13 October 2026
Check out our ten spectacular lifting projects from the last year. Give them all careful consideration and submit a vote for your favourite.
Welcome to the 2026 IC TopLift contest where your vote will help choose a favourite lifting project of the year.
It is simply a celebration of what the industry is capable of and an opportunity to be proud of the many achievements, whether or not they win the contest.
Our annual selection of ten great lifting projects from the last 12 months or so this year includes an especially broad range of equipment types, brands and lifting methods.
Cast a critical eye over the ten jobs we’ve selected, most of which you can find more details in the last year of back issues of ICST magazine or on our website. Voting is easy – download and complete the editable pdf linked below or email editor Alex Dahm [email protected] with the number of the entry you are voting for, your contact details, company, job title, address and phone number.
You can download a regular digital copy of the magazine at our CraneandTransportBriefing.com website or at this link for the magazine issue containing this article and the entry form.
All votes need to be submitted by 03 November, please.
ENTRY 1
A quintet of cranes
IC TopLift 2026 entry 1, BKL
Equipment: Grove GMK5250XL-1 and GMK6450-1; Liebherr LTM 1230-5.1, LTM 1300-6.2 and LTM 1450-8.1
Equipment user: Baukran Logistik (BKL)
Location: Frankfurt, Germany
A five-crane lift was carefully planned to install a large gantry crane at an industrial park. It was determined that the best option for the trimodal gantry crane, used to trans-ship cargo containers between road, rail and water transport, was to erect it in one piece. The single-beam bridge type travelling gantry crane was made by Künz in Austria and all the components lifted weighed a total of 360 tonnes.
ENTRY 2
Equipment mix
IC TopLift 2026 entry 2, Vanguard
Equipment: Riggers Manufacturing EZ-600 and Lift Systems Power Tower gantry systems
Equipment user: Vanguard
Location: Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Vanguard completed the turnkey installation of a Yadon tandem press line for Isuzu vehicle components. A highlight was installing a 200 tonne press crown, at a height of almost 8 metres, using multiple sets of gantry legs. The gantry tracks were set 10.3 metres apart and the main header beams were 13 metres long. Even the cross beams were more than 7 metres long and a side scroller system was also used.
ENTRY 3
Quattro lift
IC TopLift 2026 entry 3, Van Riel
Equipment: 2x Tadano AC 9.700-1, an AC 8.500-1 and a Liebherr LTM 1450-8.1
Equipment user: Van Riel
Location: Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) inland port, Netherlands
Four large wheeled mobile telescopic cranes worked together on a spectacular project to install and erect a 240 tonne port gantry crane. To manage the lift all four cranes were set up with full counterweight but no superlift. Equal distribution of the load between the four cranes was essential to avoid overloading any individual one. Synchronisation of the lifting movements prevented the load from overturning and took out any tendency to twist or warp the load. The crane was lifted 24 metres above the ground, then swung 10 metres to one side before being set down.
ENTRY 4
Deep drop
IC TopLift 2026 entry 4, PSC Crane and Rigging
Equipment: J&R Engineering Lift-N-Lock four-post lifting gantry, 816 and 635 tonne tonne capacity, strand jacks.
Equipment user: PSC Crane & Rigging
Location: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
It was quite a challenge to lift, move and lower a 693 tonne tunnel boring machine 56 metres down a starter shaft on a confined urban construction site. Co-ordination, advanced engineering and disciplined execution were needed to safely manage one of the heaviest and most complex components in underground construction. PSC designed an eight-point hydraulic configuration gantry-based lifting system using dual 58 metre rail tracks over engineered timber matting and steel plates. A synchronised four-point strand jack system, each rated at 5,000 kN, provided precise load equalisation and controlled movement.
ENTRY 5
Tallest tower
IC TopLift 2026 entry 5, Favelle Favco
Equipment: 2x Favelle Favco M390D and one M390DS diesel-hydraulic tower cranes
Equipment user: Construction Products Holding Company (SBG/BIHG)
Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
A trio of large Favelle Favco luffing jib tower cranes is helping build what will be the world’s tallest building, at 1 km and 157 floors. All three Favcos on top of the building have a safe working load of 32 tonnes on two falls of hoist rope, or 25 tonnes on a single fall. They have 45.8 metre jibs (maximum 73.4 metres). To help reduce lift cycle time the maximum light load hoist speed on the M390DS is 232 m/min. When construction started in 2013 it was known as the Kingdom Tower. Construction paused in 2018 at a height of 63 floors, before restarting in January 2025. Completion is due in 2028.
