What Are Marine Fenders?

What Are Marine Fenders?

Summary

marine fenders are commonly used in all kinds of dock, wharf, jetty, pier, and other offshore operations due to its excellent performance of high energy absorption and low reaction force.

What are marine fenders?

These are the marine equipment specially designed for the purpose of imparting safety to the port and vessels against collision with other vessels. These are special equipment designed to provide the cushion effect to ship, boats, or other naval vessels when they experience collision against other vessels, wharves, piers, and ports or berths. These are also referred to as marine bumpers.

Marine fenders are a type of marine equipment that is used to prevent boats, ships, and other naval vessels from colliding against each other or against docks, wharves, and piers. In other words, marine fenders can be simply termed as a marine bumper.


Marine fenders are important marine equipment as they prevent loss to the body of a boat or a ship. The fender systems that are used in naval vessels have evolved continuously throughout the times and now are devised in such a way that the prevention process is almost faultless and foolproof.


Marine fenders, in today's times, are employed in such a way that they are kept on the hull or the head of a boat or a ship in order to prevent casualty to the hull or the head of the naval vessel if there is any collision happening between boats. However, at the same time, marine fenders are also employed in piers, docks, wharves, and other regular boat entrance and exit points on a permanent basis.

This permanent fixing of marine fenders help because, in case there is a heavy traffic of boats passing through from a particular dockyard, and there is an accident or a collision then the casualty to the boat and the dockyard will be both minimised to a great extent.

Fender systems have been devised in order to protect all vehicles from damage caused due to accidents. When it comes to marine fenders, the marine equipment is one of the best technological advancements to have occurred in contemporary times.

Even in the earlier centuries, fender systems were used to prevent loss to a naval vessel's torso but the concept and idea has evolved more in the modern times than in the past. Through successful innovations and initiations, there are a wide variety of marine fender systems available which act as excellent marine equipment.


There are various types of marine fenders which have emerged over the years and which provide excellent utility in the area of water transportation. The wide variety of marine fenders ensures that sufficient options are provided so as to enable a person or an authority to choose the best possible fender system or marine fender.

During its voyage, a vessel has to approach port for loading and unloading of crew and commodities and to other vessel for supplying and accepting certain commodities; in these cases there are definite chances of collision and during collision huge amount of energy is transferred which causes fatality to its crew and damage to vessel itself, port and commodities. Marine fenders prevent either the head or hull of a vessel to collide with any other water body. The certain features for which a port authority has to look after before buying the marine fenders are briefed as follows:

i) These marine bumpers should be made up of high performance materials which require no or little maintenance.

ii) These are to be designed in such a way that they can serve all the working demands for which these are deployed.

iii) These marine fenders should be capable of serving to all their commitments in all prevailing environmental conditions.

iv) The marine fenders should be durable i.e. they are so designed and developed so as to serve a longer period of time.

Categorizations Of Marine Fenders

Marine Fenders can be categorized in different types on the basis of location where these are fitted and material they are made up of.

The different sorts of marine bumpers available in the market as per the material they are made up of are as follows:

1. Rubber Fenders
2. Foam Fenders
3. Composite Fenders

By Mehnazd | In: Marine Ports |