| Fenders are an essential part of any dock or harbor | | | | need to be maintained. Inflatable fenders also have a |
| facility. Docking a ship is an imprecise matter, and | | | | “recoil” that will cause ships to “bounce” in |
| fenders must be in place to keep ships from being | | | | the other direction after contact. Thousands of |
| damaged by bumping, scraping or crashing into docks. | | | | inflatable Yokohama fenders are still in use worldwide, |
| By the same token, the docks themselves must be | | | | but the next logical progression in fender and mooring |
| protected from damage by ships. Fenders also come | | | | technology is the foam-filled fender. Constructed with |
| into play to prevent damage from ships coming into | | | | a tough outer skin and heat-laminated layers of foam |
| contact with each other. Every vessel from a pleasure | | | | at their core, foam-filled fenders offer the following |
| craft to a fishing boat to a supertanker needs fenders; | | | | advantages: |
| every structure from a dock to a bridge to an oil rig | | | | Softer berthing. Unlike the “bounce” of inflatable |
| does, as well. | | | | Yokohama fenders, a foam-filled fender rebounds |
| Historically, fenders were woven together from rope, in | | | | more slowly, rather than jolting the ship and its |
| a variety of knots and patterns still known and used | | | | passengers as it buckles and rebounds. |
| today by many traditionalists. They would typically be | | | | All tide mooring. Foam-filled fenders, by design, make |
| covered with a layer of old tires as a buffer, then used | | | | mooring easier regardless of tidal phase or conditions. |
| as a fenderboard along a dock piling. Like everything | | | | Hull conforming. The design of the foam core in a |
| else, fenders have been improved over the years. | | | | foam-filled fender gives great resilience and the ability |
| For years, the inflatable Yokohama fender was the | | | | to conform to a vessel’s contours. The result is a |
| state-of-the-art fendering system. Yokohama fenders, | | | | more even distribution of energies over a greater area, |
| however, require air pressure and safety valves that | | | | and much lower hull pressures. |