Gargantuan vehicles look like the stuff of science fiction, but these engineering marvels have been around for some time.
You may be familiar with one of them – the bucket-wheel excavator Bagger 288. The Bagger 288 still holds the record for the largest land vehicle in the world.
Below, we look at nine of the world’s biggest vehicles, including some of the largest land, sea and air vehicles ever created.
1. Crawler-transporter
In 1965, NASA developed two crawler-transporters to carry rockets to their launch pads. At the time, these massive space shuttle transporters – measuring 40 metres long by 35 metres wide, and more than six metres high – were the largest self-powered land vehicles in the world.
The transporters, which are named Hans and Franz, are now used to transport shuttles between the Vehicle Assembly Building and Launch Complex 39.
2. Bagger 288
On its completion in 1978, Bagger 288 – a bucket-wheel excavator that stands 95 metres tall, 215 metres long and weighs 41,276 tonnes – superseded NASA’s crawler-transporter as the largest land vehicle in the world. It still holds the title.
The monstrous machine is used in the Hambach strip mine in Germany. It excavates up to 240,000 tonnes of coal a day. That’s equivalent to the size of a 31-metre-deep soccer field.
3. Caterpillar 797B
The 797B is the second-generation model in Caterpillar’s 797 range of mechanical powertrain haul trucks manufactured for high-production mining and heavy-duty construction.
Following in the footsteps of its mammoth predecessor, this model has a payload capacity of 345 tonnes – one of the largest in the world.
4. BelAZ 75710
This massive ultra-class haul truck is 21 metres long – equal to the length of two double-decker buses parked end-to-end – eight metres tall and 10 metres wide.
Constructed for a Russian mining company, the BelAZ 75710 weighs 360 tonnes – more than a fully-loaded Airbus A380 passenger plane. It has a payload capacity of 408,233 tonnes, the largest capacity of any dump truck.
5. Icon of the Seas
Icon of the Seas is the largest cruise ship in the world, weighing in with a gross tonnage of 248,663. The cruise ship, which is owned by Royal Caribbean and built by Finnish shipbuilder Meyer Turku, is 365 metres long.
The enormous cruise liner cost €1.86 billion and was launched in 2022. Her maiden voyage took place in January 2024. The floating resort has a crew of 2,350 and space for 7,600 passengers.
6. SSCV Sleipnir
The semi-submersible crane vessel (SSCV) Sleipnir is the largest crane vessel in the world. It has two revolving cranes, each with a capacity of 10,000 tonnes. The Sleipnir was built between 2015 and 2019 in Singapore, at a cost of US$1 billion.
It measures 220 metres long by 102 metres wide. The crane runs on emission-reducing LNG, making it the most sustainable SSCV in the world. The vessel is named for the eight-legged horse ridden by Odin in Norse mythology.
7. Antonov An-225 Mriya
This cargo plane was designed by the Soviet Union’s Antonov Design Bureau in the 1980s for strategic military airlifts. The Soviets were known for building large aircraft. The Mriya is no exception.
At 84 metres long, with a weight of 285 tonnes, a wingspan of 88 metres and a cargo space large enough to hold 50 cars, Mriya is the largest and the heaviest plane on Earth.
8. Liebherr T282B
This monstrous off-highway, ultra-class haul dump truck is used primarily in gold, coal, copper and iron mining operations. Measuring 15 metres long by 10 metres wide, with a height of eight metres and a payload capacity of 363 tonnes, the Liebherr T282B is the second-largest capacity dump truck in the world (after the BelAZ 75710).
This gigantic vehicle, which features a 20-cylinder diesel engine that produces 3,750 horsepower, can reach a maximum speed of 64 kph.
9. The Terex/Bucyrus RH400
This massive front-shovel hydraulic excavator was originally launched by Terex in Germany in 1997 – a company that was later acquired by Bucyrus in 2010, and then by Caterpillar in 2011.
The Bucyrus RH400 has an undercarriage width of nine metres, a height of 10 metres (at the top of the cab) and a crawler length of 11 metres. It’s powered by two 16-cylinder diesel engines, weighs approximately 889 tonnes and has a bucket capacity of 45 cubic metres per shovel load.
At KH Plant, we don’t deal with the world’s biggest vehicles, but we do love well-made, reliable machines. We specialise in restoring Caterpillar 140G, 140H and 140K motor graders to as-new condition – so you can get the benefits of a new motor grader at a fraction of the cost of a new machine. Contact us for more information or to discuss your needs.
