The Mighty Manitowoc A Look at the Colossal 21000 - Bigger than Godzilla

A huge red arm across the blue sky, the boom of the 1,000-ton Manitowoc 21000 crawler crane, with its elaborate interlaced lattice pattern and jaw-dropping dimensions, inspires awe in people who know little about cranes. They look around for something relative … like a pickup truck that suddenly looks like a Hot Wheels car. Or the crew of workers who look like ants as they work around its mighty base.

And what do the people who are used to seeing cranes every day have to say of the 1,000-ton Manitowoc? “I still marvel at the size of that crane. It’s a beast,” said Kris Liptak, who helps lead the ALL Family of Companies’ crawler division at its headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio.

“Manitowoc offers 16 different crawler cranes, but the colossal 21000 continues to be a customer favorite, year after year,” explained Liptak. “And it is still produced new by the manufacturer.” The 21000, surprisingly nimble and highly dependable, is a valuable investment for long-term projects, such as bridge work, power plants, wind farms, or in coastal areas, offloading heavy cargo from ships. It’s a truly impressive combination of power and agility.

Long-term assignments are right in the 21000’s wheelhouse because of its size. With a full MAX-ER®, the 21000 travels as 50 semi loads — 60 if you include the luffing jib. However, once it’s on site, set up and ready to work, this heavy lifter’s value becomes evident — and it increases the longer it is on the site and the more it is used.

Just How BIG is Big?
In the original 1954 film, Godzilla stood about 164 feet tall. His height was such that he could just peer over the largest buildings in Tokyo at the time. In the latest American version of the film, released in 2014, Godzilla is said to be “over 400 feet tall.” We presume this was to make him as tall as the Manitowoc 21000 with long-reach boom. Add the luffing jib extension, and the 21000 reaches to 640 feet — more than double the size of Lady Liberty, who stands a squat 300 feet.

The Advantage: Low Ground Bearing Pressure
Its exclusive Octa-trac® eight-crawler system allows swing and travel with a full load and minimizes ground bearing pressure. Reduced ground bearing pressure means less time and investment preparing the site to handle the load. This is a distinct advantage at a site like a power plant, where shutdowns for lifting work can cost a power company millions of dollars each day.

A Valuable Investment
Each of ALL’s 21000s has conducted thousands of lifts while maintaining an almost nonstop work schedule. Each has also been 100% rebuilt — a sizable investment. ALL takes their reputation for quality seriously. Maintaining equipment at a top operational level is not only what ALL customers have come to expect, it is also a point of every employee’s pride, down to the technician who replaces the smallest bolts. A note on replacement parts: all 21000 parts continue to be made due to the machine’s longstanding popularity, which is not always the case with cranes that have been around for several years.

Interested in adding one of the ALL 21000s to YOUR fleet? Call 1-800-232-4100

Fast Facts