To provide a grab bucket type unloader control device capable of safely and efficiently performing traverse operation toward the land from hoisting operation without resetting the height of a hull by a driver of an unloader.

A grab bucket type unloader control device includes a grab bucket for grabbing bulk cargo in a ship on the berth vertically moving according to changes in tide level and draft amount, and throwing the bulk cargo into a hopper on a quay. The control device includes a drive device that performs motor control for the hoisting operation, lowering operation and opening/closing operation of the grab bucket or the operation of the grab bucket toward the sea and toward the land, and a master control part for giving operation instructions and speed reference instructions to the drive device. The grab bucket is suspended so as to be liftable from a traversing part that traverses along a boom projected onto the sea, and a microwave sensor for measuring, in non-contact manner, a distance to a hull that stores bulk cargo to be unloaded and to the bulk cargo is mounted to the traversing part. Information from the microwave sensor is transmitted to the master control part and reflected in the operation instructions and speed reference instructions.