A stacker crane (1) is movable by a drive system (2) along arrays of shelves in a multistoried automatic warehouse to transfer a coil to and from a desired shelf by operating a lift (8) to move a carriage (7) with a ram unit (6). A horizontal swing means (20) is provided at the lower portion of the carriage (7), and a swing frame (26) placed on the swing means (20), a ram (28) which is capable of being moved into a shelf by a travel means being provided in this swing frame (26), whereby a coil is taken out from a shelf in one array by the ram (2) and held in the swing frame (26), turned horizontally at 180 DEG by the swing means (20) and stored easily on a desired shelf in the opposite array. The information on the position of a central bore of a coil obtained when the coil is placed on a shelf is stored, and this information is read out when the coil is taken out from the shelf, and the position of the ram is controlled on the basis of this position information, whereby the free end portion of the ram is inserted into the central bore of the coil speedily and accurately.