Did you know that foam fenders can be refurbished? SFT has just done this for some Ocean Guard Fenders that were supplied to the Port of Kiel in 2011. The fenders had been in continuous use for around ten years and the outer PU skin showed usual signs of wear and abrasion. The performance of the fenders is still guaranteed even after ten years, but to extend the lifetime of the fenders even further, it is often worth having them overhauled at least once.
As a reliable partner for sustainability, the SFT Group offers this service to our clients. The service includes the transport of the fenders to our production plant in Rechlin, Germany and the corresponding inspected by our experts to assess all needed repairs. The plant is set-up to not only produce high quality and sustainable fenders, but also to overhaul foam fenders. To renew the PU skin, the factory grinds down the current PU layers and then applies a new PU skin with a thickness of approx. 20 mm (skin thickness depends on overall dimension of the fender) on the rough surfaces of the prepared fender. As part of the overhaul, typically the internal chain as well as the swivel, swivel plate and bolts are also replaced, as corrosion inevitably appears on steel elements after 10 years in seawater.
For this special project, we have overhauled 11 Ocean Guard Fenders with a diameter of 1000 mm and a length of 3000 mm. The overall turnaround time was about 5 weeks from the pickup and overhaul to the reinstallation. The fenders were reinstalled at berth 32a at the seaport of Kiel and are again ready for further decades of service. The refurbishment of foam fenders is a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to buying new foam fenders which makes this product contribute to SFT’s way of putting the focus more and more on the sustainability of its products.
We wish our long-time partner, the Port of Kiel, many successful and safe years with our Ocean Guard Fenders.
Reprinted from Marine Construction Magazine, Issue II, 2024
