Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard Hammerhead Crane

The Giant Cantilever Crane of 1909

The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard Hammerhead Crane (三菱重工業長崎造船所ハンマーヘッド型起重機) is a large British-built crane of 1909 in Akunouramachi, Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on March 18, 2003 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a steel structure 62 metres high, moved in 1961; registration number 42-0020.

A British Crane on Nagasaki Harbour

The hammerhead crane stands on a quay facing Nagasaki Harbour; built by the Motherwell Bridge Company of Britain, it lifts 150 tons, stands about 61 metres high and has a jib about 73 metres long (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Its main legs stand about 12 metres apart on a square plan, and the whole is a lattice of trusses.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries calls it the Giant Cantilever Crane and notes that it is one of the component parts of "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining", inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2015.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency registered it for its contribution to the historic landscape.

Lowered for a Structural Survey

On September 18, 2026, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries announced that, although the crane has been maintained since it was built in 1909, it has aged in recent years, and that its upper structure will be lowered to the ground for a detailed structural survey. The work, using a floating crane, is planned for early December 2026; the length of the survey and of the conservation work has not been set.

What to Look For

Look for the truss legs and the long jib (Agency for Cultural Affairs). From early December 2026 its upper structure is to be lowered to the ground (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries).

Visiting

The Agency record lists Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd. as owner. It stands inside a working shipyard. No official information on public access was found.