Crawler and all-terrain cranes, uptower lifts, blade and tower transport and heavy haul logistics, matched to specialist lift providers across Australia.
Request a QuoteMatched to vetted providers in your state. No cost, no obligation.
A wind turbine crane campaign is as much a logistics exercise as a lift. We match wind farm owners, asset managers and EPC contractors to specialist providers who supply the crane, the transport and the engineering to erect turbines and exchange major components safely.
Whether you need a 1000 tonne crawler for a blade or gearbox swap at 120 metres, a self-erecting crane for uptower work, or a full oversize transport plan to move blades across regional roads, we route your enquiry to providers who hold the right tickets and can reach your site.
Tell us the make, model, component, hub height and site once. Vetted providers respond with crane availability, lift methodology and pricing, and there is no cost or obligation to owners.
Tell us about your turbine, the component and your site access. We match your enquiry to specialist crane and heavy-lift providers who cover your platform and state.
Your enquiry is sent to vetted service partners who may contact you directly. We never charge owners or asset managers.
Global Wind Organisation trained crews across the network.
Partners aligned with CEC codes of conduct.
Out-of-warranty support for major OEM platforms.
HV tickets, rope access (IRATA) and heavy-lift credentials.
Nothing on a wind turbine moves without a plan. The crane is only the visible part of a job that starts with route surveys, permits and ground engineering weeks before the first load lands on site.
Wind turbine lifts sit at the extreme end of the crane industry. Hub heights on new Australian machines routinely exceed 120 metres, nacelles weigh well over 70 tonnes and blades now run past 80 metres, so the cranes and transport fleets that handle them are specialised, scarce and expensive to mobilise. We match owners, asset managers and EPC contractors to providers who can supply the full package: the main crane, the tailing crane, the transport, the rigging and the lift engineering, all coordinated to a single methodology and a single weather window.
Two crane families do most of the heavy work on Australian wind farms. Large crawler cranes, often in the 600 to 1600 tonne class and rigged with luffing jibs, carry the main lifts for turbine erection and for major component exchange where the crane must hold a heavy load at large radius and full height. They track between positions on prepared ground but are slow and costly to assemble, so lift sequencing matters. All-terrain cranes, typically 200 to 750 tonne class, mobilise faster on public roads and suit component swaps, tailing duties and sites where a crawler cannot be justified.
Crane selection is driven by the load chart, not the headline capacity. A provider works back from the heaviest component, the hub height, the required radius and the rigging weight to the crane and counterweight configuration that keeps the lift inside the chart with margin. Getting this right at quoting stage avoids the far more expensive problem of a crane arriving on site that cannot make the lift. Our matched providers prepare the lift study, load charts and ground pressures before mobilising, and tie the crane plan to the main component exchange scope.
Not every job needs a ground crane. For lighter components inside or on top of the nacelle, uptower crane systems and self-erecting cranes let a provider lift pitch motors, yaw drives, converter modules, generators on some platforms and other parts without mobilising a large crawler at all. Crane-less and uptower methods cut cost and lead time dramatically and are often the difference between a turbine back online in days rather than weeks. They are central to modern gearbox, generator and drivetrain repair strategy, and matched providers advise when an uptower method is viable for your component and platform.
Transport, not the lift, is usually the hardest part of an Australian wind job. Blades of 60 to 90 metres and tower sections several metres in diameter travel as over-dimensional loads on specialised extendable, blade-lifter and self-steering trailers. The route from port or factory to a wind farm often runs for hundreds of kilometres over regional and local roads that were never built for loads this long, so swept-path analysis around roundabouts and intersections, bridge and culvert load ratings, and overhead clearances all have to be checked and sometimes modified. Damaged blades removed under blade repair scope face the same constraints in reverse.
Moving oversize and overmass loads in Australia means working within each state's road transport and permit regime, which differ markedly between Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales. Providers secure the state road permits, arrange pilot and in some cases police escort vehicles, and schedule travel windows that often restrict long blade moves to off-peak or night running. On remote Western Australian and regional sites the logistics chain can stretch across a week of staged moves, so the transport plan and the crane plan have to be locked together to avoid an idle crawler waiting on a late blade.
A large crawler imposes enormous ground pressure through its tracks and outriggers, and a failure of the ground under load is one of the most serious risks on any lift. Providers carry out ground-bearing assessment and design or verify the crane pad and hardstand, often with geotechnical input and mats or steel plates to spread the load. The final gate is weather: major lifts have strict wind limits, commonly around 9 to 12 metres per second at hub height depending on the component, and Australian sites on exposed ridgelines can lose days to wind. Matched providers build weather-window management into the schedule and sequence lifts so crews and cranes are ready the moment conditions allow.
Crane methods, rigging frames and lift tools differ by platform, so we match providers with real erection and exchange experience on your machines, whether that is Vestas, Siemens Gamesa or Senvion. Crane hire also underpins end-of-life work, so the same providers support decommissioning and repowering campaigns where turbines are dismantled and components recovered. Coverage is organised by state so cranes and transport can reach your site across Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales.
