Tribute to Michael A. Jordan

Mike Jordan, one of the pioneering designers of the world’s first ship-to-shore container crane, passed away on September 2, 2023, after a brief illness. He is 88 years old.

Jordan is the founder of Liftech Consultants Inc. in Oakland, California. During his career spanning more than 65 years, Jordan has provided engineering design for thousands of container handling cranes around the world, as well as terminals, pontoons, heavy lifting systems, container yard handling equipment and other complex structures.

He developed innovative technologies that are now industry standards used worldwide, such as strip prestressing in concrete structures, wire rope dampers to eliminate wind-induced vibrations in crane structures, and fatigue-resistant structural details for cranes.

Jordan is listed as an inventor on several patents in the United States and Europe covering the construction of the transportation industry, container ships, port-related handling equipment, and even improved dome structures. In 2018, the Port Maritime Association of New York and New Jersey inducted Jordan into the International Maritime Hall of Fame.

Considered a “committed visionary to the industry,” Jordan was recognized for his pioneering work on the first terminal container crane in 1958 and for developing new structural designs that influenced container crane design worldwide.

Jordan compares the impact of containerized cargo brought by his ship-to-shore cranes to the Silk Road of 2,000 years ago.

“Then a large number of products were shipped from China to the Western world, and from the West to China, promoting the exchange of ideas, culture and goods,” Jordan said.

Container shipping created a new Silk Road, with cargo containers continuously shipped east to the Americas and back; and the exchange of ideas and cultures was so widespread that we now live in the same communities. ”

Erik Soderberg, President of Liftech, said: “Mike fosters curiosity and a collaborative spirit through his mentorship; his passion for excellence is contagious.”

Jordan is survived by his wife Sue, his lifelong partner in career and family, his three sons: Ken, Bill and Alex and their wives, six grandchildren and one most recent great-granddaughter.