Fender Systems News

The decision to overtake a tow in a large river bend occupied by multiple vessels during high-river conditions led to the grounding of a tanker and contact with river intake fender systems in New Orleans, La., the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said.Marine Investigation Report 22/11 details the NTSB’s investigation into the March 16, 2021, grounding of the tanker Bow Tribute and subsequent contact with the fender systems protecting two river intakes owned by the city’s sewerage and water board.

Trelleborg said its marine and infrastructure operation in North America has recently moved into its new sales office in Houston, Texas, in a move aimed at meeting the growing demands across all North American markets and providing more localized and coordinated customer support for its complimentary product offerings, which include marine fender systems, docking and mooring equipment, transfer link systems, and navigation and piloting solutions.The new 8,600-square-foot office located on the west side of Houston places Trelleborg in the heart of the Houston metro area.

The Los Angeles Pilot Service has taken delivery of two customized 56-foot Camarc Design pilot boats built by Vigor Industrial at its Vancouver, Wash. facility, located on the northern side of the Columbia River. The Angels Pilot and Angels Navigator were handed over to the LA Pilot Service at Vigor’s shipyard on Swan Island in Portland, Ore. in early October.Camarc designs are optimized to function in the most extreme climates in the world. The UK firm's pilot boat designs are deployed throughout Europe…

The Alabama Port Authority completed its 400-foot container dock extension at the APM Terminals Mobile facility on March 20, and three days later, the terminal for the first time simultaneously handled two containerships at the newly expanded berth.Part of Alabama’s seaport modernization program to accommodate larger vessels, the berth extension enables two x 8,000-10,000 TEU be handled simultaneously. The quay extension was part of a $50 million Phase 3 expansion that increased…

Trelleborg’s marine and infrastructure operation supplied its SCK Cell Fenders as part of a project undertaken by the Singapore Cruise Center to upgrade its infrastructure to accommodate the latest generation of cruise vessels at its international cruise terminal.HarbourFront’s two terminals, the International Passenger Terminal (IPT) and the Regional Ferry Terminal (RFT) host more than 5 million cruise and ferry passengers each year. With the ongoing trend of cruise lines increasing the size of their ships…

Moose Boats rises to the challenge of building its biggest vessel ever. That’s an important step forward for this growing California shipyard. Equally impressive is what’s inside that rapidly developing hull and why those features were chosen.The U.S. boatbuilding scene is a changing landscape of waterfront manufacturing that constantly evolves to meet the inevitable peaks and valleys of demand. Nowhere is that reality more apparent than at California-based Moose Boats. In October 2016, Lind Marine announced the acquisition of Moose Boats. That move was important because Lind Marine operated a 5-acre shipyard including a 430 foot dry-dock and 1,600 feet of linear pier on Mare Island in Vallejo, CA.

Shipbuilder Vigor said it has been awarded a contract from the Port of Los Angeles to build two 56’ pilot boats.The new vessels, designed by Camarc, will feature a twin chine heavy weather hull form for excellent seakeeping. The design accommodates multiple heavy fender systems facilitating safer pilot transfers in challenging weather. An articulated rescue davit provides man overboard recovery. The overall design also maximizes the available horsepower and performance from a…

Trelleborg’s oil & marine hose operation has launched the KLELINE STS oil transfer solution, which is set to upgrade safety and operability standards in ship-to-ship (STS) oil transfer around the world. This solution sets a new benchmark for safe and efficient ship-to-ship oil transfer, inspired by unique floating hose design, qualified to GMPHOM 2009 standard.STS transfer is becoming an increasingly popular option among ship operators and managers, as it allows vessels carrying liquid cargo to transfer offshore.

Trelleborg has hailed the recent test of the Universal Transfer System (UTS) conducted with Connect LNG and Gas Natural Fenosa, as tangible evidence of the new applications that its suite of products for jettyless LNG transfer can unlock in this challenging field. The UTS transferred LNG from the Skangas-chartered LNG carrier Coral Energy to the onshore terminal at the Norwegian port of Herøya on October 7 and is now in full commercial operation. A ‘plug and play’ solution, the UTS requires no modifications to the LNG carrier – instead…

Following the contract signing between Damen Shipyards Group and Société de Transport Lagunaire (STL) for 16 shallow-draught ferries for the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan, the two companies have announced a supplementary contract for eight Damen Pontoons 2404. STL will use the pontoons for vessel mooring and passenger transfer purposes. The eight 24-metre pontoons will be used to construct four separate ‘hop-on, hop-off’ ferry stations that will be capable of mooring a ferry as well as providing a stable structure fit for safe embarkation of passengers. A number of onshore ticket offices will complete the ferry station set up: these will be supplied by STL.

Trelleborg’s marine systems operation has launched a new online Fender Selection Tool, almost completely digitizing the fender selection process and saving consultants the huge amounts of time normally spent carrying out complex manual calculations. The tool is also intended to help specifiers and suppliers alike take steps towards a more standardized engineering process, reducing subjectivity in the design process and helping to shape consistent industry best practice. The tool requires the user to input simple information on vessel type, berthing factors and speed.

