Even stronger growth in the 2025 IC100 crane owner top list

Human Ohya dismantling a ferris wheel in the Koto Ward (known as Odaiba), Tokyo, Japan. The main lift crane is a Liebherr LR 1750/2 in HSW specification with 42 metre main boom and 77 metre jib. Support cranes were a Tadano AR-5500M and a Kato KA-1300SL, plus several rough terrains. Photo: Human Ohya

Solid growth and a few significant disruptors characterise this year’s IC100 top list which ranks the world’s biggest crane companies according to their equipment fleet’s lifting capability.

Looking at the overall headline totals, we had 214 companies with a combined total fleet capability of 41,843,287 points, up 11 per cent on 2024’s 37,712,101 and more than 20 % up on the 2023 total of 34,510,957 points.

That total increase is even more impressive when you consider last year there were 221 companies, seven more than this year. The full number fluctuates as this year nearly 20 companies were removed, some as a result of consolidation, mainly in the USA, while the remainder were either due to old data or being defunct. Then there were at least ten new or returning entries, four of which are in the top 100.

And so the top 100 is where we focus. Its combined total IC Index in 2025 is 39,320,900 points, up an even more impressive 12 % on 2024’s top 100 total of 35,107,721.

Everything else is up too in the top 100. The total number of employees, at 93,887, was up 8.6 % on the 86,486 of 2024. It is up more than any year in at least the last decade.

Wheeled cranes were also up, with a total of 28,251 units, up 4.2% on the 27,114 of 2024. It is the biggest percentage increase in the last five years. The total number of lattice boom cranes, at 8,668, was up 4 % on the 8,330 units among the top 100 companies in 2024.

At 1,626, even the number of company branches or depots was up, by five (0.3 %) on the 1,621 of 2024’s top 100.

IC100 2025

Nearer the top

Among the top 20 largest companies, however, the number of depots was 608, up by 8.4 % on the 561 total of 2024. A fair few such expansions have been reported in ICST over the last year.

Staying with the top 20 the number of employees, at 35,396, was up by an even higher 9.2 %, on the 32,424 total last year and by a higher percentage than any year in the last ten.

It is interesting to note, in terms of the number of cranes owned by the top 20 companies, both were down – unlike the top 100. Wheeled cranes, at 9,066 units, were down 5.2 %, or 494 units, on the 9,560 of 2024, while the number of lattice cranes was 4,137, down 155 units (3.6 %) on the 4,292 total last year.

Legacy top 10

Harder to fathom are the numbers in the Top 10 Sample (actually of seven companies but that is a long old story). This is a group of companies remaining from a top ten many years ago, updated each year since.

In the 2025 Top 10 Sample it starts of well, with the Index up 12 % to 13,174,140 points, from 11,762,377 in 2024. It is all downhill from there, however, with fewer depots and employees, plus the numbers of cranes in both categories is down. Even the capacity of largest crane is down.

Denzai KK’s Liebherr LR 12500-1.0 at work on S-Oil’s Shaheen project in Ulsan, South Korea. Photo: Denzai

2025 positions

As usual, the first and second placed companies remain the same. Mammoet in first place has increased its capability by 7.9 % in the last year while for Sarens, in second, it is 9.6 %. Once again, the gap has narrowed between the two global giants of the industry. It is now an 8 % difference, down from 9.7 % last year, 22 % in 2023 and a yawning 42 % difference back in 2020.

Moving down the table, the first of our disruptors is Maxim, back in the top 10, ahead of Buckner, pushing it and Sanghvi down one place. BMS in 6th retains its position as does Sinopec at 7th, both having added a lot more to their fleets in the last year than Lampson, now in 8th.

Rounding out the top 10 is another disruptor, Shanghai Tengfa, now calculating its fleet capability using the correct tonne-metre ratings instead of nominal tonnage capacity (see Notes for the IC100 box).

Newcomers

New IC100 entry company Saraiva Equipamentos using a 500 tonne Liebherr LTM 1500-8.1 wheeled mobile telescopic crane to erect a wind turbine in Brazil. Photo: Saraiva

Highest placed new or returning company is Bay Crane at 24th. This acquisitive US business has been absent from the table for many years. Thanks go to ICST sister magazine American Cranes and Transport and its ACT100 ranking for its return.

Then the three new entries in the top 100 are Urmilla from India at 46, Saraiva from Brazil at 79 and Pollisum from Singapore, in at 98. Entering the top 100 from just outside are Transportes Montejo from Colombia and Northwest Crane and Davis Crane from the USA. All help broaden the geographic spread of the table and are very welcome.

The 2025 IC100

* There are 5 more depots among the top 100 companies.