Trelleborg fenders for Felixstowe

The Port of Felixstowe handles over 3.1m 20ft teu containers per year and with global patterns showing that vessel sizes are steadily on the rise, the port has looked to Trelleborg Marine Systems to help accommodate the word’s largest vessels.

The immense pressure on ports to ensure that infrastructure is capable of successfully accommodating the latest generation of container vessels has increased.

Back in September, the UK’s need to secure additional deep water capacity was discussed by Port Strategy‘s Alex Hughes as ships of more than 22 rows of stowed containers are becoming a reality and few ports have the quays to accommodate them.

In the article, José Bandrés also highlighted an increasingly competitive market for cranes due to the fact that some of their competitors have been able to cut costs by sourcing components from outside Europe.This move to a commoditised market is something that Trelleborg are seeing increasingly too, with some traders sourcing off the shelf docking and mooring products.

Research carried out by Trelleborg revealed that a quarter of those responsible for the procurement of berthing and docking products are mainly concerned with price and aren’t worried about where the product comes from – demonstrating this move towards a more commoditised market for fenders, which it says could increase costs and reduce the efficiency of ports in the long term.