Crawler cranes are renowned for the optimal lifting performances, perfect stability and security in heavy lifting use and for large-scale projects in the construction, infrastructure development and industry sectors. They are particularly well suited for lifting very heavy loads over extended periods or over rough or uneven terrain.

What is a crawler crane?
Crawler cranes have lattice or telescopic booms and are mounted on a tracked undercarriage. The tracks have a larger contact area, making the weight of the crane distributed more evenly and lowering the ground pressure. It is this that makes crawler cranes suitable for soft or unsteady ground when wheeled cranes could risk becoming stuck.

Unlike most other mobile cranes, crawler cranes do not need outriggers for stability, allowing them to increase their lifting power by carrying a load while moving — a huge plus on large or more spread-out job sites. However, crawler cranes are generally shipping in dismantled condition and have to be erected at the construction site due to their large dimensions and heavy weight.

Key features and advantages

Offer high lifting capacities: One important advantage of a crawler crane is its ability to lift very heavy loads; some models have a taking capacity of few thousand tons. That makes them a necessity for certain types of big industrial and construction projects, like bridges and power plants and wind farms.

Stable: The grown base offers great stability, giving excellent traction so you can use the crane on rugged or soft terrain with no added support.

On-Site Mobility – Although they are not able to move on the road, crawler cranes can freely navigate large on-site job sites with the load still hanging, which in turn helps the better operational efficiency.

Customized Set-up: Most crawler crane can be configured with additional options such as jibs or luffing booms making them extremely adaptable on the job site.
Low Ground Pressure: The large-footprint tracks distribute the machine’s weight over a greater amount of ground, resulting in less ground disturbance.

Applications
Applications Crawler cranes can be found in use for:
Heavy Infrastructure: Bridges, dams, and highway overpasses.
Energy: Windmills installation, oil platforms and atomic plant assembly.
Industrial Facilities: Rigging and erection of heavy equipment or steel structures.
Harbour & Marine: Transporting oversized freight or ship parts.

Considerations and Limitations

Despite their numerous benefits, there are limitations of crawler crane:

Transport & Setting: Such cranes are heavy and require disassembly for transportation, and Cranes/Erection equipment’s to assemble them at site.

Expensive: Because of how big and heavy crawler cranes are and how much power their booms require, they are typically more expensive, whether renting or purchasing, than many other types of cranes.
Low Travel Speed: Crawler cranes travel at slow speeds and are generally not conducive to long distance travel making them inflexible to multiple job sites.

Conclusion

Crawler cranes are built for the toughest of terrain and to be robust enough for hardcore lifting. Due to their high stability, load capacity, and flexibility, they are indispensable in any large-scale or complex constructions. Most of them are more difficult to move and you can't simply just start it up and bang and you are good to go, however for on site performance and safety crawler cranes stakes an indispensable claim in the realm of heavy industry.

About CEC

CEC is a privately owned company managing multi-million-dollar projects for a rapidly expanding client base, including some of Canada's most prominent companies.

CEC strongly emphasizes investing in new technology and health and safety initiatives to uphold its commitment to social and environmental responsibility while maintaining its core focus on client satisfaction.