As of June 2026, single-girder electric overhead travelling (EOT) bridge cranes from Chinese OEMs are listed from US$2,000 for a 1 t light-duty unit up to US$200,000 for a 10 t custom-engineered hoist build, with the 10 t double-girder EOT benchmark sitting near US$40,000 per set FOB [S1][S5][S8]. The price spread is driven almost entirely by capacity, duty class, girder count and whether the buyer's facility is a new build or a retrofit.
North American and EU integrators price on a different axis: Dearborn Overhead Cranes in the US, for example, groups its offering into top-running, under-running (under-hung) bridge cranes, gantries, jibs and hoist kits rather than by tonnage alone, reflecting 60 years of build-to-order practice [S6]. Chinese factories on Made-in-China.com instead list hundreds of stock configurations with explicit FOB price bands, which makes them the most useful public reference for first-pass budgeting.
What the 2026 price bands actually look like
The 1–10 t light-duty band, dominated by single-girder LD-type cranes, opens at roughly US$2,000 per set for a 1 t electric hoist build from a Shandong trading house [S1], and tops out around US$10,000 per set for "European standard" double-girder workshop cranes in the same class [S5]. The mid-range 5–20 t segment — where most fabrication, machining and steel-service centres live — clusters between US$5,000 and US$40,000 per set, with a 10 t EOT double-girder unit from Henan priced at US$40,000/set with 2–8 m/min lift speed and 12 m maximum lift height, CE/ISO9001 certified [S8].
Above 20 t, the curve steepens. A 50 t+ double-girder EOT used in concrete-precast yards, power plants and shipyards commonly lands in the US$50,000–US$150,000 range per set, with custom-engineered European-style FEM/ISO 4301 designs running higher once festoon systems, VFD controls and installation are added. For buyers cross-shopping a gantry crane as an alternative, the gantry-only 5 t double-girder reference from Shandong Honfu sits at US$2,890–US$14,500 per piece with RoHS/CE/ISO9001 marking, a useful sanity check on the bare steel structure [S7].
The four spec levers that move the number
Capacity is the loudest lever, but not the most expensive per tonne. A 5 t to 10 t step on the same girder typically adds 30–60% to the price, while upgrading from CMAA Class C (light) to Class D (heavy) duty can add another 20–35% because the hoist, motors and end-truck bearings all step up. Girder count is the second lever: a double-girder build costs 1.5×–2.2× a single-girder of equal capacity because of the second girder, the heavier end trucks and the larger hoist trolley, but it gives back longer span (commonly 20–35 m vs 7.5–20 m) and better hook approach for tight workshops [S4][S5].
Span and lift height drive the third and fourth levers. A 30 m span uses noticeably more runway rail, bridge girder steel and conductor bar than a 10 m span, and lift heights above 12 m require longer wire rope, larger drums and often a reeving change. Buyers who need a structured comparison of how these four levers stack against each other across single vs double girder builds should cross-reference the Overhead Bridge Crane Selection: Duty Class, Span, Girder and Hoist Gates guide, which lays out the same decision tree against typical capacity bands.
A condensed comparison of the main options a procurement engineer will see on a 2026 RFQ:
- Single-girder LD, 1–5 t, span ≤ 20 m: US$2,000–US$8,000/set FOB; CMAA Class A–C; cheap, fast lead time, limited hook height [S1][S5].<br/>- Single-girder HD, 5–10 t, span ≤ 25 m: US$8,000–US$25,000/set; CMAA Class C–D; workhorse of small fab shops [S5].<br/>- Double-girder EOT, 10 t, span 20–30 m: US$30,000–US$50,000/set; the 10 t benchmark unit from Henan at US$40,000/set, 12 m lift, 2–8 m/min hoist speed, CE/ISO9001 [S8].<br/>- Double-girder EOT, 20–50 t, span 25–35 m: US$50,000–US$150,000/set; commonly engineered to FEM/ISO 4301 or CMAA Class D–E; shipyard, precast and steel-mill duty.<br/>- Custom European-style FEM, 5–80 t: US$20,000–US$200,000/set depending on span and options; Foshan-based Nangui Crane offers "Europe type" double-girder EOT in this class [S4].
