IN JANUARY 2008, Shanghai Sany Science & Technology Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sany Group (China), launched SCC9000 – a crawler crane with a maximum lifting capacity of 900t and a maximum load-moment of 13,500 tm.

This is the largest-capacity crawler made by an Asian company and is bound to make the leading crane makers sit up and take notice. According to Shanghai Sany, the business goal is to fully replace the import of crawler cranes and penetrate the international market. The company is already developing a 1,000t crawler crane which it plans to unveil at bauma Shanghai in November this year.

In superlift configuration (which includes counterweight tray), the SCC9000 has a maximum system length of 96m boom + 96m jib. The crane can be set up with a total of 16 boom configurations. The crane is powered by a 597 kW engine with air pre-filter and duplex air filter and weighs 740t in total. The crane has an independently developed control, fault self-diagnosis and alarm software with LMI and black box.

The SCC9000 also has a winch surveillance device and lightning protection system. A remote fault diagnosis system with GPS satellite positioning, equipment status and statistics functions is available as an option. Main boom and jib sections can be inserted into each other during transportation. The maximum transport weight of a component is 52.5t.

Key components for the SCC9000 are imported and these include the Cummins QSK23-C engine; Rexroth hydraulic system, gear box, drive motors, ropes; and Robway limiter system. Shanghai Sany’s current production capacity is around two to three units per year with the next two years production already sold. Unit price is in the range of $13.3 million and company sources tell Construction Contractor that the earliest delivery dates for orders placed now is June 2010 or later.

In 2007, Sany exported 150 cranes valued at $66 million. This will grow once the company’s overseas plants come on stream. A factory in the UAE should be ready later this year and will assemble 50t crawler cranes (150 per year). Industry sources claim Sany has a joint development agreement with an unnamed company to build a super crawler cranes in the 1,600t to 3,200t capacity.

The SCC90000 features:

video monitoring for winch and rear

CAN bus communication

main hydraulic system adopts closed-end loop, featuring a wide and variable speed regulation

operating mode and mounting mode

real-time grounding pressure display

multiple counterweight configuration proposals

two swing modes: two gearshifts (high speed and low speed); others are variably regulated

winch, luffing and swing mechanisms feature independent circuit emergency operation

jib insert and derrick mast insert are used in a mixed manner

main boom and jib can be transported under assembly condition

By Kevin Gomez in Shanghai.

Source: Construction Contractor