HLPFI reviews the finalists for the 2025 Innovation Award, sponsored by Denzai.
For this award, our judges were looking for the company that, in the past 12 months, has developed an innovative piece of equipment or technology designed to improve the lift or transport of heavy and oversize cargoes.
Our 2025 shortlist includes:
Fagioli
Fagioli designed a custom-engineered lifting system using synchronised strand jacks and a jack-up system for the roll-up of two 600-tonne side walls for a 2,600-tonne offshore jacket in La Spezia, Italy. A horizontal locking mechanism maintained alignment during verticalization, with the innovative approach enabling the safe and efficient assembly of the structure.
Liebherr-Werk Ehingen
Liebherr-Werk Ehingen showcased its M-SPMT for this category – a solution where SPMTs are used as a counterweight trailer for ultra heavy-duty cranes, such as its 2,500-tonne capacity LR 12500-1.0 crawler crane. A special control box of the SPMT ensures communication between the crane and the SPMTs, enabling the crawler crane to control the movements of the heavy haulage vehicles. When there is no application for the crane and counterweight trailer, the crane can be used separately and the SPMTs can carry out other work, avoiding a large investment not being utilised.
Mammoet
For this award, Mammoet put forward the 6,000-tonne capacity SK6000 – the world’s strongest land-based crane. With a containerised design for easy deployment and capable of hoisting bigger loads at a greater height, the crane is an evolution of the company’s SK range. Praised for its potential use in the offshore wind sector, the crane has been designed with electric operation in mind, meaning it can offer a zero-emission solution in marshalling operations.
Prism Logistics
Prism Logistics has been shortlisted for the innovative approaches deployed for the delivery of more than 2,500 tonnes of cargo across 2,200 km for the IOCL Panipat Refinery project in Haryana. It utilised CAD drawings and schematic diagrams to install three modular steel bridges at different canals simultaneously to facilitate the moves.
Sarens
Also earning its place on the shortlist was Sarens. It showcased its purpose-built mobile application, Motion. The application is designed to digitise and streamline timekeeping, safety documentation, and operational workflows – reimagining a core process in the heavy lifting industry by bringing digital solutions into the hands of the field teams that execute the most complex operations.
SINOPEC Heavy Lifting & Transportation
SINOPEC shone a light on its world-first deployment of a 4,000-tonne crawler crane in tower-configuration mode to install an 18 MW offshore wind turbine with a 260 m rotor. Achieving two world records, it removed reliance on specialised vessels, cut capital expenditure, and sped up return on investment through optimised installation. As well as improvements in cost and time efficiencies, our judges praised the repurposing of existing equipment during this scope of work.
Vanguard
Vanguard entered its wind blade shunt trailer system for this year’s Innovation Award. With the trailer system, Vanguard was able to transport 75 wind turbine blades – measuring 90.65 m – from South Africa’s port of Richards Bay for the first time, offering a shorter route than Durban. The custom modular trailer system was able to navigate the logistical challenges and tight road network in and around the port as it could receive and transport blades in both forward and reverse orientations.
The winners of this year’s Innovation Award will be announced at the Heavy Lift Awards 2025 ceremony on October 22 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. To join the celebrations, book your place today.
