The World's Largest Goliath Gantry Crane: China's “Honghai” 22,000-Ton Lifting Giant

The “Honghai” 22,000 Ton Gantry Crane (MDGH22000t) completed in 2014, the “Honghai” Goliath Gantry Crane (MDGH22000t) was, at the time, the largest Goliath Gantry Crane in the world. Independently designed and manufactured in China, it holds full proprietary intellectual property rights. With a total lifting capacity of 22,000 tons—equivalent to the weight of 400 high-speed train carriages—it set a new benchmark in heavy lifting equipment.

The Honghai crane stands 148 meters tall, with a span of 124.8 meters and a lifting height of 71.38 meters. It is formed by two combined 11,000 ton cranes, giving it a lifting capacity 11 times greater than the previous world's largest gantry crane.

The entire structure adopts a truss design with an arched exterior, featuring 48 lifting points per main girder, totaling 96 lifting points, each rated at 300 tons. At its base, the crane is equipped with 128 pairs of roller trolleys, powered by a 1,800 kW drive system. The largest gantry crane itself weighs 14,800 tons and uses 11,000 tons of high-strength steel. The total construction cost approached RMB 800 million, with the largest gantry crane’s main contract valued at approximately RMB 370 million. Its concrete foundation piles were driven to a depth of 46 meters, costing RMB 300 million alone.

The Largest Gantry Crane – Honghai is primarily deployed at the Honghua Qidong Offshore Equipment Base, supporting the integrated lifting and launch of offshore oil platforms. It pioneered a new model of modular onshore construction for offshore platforms.

The Largest Goliath Gantry Crane Technological Innovation

Innovative Structure with Rigid and Flexible Legs

The Largest Goliath Gantry Crane – Honghai consists of a truss-type arched gantry frame, crane travel mechanism, electrical systems, and a maintenance hoist. The gantry frame features an arched main girder supported by two legs: one rigid leg, welded directly to the main girder, and one flexible leg, connected via a hinged joint. This asymmetric support system effectively offsets deformation in the main girder, enhancing the overall structural stability of the gantry.

Both legs adopt latticed trapezoidal truss structures and are connected at the base to the support system and traveling mechanism, allowing movement over distances of up to 300 meters. A maintenance hoist is suspended from the upper chord of the arched truss girder for routine servicing.

High-Strength Steel Truss and Load-Balanced Lifting System

A truss is a structure composed of members connected at joints, typically forming triangular units. This configuration enhances load-bearing capacity without increasing cross-sectional area, thereby reducing the overall steel structure's weight. This not only lowers manufacturing costs but also minimizes wind resistance, ensuring excellent wind performance for the Honghai crane.

The truss structure is welded from high-strength steel, providing robust support for large-scale lifting. Unlike traditional modular gantry cranes, the Honghai is designed for integrated lifting of large ships or structural components, requiring not just lifting capacity but also uniform load distribution.

The lifting system, based on pulley-lever mechanics, utilizes multiple lifting points and devices to raise large structures evenly. To reduce the crane's center of gravity, all winches are embedded within the truss legs, optimizing balance and stability.

Roller-Based Support System

Given the Honghai crane's massive self-weight and lifting demands, it could not rely on traditional sliding or wheel-rolling mechanisms. Instead, it adopts a roller-based support system that provides high load capacity with minimal friction resistance.

Each leg base is mounted with 32 roller bogies, supported by a base structure consisting of hydraulic cylinders and disc joints, which evenly transmit the load to the bogies and the reinforced concrete foundation.

To ensure the bogies follow the designated track, guide wheels are installed on their outer sides. Power transmission is achieved through frequency-controlled motors coupled with reduction gears, which drive pinions that mesh with rack tracks, allowing synchronized gantry movement.

The travel system integrates sensors, automated control programs, and variable frequency speed regulation to guarantee precise and synchronized movement of both legs and the main girder.

Programmable Control Technology for Enhanced Precision and Safety

In addition, the Honghai is equipped with a PLC-based motor control and variable frequency drive system, significantly improving operational precision and safety during lifting operations.

The Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) constantly monitors crane status and alarm signals, enabling real-time computer supervision of the crane's operation. In case of mechanical faults, the system allows for rapid diagnosis and emergency repair, maximizing equipment uptime and service life.

The Largest Goliath Gantry Crane Practical Application

Core Function: The Largest Gantry Crane – Honghai is primarily used for the integrated lifting and launching of offshore oil platforms, enabling the innovative construction model of “onshore modular fabrication + dockside assembly.”

Technological Innovation in Application: Onshore Fabrication + Dockside Integration, the system allows for the simultaneous onshore construction of large-scale platform modules, including substructures and topside decks, which are then lifted as a whole and assembled in a dock basin. This integrated approach greatly enhances efficiency and scalability in offshore platform construction.

Improvements in Construction Efficiency

• A single dock basin can support the simultaneous construction of up to 10 offshore platforms, breaking through the capacity limitations of traditional single-drydock models.
• Significantly shortened construction cycles, reducing overall project timelines.
• Massive savings in labor and equipment resources by minimizing fragmented lifting operations.

