In order to solve the problem of cargo swinging during the lifting and transportation operation of marine cranes, which reduced work efficiency and easily causes safety accidents. Introduced magnetorheological technology into the field of anti-swing of marine cranes, a mechanical anti-swing device was designed. A three-dimensional dynamic model of ship-crane-lifting point-anti-swing device-lifting weight was derived. The analysis of the anti-swing effect of the device showed that when a constant current is input to the magnetorheological anti-swing device, the anti-swing effect become more obvious as the current increases. Under the set working background, when a current of 2A is given, the suppression of the in-plane and out-plane angles of the lifting weight is 75% and 82%, respectively. In order to optimize the control strategy, reduce energy consumption, and improve the robustness of anti-swing, a variable universe fuzzy PID (VUFPID) controller was designed. When using the VUFPID controller, the anti-swing device suppresses the in-plane and out-plane angles of the lifting weight by 85% and 83%, respectively, with an energy consumption of approximately 113J; When using group A constant current, the anti-swing device suppresses the in-plane and out-plane angles of the lifting weight by 60% and 68%, respectively, and the energy consumption is about 140J; When using group B constant current, the anti-swing device suppresses the in-plane and out-plane angles of the lifting weight by 50% and 58%, respectively, and the energy consumption is about 110J. It can be seen that using VUFPID can achieve low energy consumption and significant anti swing effect. Finally, a physical prototype was built to verify the effectiveness of the magnetorheological anti swing device.