IC100: The top crane-owning companies in the world

While there have already been 100 entries in the familiar IC50 crane-owning company table for some time, the IC50 name remained, until now. A sufficient increase in the available data has allowed us to reliably extend it to justify the IC100 title.

BKL in Germany installing concrete bridge beams using eight axle Liebherr LTM 1650-8.1 and LTM 1450-8.1 wheeled mobile telescopic cranes. (Photo: BKL)

It also aligns it with some of our sister magazine rankings, including the ACT100 and IRN100. Another change you’ll see is that there is less data in the table. It has been streamlined as has the commentary, to give a more concise snapshot. More data, detail and analysis will be available separately, so look out for how to get this soon.

What has changed for crane-owners since 2021? 

Anyway, it is all about the ranking and how things have changed in there from last year so here are some basis statistics. The overall total IC Index, for all 218 entries (two more than 2021), is 32,602,533 points, up 2.19 per cent on the 31,903,004 points of the 2021 table.

What with everything going on in the world at the moment and in the last two years, you might be forgiven for expressing surprise at any increase. When you look at the top 100 companies, the real IC100, however, the increase is about half, just 1.28 %. Still an increase none the less, although nothing compared with last year’s 7.89 % increase and nearly 5 % the year before.

It is also a relatively lonely increase in that there are only two others this year. One is that we had 11 new or returning (at least a couple that look familiar from years gone by) companies entering. This was countered by nine companies removed from the list, mainly due to a lack of recent data.

The other metric higher than last year is the number of depots in the top 100 companies, up 1.46 %, or 22 more than the year before. That’s close to one in four companies having one more depot than they did in 2021. Note that last year there were fewer depots than in 2020.

Crane companies see multiple declines 

So, yes, everything else was down. Examples include around 1,500 fewer employees, 1,000 fewer wheeled cranes and just 13 fewer lattice boom cranes. Last year wheeled mobiles were also down but lattice cranes were up by similarly strong amounts for the last two years.

A team from the China Nuclear Industry Mechanical Engineering Co (CNME) hoisted the 487 tonne dome of the No. 1 generator unit at Zhangzhou Nuclear Power Plant in East China’s Fujian Province. (Photo: CNME)

When you look at just the top 20 companies, the decline is more pronounced, with everything down, especially the number of wheeled cranes, by a whopping 13.87 %, or around 1,500 units. A large proportion of this is accounted for by Maxim in the USA having slashed its wheeled mobile fleet size from 2,850 units last year to 1,750 in this year’s IC100 table.

Maxim’s fleet reduction is reflected in its move from third in the table to 8th. Almost totally opposite to that is fellow USA-based crane owner Buckner, now replacing Maxim in third place, having gained four from 7th last year. One to watch is BMS from Denmark.

This year it has gained another place, putting it in 5th. Just one place, I hear you say, but it should be noted that just five years ago it was in 16th place. Giant steps indeed. While BMS is now one of the top six companies in the “millionaires club” of the IC100, it still needs to more than triple its total to match the leader of the table, Mammoet, enjoying a widened gap between it and its nearest rival Sarens in second place.

Top 10 largest crane-owning companies in the world