The invention relates to a predictive maintenance of hoisting equipment (102), particularly cranes. A maintenance center (106) automatically collects diagnostic data relating to least one component of the remote hoisting equipment and optionally sensor data relating the operational environment of the remote hoisting equipment (102). The maintenance center (106) has an access to configuration data of the remote hoisting equipment and the reliability data on the at least one component of the remote hoisting equipment (102). The maintenance center (106) is then able to generate a maintenance plan optimizing the cost of maintenance and reliability of the hoisting equipment over a life cycle of the hoisting equipment.