Fender SyStemS – A holiStic ApproAch

Since the rubber units are mostly standardized in the industry, the real engineering and, design challenge is with the steel panels, chains and the corresponding anchorage. The rubber unit is a crucial component of the system, but is only as good as the overall design of the system. SFT has inspected numerous systems of even reputable fender manufacturer, that showed signs of premature failures due to incorrect designs. Simple issues like incorrect chain angles or the positioning of the rubber unit on the steel panel and substructure leads to weight introduction into the rubber unit, dropping of the system and premature failure of the fender system as a whole. Inexperienced clients and fender suppliers typically point fingers immediately at the rubber unit. In a lot of cases however, it’s not the rubber unit that causes the problem, it’s the design that leads to failures of the rubber unit. When fenders fail or are not working properly due to low quality or incorrect designs, then there is a cost to the port in terms of repair, downtime, Fender SyStemS – A holiStic ApproAch