IC Tower Index 2026: holding on

In many ways this year’s IC Tower Index ranking of the world’s largest tower crane fleets is very similar to last year’s but there are some notable exceptions.

Growth in the total capability of the top 20 companies is very close to but slightly lower than last year. The top 20 is up by 213,604 points which sounds a lot and is the equivalent to the fleet size of Morrow or Wolffkran, both of which are in the top 10. It pushes the top 20 up by 2.4 per cent over last year which, in turn, was only up 2.3 % on 2024. This year’s total was 9,248,523 points, up from 9,034,919.

The increase among the top five companies was just 0.6 %, up from 7,082,983 to 7,122,621 points, about half of what it was last year but an increase all the same.

Looking at the total number of cranes at the top 20 companies, this showed a 5 % decline, to 23,739 units, back down to the 2021-22 level total. This is interesting because the IC Tower Index total shows an increase which must mean the number of larger cranes is increasing, replacing smaller ones.

BKL installed a Saez SLH70.4 hydraulic luffer on an inner city job near the famous Frauenkirch in Munich, Germany. Photo: BKL

Good news on the employment front in that the top 20 companies’ total number of employees was up 1.6 % to 17,227 people. That was against a 3 % decline last year. Those extra people, however, must be increasingly crammed into their depots as the total number among the top 20 companies is down by 119, or 21 %, to 460. Having said that, that might be more of a correction as last year posted a 24 % increase over 2024 so it might just be levelling out.

IC Tower Index ranking table for 2026. Copyright KHL Group

In position

The top five places remain unchanged from last year, with a markedly smaller change in their combined total IC Index (as mentioned above, an increase of 0.6 % against 2.4 % for the top 20).

Topping the table again is Abu Dhabi-based NFT which further extended its lead over the number two company Shanghai Pangyuan in China. This year’s gap is an immense 1,578,757 points as against 1,455,021 last year. It is in first place for the fifth year in a row and has been first or second every year for well over a decade.

Morrow is in 7th this year, largely displaced by new entry Atlas in 6th, although it did also reduce its fleet capability by 5.5 %. In doing this it was by no means alone, in that four of the top ten companies also reduced their capability.

Also among the movers and shakers, Marr Contracting entered the top ten for the first time, up two places from 12th last year. It increased its IC Tower Index, or combined total capability, by an impressive19 %, up from 127,715 to 152,060 tonne-metres.

Two new entries this year are Atlas Construction Equipment from China, at number six and General Cranes from Australia, in 23rd place. Welcome to them. This year we say goodbye to three companies all outside the top 30. One was JF Lomma, now part of Bay Crane and, potentially, still part of a future table.

So, in a third year of smaller growth (but growth all the same) the world remains full of uncertainty, war, questionable politics and more things presenting challenges. The industry is quick to react to changes in the general construction sector, usually following behind by maybe six months or even less so, when the upturn comes, it will be relatively quick.

Uperio deployed a Potain type MDT 389 flat top and a T 130-2 self erecting tower crane for the Park Place project in Flagstaff, Arizona, USA. Photo: Uperio