Demand climbs for electric maritime cranes with electronic controls

Environmental and economic trends have led to increasing demand for manufacturing and supply of electric cranes for vessel newbuild and retrofit projects, according to a major producer of these modules.

Requirements for lower energy consumption, increased precision and reduced environmental risks are leading vessel operators to select electric cranes over hydraulic systems that risk the leakage of hydraulic oil.

The majority of orders for electric cranes come from heavy-lift and multipurpose vessels, container ships and offshore support vessels.

Dominance of electric crane orders over hydraulic means electric-drive technology, along with electronic controls, have become a new industry standard, according to MacGregor, which has seen a “significant increase in demand for electric cranes in 2026”.

The northern European deck machinery manufacturer experienced a highly positive trend in the demand for its electric cranes in H1 2026, when electric cranes represent more than 80% of the overall cranage order intake.

While much of these orders are for heavy-lift and multipurpose vessels, there has been “a renaissance compared to previous years” of orders for supplying electric cranes to container ships.