No, the cranes do not work. The only crane in Ship Simulator 2008 that functions is the Container Crane that can load containers onto Vermaas and Sherpa.
The making of missions is explained in my Mission Editor Tutorial, which you can download.
The bold blue topics at the head of the Missions board explain how to obtain the Tutorial, along with my two other documents: The Missions Manual and INFO, which explains how to use the container crane and various ships.
There are also topics on submitting and downloading missions, and on getting help on playing missions.
