Container Crane Boom Collapse: Cause and Prevention

by Erik Soderberg
Published in Port Technology International, Thirty Ninth Edition, Autumn 2008

Two crane boom failures occurred while the booms were being lowered, one in Asia and one in Europe. These failures called attention to recent boom collapse problems; however, this is not a recent problem. Over the years, a number of booms have collapsed and even more came close to collapsing.

This article presents our understanding of these failures, a discussion of loading and reliability issues, and some recommendations.