What is and is not in the headline price
Chinese FOB listings on Made-in-China.com quote the crane body — bridge girders, end trucks, hoist, trolley and basic pendant or radio controls — but typically exclude runway rails, foundation bolts, electrification (busbar or festoon), installation labour, freight to port and import duties [S1][S5][S8]. A 10 t EOT at US$40,000/set FOB will commonly land at US$55,000–US$70,000 CIF at a US or EU port once ocean freight, packaging and a 5–10% customs duty are layered in, then another 15–30% on top for installation and commissioning.
US-system integrators like Dearborn price on a turnkey, installed basis — the quote covers engineering, foundation, runway, electrification, the crane itself, load testing to ASME B30.2 and operator training — which is why their published numbers look 2×–3× higher than Chinese FOB lists [S6]. Both price points are honest; they answer different questions. The Chinese FOB price is the equipment-only baseline; the US integrator price is the total installed cost. Buyers should never compare the two without normalising scope.
Who an overhead bridge crane is — and is not — for
An overhead bridge crane pays back when a facility moves the same load repeatedly inside a defined rectangular envelope: a machine shop feeding CNC cells, a steel service centre handling plate and beams, a precast yard pouring and stripping forms, or a warehouse staging heavy pallets. For these duty cycles, an EOT crane replaces forklift travel and manual rigging, typically cutting load-handling time by 40–60% and removing most crane-related struck-by injuries. The decision gate is whether the workflow is rectangular (use a bridge or gantry crane) versus point-to-point on a fixed path (use a crawler crane for mobile, one-off lifts). [S1]
It is the wrong tool when lift frequency is low (a few lifts per week), when loads sit in many different cells rather than one defined area, or when the building cannot accept runway beams — in those cases, a mobile crawler crane, a forklift with crane attachment or a small jib crane will land cheaper per lift. It is also the wrong tool for outdoor yards longer than about 40 m unless a gantry is acceptable, because runway extensions drive cost up faster than adding a wheel on a rubber-tyred gantry.
Standards, certification and the questions a buyer should ask
Three documents govern almost every EOT specification conversation: CMAA 70 / 74 for US-style duty classification, FEM 1.001 / 9.341 for European-style grouping, and ISO 4301 for the international duty-spectrum mapping. Buyers should always ask the OEM for the duty class (CMAA A–F or FEM 1Bm–5m), the hoist service factor, the motor insulation class (F or H is common for VFD-driven hoists) and the exact motor and gearbox brand — the cheapest way to cut a Chinese quote by 15% is to swap SEW or Nord drives for unbranded equivalents, which is also the fastest way to cut hoist life by half. [S2]
For buyers needing a deeper walk-through of the same selection tree against current 2026 stock configurations, the Overhead Bridge Crane 2026 Buying Guide: Duty Class, Span, Girder and Hoist is a useful cross-reference. For cross-equipment cost comparison — particularly when a pallet stacker or a small gantry might solve the same problem at lower capex — the Gantry Crane 2026 Buying Guide: Duty Class, Span, Capacity and Sourcing Levers lays out the parallel decision points on the gantry side.
Failure modes and the silent cost drivers
The three most expensive post-purchase surprises on Chinese EOT cranes are: (1) undersized hoists — a 10 t nameplate with a 7.5 t hoist and a 1.5 t auxiliary is common, and the difference only shows up under actual production load; (2) conductor bar or festoon systems quoted separately and never budgeted; and (3) installation crews — US and EU labour for a 10 t EOT install runs US$15,000–US$40,000 depending on runway length and existing infrastructure, which can equal the equipment price on small jobs. Buyer's checklist: hoist rated capacity, total span plus runway length, full electrical scope, installation scope and a load-test certificate to ASME B30.2 or equivalent. [S3]
A trackable signal for the next planning cycle: monitor steel plate and wire-rope spot prices through Q3 2026 — EOT girder steel is 30–45% of the build cost, so a 10% move in HRC steel typically moves the FOB price of a 10 t crane by 3–5% within one quarter. The other signal is freight — Q2 2026 container rates out of Shanghai and Qingdao are the swing factor that turns a US$40,000 FOB into a US$52,000 or US$60,000 CIF at a US Gulf port.
For component-level specifications, see linear guide.