Reasons for Damage to the Rubber Fender

1. The ship is overloaded

This kind of damage often occurs in rubber fenders, especially in some old rubber fenders, and often cracks in the weak parts of the structure. Cracks are generally in the direction of the length of the rubber fenders. D-type and V-type fenders are more common. The main reason for the cracking of the rubber fender is that the kinetic energy of the ship impacting the fender is too large, exceeding the load that the rubber fender can bear. The reason why the impact energy of the ship is too large is due to the fact that the speed of the ship and the angle of the vessel are too large. In particular, when the angle of berthing is relatively large, the stern contacts the quay and the rubber fenders before the middle of the hull, causing the powerful impact energy to concentrate on one or more fenders, resulting in damage to the rubber fenders. The ship's impact function is too large. In addition to the above reasons, there are vessels whose berths are larger than the designed ship type and tonnage, and the influence of storm waves on the ship.

2. Anchorage and poor connection

This situation has occurred in all types of rubber fenders. The rubber fenders have abnormal phenomenon such as looseness, dislocation, and falling into the sea. The main reasons for this phenomenon are the poor technical condition of the anchor fenders such as bolts or chains, or the failure to keep up with maintenance. Anchored bolts of fixed fenders, iron chains, and other metal materials are extremely rusty in the marine environment and are not easily replaced, resulting in poor fixation of the rubber fenders, and thus seriously affecting the normal use of fenders. Some of the anchor bolts are designed to take into account the conditions for replacement, but they are often less than ideal in actual use. Such as V-shaped rubber fender anchor bolts and the form of embedded bolt boxes. The original design intention was to facilitate the repair and replacement of anchor bolts. However, in actual use, it could not be replaced due to corrosion of iron parts, bolt deformation, etc., thereby affecting the quality of the rubber fenders and causing the fenders to fall off and be damaged.

3. Friction damage

This situation generally occurs in fixed V-shaped and D-shaped fenders. The fenders are mainly damaged by falling angles, cracks, and surface scratches. The main cause of this damage is the excessive friction between the rubber fenders and the ship. When the ship docks at a relatively high tangential speed, the contacting part of the rubber fender and the hull is forced to move forward together with the ship due to excessive friction, causing the fender to be sheared and damaged. In addition, during the mooring operation, the ship sometimes needs to move back and forth, and the ship shakes left and right, or up and down caused by the waves, flows. In this case, when the coefficient of friction between the ship and the rubber fender is above 0.4 (if the cable is pulled too tight), the fender may be damaged possibly.