Understanding the ‘101 Challenges’ with Crane Incidents

Incidents involving crane failures can often be some of the most catastrophic in the maritime sector. From cranes and lifting equipment onboard vessels and offshore structures to gantry and ship-to-shore cranes in port, any potential incident could cause serious personal injury and damage to the vessel, the object being lifted and the surrounding infrastructure.  All of this can lead to significant downtime and costs for the vessel and/or the port with the prospect of potential legal disputes.

In addition, when a crane is damaged, leading to the collapse of the structure or the lifted object falling, these incidents can easily capture the attention of the public, causing potential reputational issues for the parties involved.

Brookes Bell’s team of Marine Engineers are regularly involved with crane failure incidents, where utilisation of its forensic investigation capabilities to identify where failures in crane design, operation and maintenance may have occurred.  Crucially, Brookes Bell’s expert advice has been tested to the highest level in litigation, enabling operators to mitigate any potential risks.

Conan O’Driscoll, Principal Marine Engineer at Brookes Bell, noted that one of the leading causes of crane failure incidents is a lack of maintenance or poor ongoing maintenance practices that lead to excessive wear/failure of the lifting equipment components.

“There can be 101 potential reasons why a crane failure occurs, but ultimately, the majority could be prevented with proper operational, inspection and maintenance practices.  When Brookes Bell is part of an investigation, we have to understand how the crane has been operated - both prior to, and at the time of, the incident.  We investigate how it has been maintained, what its condition was at the time of the incident and any other aspects which may have contributed to the failure.  Depending on the nature of the failure, our teams will inspect specific components ranging from the smallest sensors to some of the larger components such as bearings and wire ropes to investigate their condition as it is common for failure of these larger components to cause catastrophic crane failures resulting in large claims – however in some of these cases, the root cause of a failure could be due to a sensor not working correctly ” he noted.

The development of autonomous cranes and systems, most notably at developing ports, also presents its own set of challenges.  Once again, one of the main risks is a lack of regular maintenance for equipment that has been designed to run 24 hours a day.

“Cranes are becoming more advanced, particularly with the automation of container ports, making things more efficient for the operator.  Automation will continue to play a major part in the future of port operations. However, automation of equipment can come with its own set of risks.  If an automated crane system is not working correctly or there is a bug in the control system, then this needs to be properly identified and quickly addressed if the equipment is to continue operating safely.  Automation systems need to be well optimised for the operation and any reported issues acted upon” said Conan.

“Whilst some crane failures have been reported to be caused due to operator error, to some extent, automation removes the human element away from the crane operation and this is where the reliance on sensors, and the data they provide, is more acute.   There is a whole host of monitoring and data recording equipment at automated port terminals which assist the operator.  During the transition to fully automated operation, there may well still be operators in the crane cabins or located remotely who are able to take over control if required.  That said, remote-controlled equipment running autonomously with numerous sensors still requires maintenance and the equipment is still prone to the same engineering issues as manned cranes. This includes gearbox failures, wire failures or instances where the hydraulics have not been correctly maintained.”

“It is for this reason that, as cranes on vessels and at port become more automated, operators know how to properly maintain them.  This comes down to ensuring that they are receiving proper training as well as acting on their own practical experience, so they  fully understand the needs of the system,” he added.

Conan also noted that a lack of standardisation in operating manuals can be a challenge when it comes to training crane operators and engineers.

“We’ve had cases in the past where some crane manuals that we have reviewed have been quite poorly written.  There are certainly some excellent ones out there but, in some cases, poorly written manuals can cause inexperienced engineers’ issues as the instructions may not be intuitive to follow a step-by-step process.  Operating and maintaining cranes does require some degree of specialisation and experience to be able to properly address the maintenance needs of the crane, particularly for those cranes that are operating out at sea or in harsh environments,” he said.

When it comes to incident investigation of crane failures, Conan recommends a Brookes Bell Engineer attend on site to fully investigate the issue.  However, in some cases, instructing parties have requested Brookes Bell to remotely assist local surveyors through the investigation process. Although this is an option, Conan noted that this has its own set of problems.

“Remotely guiding a local surveyor through an incident investigation can be very difficult. Not only can there be time or language barriers, in some cases you don’t know the surveyor’s particular experience - they may have limited engineering experience with cranes leading to some critical items being overlooked.  For Brookes Bell to be able to do a proper investigation, attendance at the scene is vital, where we can initially review the system, before being able to rule out components as potentiality having caused or contributed to the failure mechanism. We can also test sensors and, critically, safety devices such as overload trips, limit switches, etc. Thereafter failed components, including crane hoisting or luffing wires and sections of structures, bearings, etc., can be removed, documented and properly preserved for further forensic inspection and analysis at The Lab should it be necessary.” he added.

“There will often be disputes and our role in crane incident investigations means we may be instructed by any party involved in the dispute.  In any case, Brookes Bell supports ports, shipowners and underwriters in understanding the cause, nature and extent of the damage, and to understand the proposed scope of repairs, providing estimates on how long the crane or terminal might be out of operation and ultimately if final repair costs are fair and reasonable”

We also carry out operational, specification and design reviews for cranes and provide advice on their compliance with any particular Charterparty requirements, rules or regulations such as ISO standards and the FEM class of the crane, and also the new SOLAS regulation that comes into effect in 2026.