SFT Cone Fenders installed at Tilbury2 in UK

Our new office in the Netherlands secured an order for Tilbury2, a new multi-million pound infrastructure project, implemented by the Port of Tilbury, being the UK’s fastest growing port. Tilbury has been doubling the size of its business in the past 10 years and is projected to double the volume of cargo across the quay (from 16 million to 32 million tonnes) over the next 10-15 years. Graham Construction  was awarded the contract for the marine package including the fenders as part of the upgrade of the existing Roll-On/Roll-Off (RoRo) and CMAT jetty.

The contract involves the construction of a new port terminal and associated facilities on land at the former Tilbury Power Station on the north bank of the River Thames. When operational in spring 2020, Tilbury2 will be the UK’s largest unaccompanied freight ferry port, the country’s biggest construction processing hub including a new significantly larger rail head which can accommodate the longest freight trains of 775 m.

As the port is located on the river Thames which has large tides, the fender panels had to be very long. One of them measures alomst 12 m to cover the tidal range around 6 m. With such a large steel panel, a design with 2 Cone Fenders per panel was needed.

In total, SFT has delivered 9 sets of double SPC 1400 Cone Fenders with panels (3.10 x 11.8 m) as well as 6 sets of double SPC 1200 Cone Fenders with panels (2.40 x 9.90 m). All steelwork and welding was requested to be in accordance with EXC2 as per EN1090. EN 1090 is an EU standard (2014) for structural steel and aluminum. It has defined execution classes with its own set of requirements. There are four execution classes (EXC1 to EXC4), with the number rising as complexity and thus compliance strictness increases.

The client required a 3rd party testing on rubber batch materials which was done at our factory. Testing rubber batch material refers to the testing of rubber samples cut from the finalized rubber sheet. This is one step before vulcanization . The rubber sample is tested on physical properties to see if it meets international standards. Testing rubber batch material is an important quality control step before starting to manufacture the fender.

SFT wishes the Port of Tilbury a successful start with the operation of Tilbury2. (#4149)