In this paper, we consider the sway suppression control problem for container cranes with the frictions between the trolley and the rail. If the friction effects in the system can be modelled, there is an improved potential to design controllers that can cancel the effects. The proposed control improves the trolley positioning and sway suppressing against various frictions. The proposed synthesis combines a variable structure control and the adaptive control to cope with various frictions including the unknown constants. First, the variable structure control with the simple switching action is designed, which is based on a class of feedback lineariztion methods for the fast stabilization of the under-actuated sway dynamics of container. Second, the adaptive control with a parameter estimation is designed, which is based on Lyapunov stability methods for suppressing the oscillation of the trolley travelling, especially due to Coulomb friction 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 under initial sway, external wind disturbances, and various frictions.