Undersea Inflatable
Applications For the Yokohama Fender
Docking a ship is an imprecise matter at best. A ship’s navigator and captain have to contend with tides, wake from other ships, wind and many other elements. There has always been a need for protection for ships and wharves during docking operations. For years, maritime fenders were made up of ropes and tires, with the ropes knotted into time-tested patterns still known to many a sailor. In the years before WWII, the Japanese took to using dead whales as fenders.
After WWII, the Yokohama Rubber Company developed the inflatable pneumatic fender. Their domination of the market became so complete that “Yokohama fender” is now a generic term for any sort of pneumatic fender. With a rubber-compound wall up to 1″ thick and a mesh of tires and chains on the outside, Yokohama fenders are available in different sizes for different applications. The larger fenders are well-suited for:
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Oil tankers
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Container ships
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Luxury yachts
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Ocean platforms
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Military vessels
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Barges
Yokohama fenders are also used for ship-to-ship transfers of materials like crude oil or liquefied petroleum gas (especially when it is important to avoid a static electricity charge between the two ships). Yokohama fenders have also been used for undersea salvage operations, re-launching of ships that are laid up in dry dock or salvage of entire shipwrecks.
Combining the qualities of great strength and resilience, lighter weight, lower cost, ease of maintenance, great shock absorption and minimal transfer of energy to the hulls of the ships themselves, the Yokohama fender has rightly become the industry standard for decades. Generally set up in batteries of four or more, Yokohama fenders are now available with sensors that send a wireless signal to maintenance crews, indicating their level of inflation and the condition of their internal safety valves. This negates the need to take a fender out of service and lift it completely out of the water for inspection. The sensors can also be set to sound an alarm should the fender’s air bladder go over or under its desired inflation.
About the Author
http://www.anchormarinehouston.com/ – Anchor Marine and Industrial Supply: the leading provider of shipping and marina equipment, including anchors, fenders, chains, dock, and towing equipment.
We are the exclusive U.S. Dealer of Yokohama fenders and provide both new and used parts to the oil and gas industry worldwide.
