This paper introduces a sway suppression control for container cranes with unknown payloads and sway rates. With no priori knowledge concerning the magnitude of payload mass and sway rate, the proposed control maintains superior sway suppressing and trolley positioning against external disturbances. The proposed scheme combines a second order sliding mode control and an adaptive control to cope with unknown payloads. A second order sliding mode control without feedback of the sway rate is first designed, which is based on a class of feedback linearization methods for stabilization of the under-actuated sway dynamics of the container. Under applicable restrictions of the magnitude of payload inertia and sway rate, a linear regression model is obtained, and an adaptive control with a payload estimator is then designed, which is based on Lyapunov stability methods for the fast attenuation of trolley oscillations in the vicinity of the target position. The asymptotic stability of the overall closed-loop system is assured irrespective of variations of rope length. Simulation are shown in the existence of initial sway and external wind disturbances.Keywords: container cranes, sway suppression, second order sliding mode, feedback linearization, unknown sway rate