Trelleborg’s marine systems operation hosted an exclusive one-day seminar for port authorities and consultants in partnership with the company’s exclusive agent for Greece, Seamark Marine on 1st March at the Metropolitan Chandris Hotel in Athens, Greece. The free seminar saw experts at Trelleborg discuss a range of key industry issues including marine fender selection, infrastructure regulation, the latest in docking and mooring technology, and floating fender and buoy design. In addition, the importance of rubber compound composition in the whole-life performance of fender systems was also on the agenda. Richard Hepworth, President of Trelleborg’s marine systems operation…

Swedish based Trelleborg AB has finalized the acquisition of Maritime International, Inc., a U.S. based privately owned designer and manufacturer of marine fender systems and other quay accessories. The transaction will be consolidated as of October 15, 2015. Trelleborg said the bolt-on acquisition aims to strengthen its presence in berthing, docking and mooring in North America as part of its strategy to improve its position in attractive market segments. “With the acquisition…

Trelleborg’s marine systems operation has received a patent for its innovative ‘slide in, slide out’ or ‘SISO’ marine fender system, which is now in operation in Dampier, Western Australia, in addition to a number of other sites across the region. The system has been designed to make fender maintenance more straightforward and less time consuming, by utilizing removable sliding panels, reducing the time taken to complete a fender wear pad change-out. Richard Hepworth, President of Trelleborg’s marine operation…

The benefits of offshore ports in the U.S. In many parts of the world, offshore ports are a good solution for meeting the requirements of the rapid changes in the international container and bulk shipping industry. Bigger ships, changing routes and destinations require larger and deeper ports, which port owners and operators can be confident will be capable of handling ever-increasing sizes of vessels for many years to come. One of the major challenges in the current container shipping industry is to bundle and organize capacity in the most economical way.

The latest Barometer Report from Trelleborg, which discusses the issues impacting ports and terminals around the globe, has revealed that 74% of port owners and operators are still suffering unscheduled downtime. Fender damage was the most frequently cited cause, with 20% of owners and operators having suffered downtime due to damage to their systems. Richard Hepworth, President of Trelleborg’s marine systems operation, said, “The high incidence of fender damage and the subsequent downtime may be due to a lack of awareness on how to specify a truly quality system…

Jay Cashman, Inc., Quincy, Massachusetts, is being awarded a $14,321,000 firm-fixed-price contract for USS Constitution, Berth 1 pier repairs at Charlestown Navy Yard. This project will provide a safe mooring for USS Constitution and the provision of safe visitor access to the ship. The work includes demolition, removal and disposal of existing site features, hazardous materials, waterfront structures, utility systems and the provision of steel sheet pile bulkhead, pile supported pier, fender systems, mooring hardware, mooring dolphins, grading, paving and cobblestone pavement, drainage systems, water systems, electric power and lighting systems, landscape features, and incidental related work.

Davao International Container Terminal, Inc.(DICT) located in Panabo City, Davao Del Norte, on the south eastern coast of the Philippines, has bought state-of-the-art Super Cone fenders and Tee Head bollards from Trelleborg. Berths 1 and 2 at the Breakbulk Terminal are old concrete structures that require the installation of a superior fender system as part of the upgrade works. DICT discovered that another port in Davao had upgraded their berth using low quality fender systems that cracked within just months of installation and the frontal frames began to corrode too.

DP World, UAE Region, has incorporated Trelleborg’s rubber quality standards into their fender specification for the Quay four refurbishment project at Terminal 1 of Jebel Ali Port in Dubai. Working on the project with DP World since 2011, Trelleborg has supplied 60 super cone SCN 1300 fenders to protect berths 18 and 19, which have been fully installed this past April. Richard Hepworth, President of Trelleborg’s marine operation, says: “We’ve been working on raising awareness of the issue of rubber quality for a while…

Trelleborg’s marine systems operation has been awarded the contract to supply more than 70 UE1000 Unit Element fender systems to DP World Southampton. The new systems, taking the total supplied by Trelleborg to the Southampton container terminal to over 110, will allow the terminal to berth the latest ultra-large containerships. When the project is complete, Southampton will offer 1.87 kilometers of deep water quay, with up to 16 meters depth alongside. 16 quayside gantry cranes with super post panamax capacity will also enable berthing for vessels over 400 meters in length.

Trelleborg’s marine systems operation announces plans to open a new sales and business development office in Houston, Texas, U.S. Trelleborg said it will establish a local “feet on the ground” presence in the area and confirms the company’s commitment to the global oil and gas industry. Citing growth in the region as a strategic priority, Trelleborg Marine Systems will relocate its USA President, Faiyaz Kolsawala, to operate from Houston as well as a number of its global sales team, including a specialist docking and mooring representative and a dedicated oil and gas transfer and vessel technology salesperson to provide a closer relationship with customers in the area and the reassurance of a face-to-face presence.

Trelleborg has won the contract to supply more than 100 of its SeaGuard foam fenders to Brunei Shell’s Kuala Belait supply base wharf in Brunei, through local Brunei registered contractor Waqi Sdn Bhd. As part of an upgrade project for the wharf, 93 fenders are required to span six berthing spaces. The fenders will be installed with spacing of 1.5 meters, covering a length along the entire Kuala Belait Supply Base Wharf of 325 meters. Trelleborg will also supply an additional 21 fenders as spares.

More than 65% of port owners, operators and contractors said they request and check PIANC certification to ensure that marine fenders are sold as described, according to the third Barometer Report from Trelleborg’s Marine Systems business. Richard Hepworth, President of Trelleborg Marine Systems, said, “It’s reassuring that so many request and check PIANC certification. However, it’s important that owners and operators understand exactly what to look for – PIANC doesn’t have the legal mandate to enforce standards across the industry…