Trelleborg Supplies Parallel Motion Fenders to Danish Port

Trelleborg’s marine and infrastructure operation has completed the supply of its twin parallel motion fenders to Ferry Berth 4 at the Port of Hirtshals, Denmark, helping the port to enhance berthing operations.

The project required a fender solution that would produce a low line load on the vessel’s belting and avoid contact with the vessel’s hull. A challenging range of vessel types coming in to the berth all required a fender with an optimum amount of energy to be absorbed. Peter Ydesen, Technical Manager at the Port of Hirtshals, says: “The new Ferry Berth 4 is a significant project, which will allow for vessels of various sizes to enter the port at high berthing velocities, including Fjord Line’s new longer catamaran, Fjord FSTR.

Trelleborg purpose-designed a high-performance twin parallel motion fender, which compresses and adapts to suit each vessel coming into berth – a technology we haven’t used in Denmark until now. We are extremely pleased with the company’s solution and were thrilled to complete the project on time.”

Trelleborg’s twin parallel motion fender system ensures that the panel remains parallel at berth to avoid contact with the vessel’s hull and ensure contact with the belting only. The panel was designed to be 3.7 meters wide in order to evenly distribute the load from the fender and – using a combination of back-to-back cone fenders – the fender system is able to use its soft rubber panel to reduce reaction force as much as possible.

Mishra Kumar, Director of R&D at Trelleborg’s marine and infrastructure operation says: “We worked in close collaboration with A1 Consult to produce a tailor-made fender that could effectively meet the combination of requirements at the Ferry Berth 4. This included limited space available to install the fender and a low tolerable line load on the vessel’s belting. The parallel motion fender was designed to be as compact as possible to minimize civil works and costs, whilst guaranteeing a safe and supportive environment for vessels to berth, without risk of damage to belting or hull.”

Trelleborg’s twin parallel motion fender system has the ability to absorb twice as much energy compared to a regular cone fender. One fender in the system is made from a hard rubber compound, while the other is made from a softer compound. This enables the twin parallel motion fender system to accommodate the berthing of different-sized vessels. The system can be applied to a wide-range of cargo berths, bulk terminals, oil and LNG terminals and container berths, as well as RoRo and cruise terminals.

Parallel motion fender systems have a proven track record having been successfully installed at many of the world’s ports, including ports in Norway and Sweden to ports in Australia, Qatar and the UK.