ENTRY 6
Dismantling in Casablanca
IC TopLift 2026 entry 6, Somalev
Equipment: Liebherr LTM 1400-7.1 and LTM 1250/1
Equipment user: Somalev Cranes & Logistics
Location: Port of Casablanca, Morocco
A pair of wheeled mobile cranes was chosen to dismantle two old port cranes as part of a terminal modernisation scheme. Decommissioning involved lifting and handling more than 1,400 tonnes of structural steel at heights of up to 70 metres, in a confined area, all while the port continued to operate. Changes made to the cranes over the years affected the load weights and CoG, so the telescopic cranes were chosen over lattice types because their configuration could be adapted more quickly to accommodate the variations and unexpected space restrictions.
ENTRY 7
Leading by a length
IC TopLift 2026 entry 7, CRBBG
Equipment: 2x Potain MCT 385 flat top tower cranes
Equipment user: CRBBG
Location: Fuchi and Cezi islands, China
China Railway Baoji Bridge Group (CRBBG) is using the cranes to build the Zhoushan Taoyaomen Bridge in China linking the islands of Fuchi and Cezi across a 666 metre main span. It will be the world’s longest-span road-rail cable-stayed hybrid-girder bridge. Project contractor CRBBG chose the two cranes, owned by rental company Guizhou Shengyongsheng, to meet the project’s height and load demands. The latest version of the MCT 385 is the 20 tonne MCT 385A L20. It lifts 3.4 tonnes at the end of the maximum 75 metre jib.
ENTRY 8
Do the strand
IC TopLift 2026 entry 8, Mammoet
Equipment: 4x 900 tonne capacity strand jacks
Equipment user: Mammoet Americas
Location: Corpus Christi, Texas, USA
An engineered solution avoiding traditional demolition methods was chosen as the best way to remove the suspended central span of the US 181 Harbor Bridge. Following evaluation of several possible methods Mammoet used strand jacks and eight cantilever beams to lower the 2,087 tonne steel truss 40 metres onto a waiting barge carrying SPMT before transporting it for dismantling. Doing it in one piece meant less work at height, minimised disruption to nearby facilities and allowed shipping lanes to reopen more quickly.
ENTRY 9
Synchronicity
IC TopLift 2026 entry 9, Wiesbauer and AKM
Equipment: 2x Tadano AC 7,450-1 all terrains
Equipment user: Wiesbauer, AKM
Location: Horb, Germany
The job was to lift two bridge elements, each weighing 32 tonnes and 24 metres long, to a height of 64 metres, for the new 667 metre-long Neckartal Bridge. It was the first job for Wiesbauer’s crane, tandem lifting with another one from AKM. Wiesbauer configured it with 76 metres of boom and 120 tonnes of counterweight. Lifting in tandem required co-ordination between all parties via radio to achieve synchronicity between the cranes and the load balanced precisely on the hooks.
ENTRY 10
Bridging Juneau Creek
IC TopLift 2026 entry 10, Traylor Bros and Quality Asphalt Paving (QAP) joint-venture company
Equipment: 2x Liebherr LR 1300.1-SX lattice crawlers
Equipment user: Quality Asphalt Paving (QAP) and Traylor Bros joint venture
Location: Anchorage, Alaska, USA
The Juneau Creek Bridge, a steel girder construction spanning 290 metres across a deep canyon, will be the highest crossing in the US state at 87 metres. It is being built using a ‘launch bridge’ technique where the bridge is assembled on one side and gradually moved across the gap. The two 300 tonne capacity crawler cranes are deployed for the lifting, balancing, and guiding of each girder during assembly. The girders have to be lifted and aligned with millimetre precision to ensure structural stability.
Supporting documents
Click links below to download and view individual files.
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