factories or warehouses): choose A4–A5 (light to medium).
  • Over 4,000 hours/year (steel plants, shipyards): choose A6 (heavy).
  • Continuous heavy work (metallurgy, foundries, paper mills): choose A7–A8 (extra heavy).
• Cycles per Hour
  • Under 5 lifts/hour (light duty).
  • Frequent lifts on automated lines require medium to heavy duty.
  • Over 40 lifts/hour (high-speed heavy work) needs extra heavy duty overhead cranes.
• Hoisting Duty Cycle (Jc%)
  • Percentage of time the hoist motor is under load.
  • For example, a 60% Jc means the motor runs 36 minutes per hour, typical for heavy, continuous lifting.

Conclusion

Choosing the right heavy duty overhead crane goes far beyond lifting capacity — it requires a clear understanding of your working environment, operational frequency, and long-term performance demands. From A6 to A8 duty classes, and from electromagnetic to ladle and grab bucket cranes, each configuration serves a distinct industrial purpose.

At DGCRANE, we've delivered proven heavy duty overhead crane solutions across steel plants, shipyards, foundries, and power stations worldwide. Whether you’re handling molten metal or bulk materials, we can help you engineer a crane system that meets both technical requirements and cost expectations.

Zora Zhao

Expert in Overhead Crane/Gantry Crane/Jib Crane/Crane Parts Solutions

With 10+ years of experience in the Crane Overseas Export Industry, helped 10,000+ customers with their pre-sales questions and concerns, if you have any related needs, please feel free to contact me!

WhatsApp: +86 158 3611 5029

Email: zorazhao@dgcrane.com