When its construction was completed in 1978, Bagger 288 superseded Big Muskie as the heaviest land vehicle in the world, at 13,500 tons.

XCMG's XGC88000 Crawler Crane remains the largest self-propelled land vehicle in the world, since bucket-wheel excavators are powered by an external power source, and the Overburden Conveyor Bridge F60s hold the title of largest land vehicle of any type by physical dimensions.

It can excavate 240,000 tons of coal[6] or 240,000 cubic metres of overburden daily[7] – the equivalent of a soccer field dug to 30 m (98 ft) deep.

The excavating head itself is 21.6 m (70 ft 10 in) in diameter and has 18 buckets each holding 6.6 cubic metres (8.6 cu yd) of overburden.

In three weeks it made a 22-kilometre (14 mi) trip to the Tagebau Garzweiler, travelling across Autobahn 61, the river Erft, a railroad line, and several roads.