This paper presents the design of an optimal state feedback controller for container cranes under some design specifications. To do this, the nonlinear equation of a container crane system is linearized and then augmented to eliminate the steady-state error, and some constraints are derived from the design specifications. Designing the controller involves a constrained optimization problem which classical gradient-based methods have difficulties in handling. Therefore, a real-coding genetic algorithm incorporating the penalty strategy is used. The responses of the proposed control system are compared with those of the unconstrained optimal control system to illustrate the efficiency.