Innovations

First Modern Container Crane

In 1958, Mike Jordan of Liftech designed the structure for the world’s first modern container crane that was built by Paceco in Alameda, California. Mike and Liftech have been an integral part of the evolution of container cranes since that time.

Banded Prestressed Concrete

In the 1970s, Liftech pioneered the use of banded prestressing by designing the first building that used this technique. Liftech received an award from ASCE in recognition of this contribution.

Structural Maintenance

In the 1970s, after several failures, Liftech pioneered the development and implementation of structural maintenance programs that maintain the structural reliability of dynamically loaded structures.

Wire Rope Damper

Liftech designed the first wire rope dampers used on container cranes to retrofit several cranes with large diameter pipe members that experienced excessive wind induced vibrations.

Fatigue Tolerant Detailing

Liftech was an early pioneer and advocate of fatigue tolerant detailing in the container crane industry, researching details from other industries and developing details suitable for container cranes. Liftech developed and standardized many of the details that are commonly used today.

See Liftech Standard Structural Details

Trapezoidal Girder

Liftech designed the first trapezoidal box girder that is commonly used to support the trolley on container cranes. The design was developed to reduce the stresses at the less tolerant fatigue details near the trolley rail and was carefully designed for this purpose.

Low Profile Cranes

In 1964, Liftech designed the world’s first low profile container crane structure for Paceco. This crane permitted the servicing of container ships in locations with strict aircraft clearances. The booms of these cranes are not raised to clear a ship, but slide within the crane’s O-frame on roller supports.

Articulated Booms

In the 1980s, Liftech designed the world’s first articulated boom. Similar to the low profile crane, the articulating boom was designed to provide aircraft clearance. The original design used wire ropes to hold the articulated portions of the boom. Later designs used linkages.

Ductile Link

Around 2000, Liftech developed a ductile tie-down link that allows for redistribution of uplift forces at a crane corner between multiple tie-downs.

Seismic Isolation

Since 2005, Liftech has developed multiple seismic isolation designs to control the seismic response of cranes.

Crane Analysis Software

We developed a proprietary program for the design and analysis of quay cranes and other container handling equipment. The program is capable of designing or analyzing cranes for the various international standards. We have licensed the software to select crane manufacturers. For more information, please visit our Software section.