When it comes to protecting your vessel, choosing the right ship fenders isn’t just a technical task—it’s a business-critical decision. With the right marine fender system, you safeguard your ship, crew, and infrastructure from costly damages during berthing and docking.
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But with so many options—pneumatic fenders, foam fenders, cylindrical fenders, d fenders, arch fenders, and more—how do you know which type is best for your vessel?
The best ship fender depends on your vessel type, docking conditions, and operational needs. For commercial operations, reliability, and durability, foam fenders and pneumatic fenders are often preferred due to their versatility and long-term value.
Imagine this: A supply vessel docks at a busy harbor during high tide. The wrong fender system is installed—undersized and worn down. As the ship shifts with the waves, the hull scrapes against the dock, causing structural damage. Repairs cost thousands. Delays follow. All of this could have been avoided with the right marine fender.
Choosing the correct ship fender(also called marine fenders or vessel fenders) is not just about performance. It’s about protecting assets, ensuring safety, and minimizing downtime. As global shipping becomes more competitive and port traffic increases, having a reliable fender system has never been more important.
Selecting the right fender involves several key factors:
Different ships have different needs. A small fishing boat requires far less protection than a cargo ship or oil tanker.
Think about where the ship docks:
For example, pneumatic fenders are ideal for ports with large tidal variations and ship-to-ship transfers.
Let’s break down common ship fender types:
Pneumatic Fenders – Great for large ships, offshore platforms, and heavy-duty operations. Easy to deploy and offer high energy absorption. Customers can install truck tire net or aircraft tire net as needed. NANHAI offers two standard pneumatic rubber fenders of 50kPa and 80kPa, as well as non-standardized customization.
Foam-Filled Fenders – Durable, unsinkable, and low maintenance. Ideal for harsh environments. Foam fenders are composed of closed cell foam, polyurethane skin, fixings, filament reinforcement, and internal chains.
Cylindrical Fenders – Common for general berths and jetties. Simple design with proven performance.
Cone Fenders – High energy absorption with low reaction force. Super cone fenders can withstand impacts at a greater Angle. Excellent for modern docks. The angular compression performance, with no performance loss under 10 degrees, provided by the NANHAI is better.
Arch Fenders – Suitable for smaller vessels and docks with limited space.
D Fenders – D-type fenders can be bolted directly to the dock or pier structure. They are simple in structure, economical in price, and require almost no maintenance. They can adapt to a variety of harsh environments. D Fenders are also often placed around the corners of structures or on either side of the entrance to narrow docks. Donut fenders are usually brightly colored and can act as a guide.
Hydro Pneumatic Fenders – NanHai Hydro-Pneumatic Fender builds on traditional pneumatic fender design and serves submarines or semi-submerged ships with underwater berthing needs, whether STD or STS. During berthing, it keeps the reaction force low and protects the ship’s hull effectively. NANHAI sets the pressure of its hydro pneumatic fenders at 230 kPa. These fenders meet the ISO -1 standard and enhance operational safety.
Donut Fenders – The donut fender floats and rotates around a fixed monopile, following the tide. You can equip it with a mooring post to allow full tidal mooring. Many operators place donut fenders at the corners of structures or on both sides of narrow dock entrances. Their bright colors also help guide vessels safely.
Some fenders, like pneumatic and foam-filled types, require less maintenance and have longer lifespans. Others may be cheaper up front but cost more over time.
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Pneumatic fenders use air and offer high flexibility and energy absorption. Foam fenders are solid, unsinkable, and ideal for extreme environments.
With proper use and maintenance, marine fenders can last anywhere from 5 to 15 years, depending on material and operating conditions.
Yes. Pneumatic and foam fenders are both designed for long-term, repeated use, especially in ship-to-ship operations.
Choosing the right ship fender is about more than just technical specs—it’s about making sure your operations stay safe, efficient, and cost-effective. If you’re unsure which marine fender is best for your needs, consult a trusted fender supplier who understands your docking conditions and vessel type.
We know that some recent problems have made some of our customers confused about choosing marine pneumatic fenders. On this occasion, we wrote this guide to help those who do not know how to choose the right marine pneumatic fender.
Pneumatic fender, also known as Yokohama fender, is a fender system with high strength and high wear resistance. The common size is: D1.0m x L1.5 ~ D3.3m x L6.5m. It consists of an outer rubber layer, a cord layer and an inner rubber layer vulcanized together. There are end flanges at both ends for inflation purposes. The outer rubber layer is made of strong rubber material to withstand external forces and protect the other layers from abrasion as well as hard usage in bad weather conditions.
The pneumatic fender uses compressed air as a buffer medium to absorb the impact energy of the ship, and makes the ship more flexible and soft when docking, so as to achieve the effect of collision and collision avoidance. Therefore, it is widely used for ship-to-ship transfer operations and ship berthing operations.
The fenders are used primarily for two applications: Ship-to-Ship and Ship-to-Dock. For ship-to-ship application, the fenders are used to berth or moor two vessels side by side (double-banking) in port or at sea. For ship-to-dock application, the fenders are used to berth a vessel alongside a dock or wharf.
Fenders used in STS transfer operation offshore are divided into two categories:
Besides being used for STS operation, pneumatic rubber fenders are also used for dock and wharf protection. Compared with traditional solid rubber fenders, pneumatic rubber fenders have perfect energy absorption and soft reaction force. Meanwhile, as floating rubber fenders, they could be adaptable to tide changes. Nowadays, pneumatic rubber fenders are widely used in some large shipyards, docks and ocean platforms.
In order to calculate a suitable fender arrangement, it is necessary to calculate the berthing energy of a ship which must be absorbed by the fender at the point of contact.
Here is a quick reference for choosing a suitable pneumatic fender:
PETROLEUM Equivalent DisplacementPneumatic fenders can come without a protective net and is usually black in color. Colors can be changed according to customers’ needs. Boomarine usually has 3 types of protective nets.
1. Tire-Chain Net Pneumatic Fender – multiple tires are tied to the ball, and the two ends are tied to a special fly ring that can rotate flexibly. Suitable for large ships.
2. Rubber Mat-wire Net Pneumatic Fender – a special rubber pad is tied to the sphere, which can be freely contracted or stretched when squeezed Suitable for small and medium-sized vessels.
3. Rope Net Pneumatic Fender – The net cover is woven with nylon rope and tied tightly to the ball. Suitable for small boats.
Pneumatic fenders can not only be applied to all kinds of ships, but also protect ports and piers. Due to a more evenly distributed load pressure, the torque performance against the dock is usually smaller when compared to conventionally designed solid fender systems. How can you choose a pneumatic fender that suits you? First of all, you have to determine your use environment, and then refer to the introduction of pneumatic fenders above to choose the most suitable fender for you.
If you are still confused about choosing a pneumatic fender, please contact us and we can recommend the most suitable pneumatic fender for you.