Optimization of Costs and Resources

• Reduced reliance on costly infrastructure such as dry docks, semi-submersible barges, and auxiliary lifting equipment.
• Less dependency on environmental conditions like weather and tides, enabling more consistent operations.
• Minimized multi-point alignment errors, improving precision, safety, and structural integrity during assembly.

Value to Market and Clients

• Provides shorter delivery timelines and higher return on investment for owners, greatly enhancing the competitiveness of offshore products in the global market.
• Creates an overwhelming delivery advantage, making it easier to secure large-scale offshore engineering contracts.

Socio-Economic Impact

• Creates 4,000 to 6,000 jobs, boosting local development in manufacturing, logistics, maintenance, port services, and other related industries.
• Strengthens China's capabilities in high-end offshore equipment manufacturing and enhances its global influence in the marine engineering sector.

China's Core Manufacturers of Goliath Gantry Cranes

Taiyuan Heavy Industry (TYHI)

Taiyuan Heavy Industry is a major force in China's heavy equipment manufacturing sector, with full-process capabilities covering design, casting, machining, and final assembly. TYHI serves high-end industries such as metallurgy, energy, transportation, and aerospace.

The company once successfully developed the world's largest single-point overhead crane, showcasing its deep technical expertise in ultra-heavy lifting equipment. Backed by a national-level technology center and advanced large-scale forging and casting capabilities, TYHI continues to drive the application of domestically made heavy equipment in critical engineering projects. It is one of the few manufacturers in China capable of undertaking custom super-large, non-standard lifting equipment.

Dalian Huarui Heavy Industry (DHHI)

Dalian Heavy Industry specializes in the design and manufacturing of port machinery, shipyard lifting equipment, and metallurgical cranes, serving as a major base for large-scale crane production in China. Its product range includes gantry cranes, quay container cranes, ship unloaders, and wind turbine installation equipment, with strong capabilities in custom non-standard design and engineering integration.

DHHI plays a key role in national infrastructure projects, shipbuilding, and clean energy construction, and is known for its extensive experience in delivering and maintaining large-scale equipment for major domestic and international clients and ports.

ZPMC (Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.)

ZPMC is a global leader in port machinery, best known for its expertise in super-large container crane manufacturing. Beyond port equipment, ZPMC also manufactures special cranes, large shipyard gantry cranes, and offshore modular lifting platforms, demonstrating strong capabilities in engineering procurement and construction (EPC) and global project delivery.

With its robust modular construction, marine transport, and worldwide service network, ZPMC has become a trusted partner in global port and offshore engineering projects. The company leads the industry in terms of equipment scale, automation level, and integrated system solutions.

DGCRANE: Connecting Top-Tier Manufacturers to Deliver a Service Advantage

We have established long-term cooperative relationships with several major crane manufacturing enterprises, including Taiyuan Heavy Industry, Dalian Heavy Industry, and ZPMC. By leveraging their strong manufacturing capabilities together with our expertise in project integration and service delivery, DGCRANE, as a professional crane intermediary, is able to provide clients with high-quality crane solutions at more competitive prices.

We are familiar with the product systems of all major manufacturers and excel at recommending the most suitable and cost-effective configurations based on specific project needs. This helps clients reduce procurement costs and improve overall project efficiency. We have also provided custom gantry crane systems for major infrastructure projects worldwide.

100 Ton Double Girder Gantry Crane Delivered to Algeria

This gantry crane is used inside the workshop, primarily for lifting molds. Because there are some spatial limitations at the site, many large equipment have been installed inside the workshop, so there is very little room for installation, which causes the installation time to be a little longer. But the workers on site and our client are very cooperative, so all is going well.

Specification：

• Lifting capacity: 100t
• Span: 21m
• Lifting height: 7m
• Control model: Wireless remote control
• Power supply: 380v/50hz/3ph
• Duty group: A3

Delivery of Two Sets of 30+30 Ton Double Girder Gantry Cranes to Qatar

Our collaboration with this client began in 2013. During initial discussions, we learned the cranes would be used to handle concrete beams. With China's rapid bridge development, we were already well-acquainted with such needs.

The project required lifting 24-meter-long concrete beams weighing up to 80 tons. We recommended two 30+30 ton double girder gantry cranes sharing the same track. Their electrical system was designed for both independent and synchronized operation, handling smaller 2-ton segments or lifting 80-ton beams together using 40 trolleys.

Given the 280-meter travel length and shared runway, we implemented a cost-efficient power solution: a centrally located cable reel supplies both cranes, halving cable length while ensuring flexible, independent operation.

Conclusion

The largest gantry crane in the world represents the peak of industrial lifting capability — a combination of engineering ambition, structural precision, and technological innovation. These machines are more than just impressive in scale; they are essential tools for handling the most demanding tasks in shipbuilding, offshore platforms, and large infrastructure projects. As industries continue to push boundaries, the need for reliable, high-capacity gantry cranes will only grow. At DGCRANE, we keep a close eye on these developments — not just to admire the scale, but to continue delivering efficient, customized lifting solutions inspired by the same spirit of innovation.

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: +86 189 3735 0200

Email: zorazhao@dgcrane.com