Crane Operation

When a container is set on the ground, a straddle carrier (or similar piece of equipment) will pick it up and move it away. Once a container is delivered to the port side, the crane operator will pick up any outgoing containers for loading. The crane operator's goal is to minimize non-productive movements, so it is optimal to have the containers that will be loaded on the ship positioned on the ground ready to be picked up by the crane for loading.

A drawing of this crane, ship side and port side configuration is shown. Typical performance for a U.S. crane is movement of 26 to 28 containers per hour, including both loading and unloading. Moving 12 or less containers per hour is considered poor performance.