Sany SCC 4000 and SCC 2500 crawler cranes at Bauma China 2006

The crane began to be designed in 2005 and came off the Shanghai production line in April 2006. When it passed its final commissioning tests in June, it was the largest Chinese-made crane.

But the only reward for this honour that its new owner the Xinjiang Thermoelectric Construction company gave it was a punishing journey 5,000km (3,000mi) to its first job, more than half of which was through the Gobi desert.

The destination was the Dushanzi petrochemical corporation in Xinjiang, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, an RMB 20bn government-funded construction project. “The temperature difference between day and night is enormous in Xinjiang. The crane working condition is extremely bad, moreover, time was limited and the duty heavy,” the report said.

The crane lifted its first load on 30 June. A week later, it began to lift a 400 sq m (4,350 sq ft) water cooling wall weighing 60t, when disaster nearly struck. The report continues: “Because of an unexpected accident, the crane overloaded 24%. At that moment if we had laid down the heavy item, the water cooling wall would have broken off. It was really unable to back down or quit. Finally, with bilateral full cooperation, we took every security measure, and completed the hoisting when there was no wind.”

Over the next few months, the crane would continue to make large lifts, including a 210t reactor at the Karamay refinery in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.