Presently, marine fendering of various types and in diverse shapes is warmly welcomed in marine industry. Among all the marine fenders, the rubber marine fendering is being used unexpectedly commonly, accounting for its prestigious characteristics. It is necessary to realize that utilizing rubber marine fendering more profoundly relies on knowing more about it.
According to the structural features and functions of d-fenders, the setting-up of marine fendering aims to prevent ships or boats from running into the dock and getting damaged during their berthing. Why? Because by the time ships or boats begin to moor, they have been bestowed with considerably huge momentum and they need to release this kind of power after their d-fenders reach the dock. As to those small boats, it takes them quite a short time to release their limited kinetic energy and the corresponding impact is not huge. But for those bigger ships, the gigantic mooring impact force should be taken into consideration in case of any damage caused by collision.
Outsiders may not know that rubber fenders are in the most common use in marine industry. Usually, rubber marine fendering can be classified into two categories: non-floating rubber fenders also called solid rubber fendersand floating rubber fenders.
Solid rubber fendering is used much earlier and wider than the floating one, well known for the strong capacity of energy absorption as well as counter force, low cost as well as durability, simple installing procedures as well as effortless upkeep practices. It is often believed to be the most ideal equipments for anti-collision between docks and ships, to say nothing of a good protector for d-fenders.
By contrast, as modern fendering equipment, floating rubber fendering is capable of floating on water freely. It bears some obvious characteristics, for example, it is flexible in shape; it has brilliant capacity of energy inhaling, with less counter force; it only hits the d-fenders in such a small area and poses no threat to the perfection of the d-fenders. It can be discovered in ships’ berthing, transship goods from ship to ship or from ship to wharf and some other marine-related occasions, especially those places with larger shipside.
On the other hand, a thing of high quality can benefit people a lot while a thing of inferior quality may do harm to human beings. This is the same with the rubber marine fendering. If the rubber marine fendering appears to crack itself, decorticate quickly, lack flexibility as time goes by, it is counted as the one of poor quality. Out of question, this kind of rubber fenders will give rise to a series of troubles. In order to get rid of unnecessary mess, managers have to focus on the three aspects of the rubber marine fendering: design, construction and the management of use.
To begin with, in design, the one with rational structure, convenient usage and advanced performance is definitely the best choice, along with adequate reference to the conditions of the wharf together with the d-fenders to make sure of the best sites and separation distance of the rubber fenders. In construction, cautiousness and conscience are extremely stressed. Last but not least, in management, it is also weighty to have a regular check or maintenance of the d-fenders and the rubber marine fendering. What’s more, ships and boats are obliged to keep to the rules to berth, grasping the correct berthing speed and angle in the light of their size and weight.
There is no doubt that rubber marine fendering has made great contribution to shipping industry and it seems that marine fendering will continue to seize people’s eyes with more types and advancement by leaps and bounds.