Introduction to Marine Fendering

People who have been to the harbors and seaports must be familiar with various marine fendering devices. These devices are also called marine fenders which are used to safeguard the security of vessels, ports and ship locks. 

Marine fendering is widely equipped on ship docks, ports, marine platforms and various vessels. They have various advantages including low reaction force, resistance to seawater corrosion and convenience in repair and maintenance. Now, there are mainly three kinds of marine fenders applied in daily life to meet the need of the harbor construction and vessels' safety. First is tire fender. This kind of marine fenders are made of retired vehicle tires which is mostly applied on small-sized vessels such as trawlers and barges. Besides its application in seaports and harbors, tire fenders are also widely used in river transportation. This is because tire fenders are of low reaction force and are capable of absorbing the energy of collision effectively. And the use of tire fenders has several benefits. In terms of resource conservation and environment protection, the retired vehicle tires are recycled and won't impose pressure on the environment. On the part of tire fender users, they realize the maximum of benefits in terms of economy by using tire fenders. And then is marine fenders made of recycled rubber pipes and ribbons. As the size of this kind of marine fenders is usually large, they are mainly used to protect large-sized vessels and harbor walls from the collision of incoming vessels. It changes shape and effectively absorbs the force when collision takes place.

Still another kind of marine fender is rubber fender. Its rubber material isn't recycled from retired rubber products such as tires and rubber pipes. Instead, the rubber material used to make this kind of marine fender has to meet requirements in terms of physical performance, specifications and mechanical property. They are now widely used in newly-built harbors, docks and seaports. For instance, D-fender is a new type rubber fender. Its deflection rate is higher than normal marine fenders while not increasing the reaction force. In this way, its performance in energy absorption is remarkably raised. Thanks to this feature, D-fender is strongly promoted by marine fender dealers. 

Now, traditional marine fenders such as tire fender are gradually phased out in port operation as people attaches greater importance to marine safety. The focus will be given on the R & D of new type of rubber materials for the making of marine fenders.