Dave MacIntyre learns it’s best to go direct to get the definitive line on best fender practise.

As port executives face more pressure from shipping lines and insurers to get their fendering and mooring systems right, one basic premise appears to be missing at the planning stage - it is the consultant that the port tends to turn to for the specifications of the tender, yet it is the manufacturer that really knows which fender system can do the job best. Compounding this is a perception that price is being given too high a weighting in the final choice of contractor and that lower-cost, lower-quality non-specialists are entering the market, particularly from Asia.