The ring-mounted SK6000 crane, rated at 6,000-tonne safe lifting capacity, has been certified as safe by Lloyd’s Register, which oversaw the load testing.
After reviewing the SK6000’s engineering design earlier during its development, Lloyd’s Register confirmed that the test programme was suitable to prove its capacity charts. Testing was then carried out at Mammoet’s Westdorpe facility in the Netherlands over the last three months, confirming that the crane operates to specification.
Next followed structural and stability testing, during which the SK6000 was subjected to a range of lift weights and conditions, proving that all components can withstand at least 125% overload.
These tests covered the maximum extents of all load charts for the crane, for all main mast configurations, from shortest (127 metres) to longest (171 metres).
At its most strenuous, this process tested the crane to a maximum load moment of 520,000 tonne-metres. This is substantially more than 1.5 times greater than the rated load moment of the SK350, the new crane’s little sister that was previously the world’s strongest land-based crane.
The SK6000 has been designed for Mammoet’s customers across the energy sector to use modularised construction methods with larger components than ever before.
With full 171-metre boom configuration, it can lift 3,000 tonnes to 220 metres away.
The SK6000 will now be stripped down and stowed away in standard containers, ready for shipping to its first project (which has yet to be revealed) in early 2025.
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