ShibataFenderTeam organised a number of technical seminars last year with the goal of sharing our design and engineering skills with manufacturers and users. One of the seminars was hosted in Singapore.
The seminar was organised in collaboration with the Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES), NTU Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumna Association (NTUCEEAA) and our partner in Singapore, SSR Engineering. With this collaboration, we aimed to reach out to engineers who are interested in or are new to fender system design.
The turnout was very encouraging, all seats were taken in less than two days. Approximately 100 participants reflected a very diverse group with attendees from ports, oil terminals and consulting firms.
The seminar commenced with an opening address from the Immediate Past President of IES Er Chong Kee Sen. He expressed the need for a seminar of this kind: “Marine Fendering System design is a science and an art because unlike conventional believes, providing bigger or more fenders does not necessarily result in safer, better and more cost-effective design”.
Shibata president Mr Atsuki Shibata extended his warm welcome to all participants. He thanked Er Chong, IES, NTUCEEA and SSR for the support and assistance rendered during the preparation of this seminar. Furthermore, he outlined the responsibility of Shibata, being one of the leading fender specialists, to pass their knowledge and experience on to young engineers of the industry, especially as technologies are changing.
To start the seminar, Mr Agari, director of ShibataFenderTeam in Malaysia, gave a brief presentation of the SFT Group.
Our engineering specialist Mr Chris Millwood gave two presentations on ‘Berthing Energy Calculation’ and ‘Design of Panel Fender Systems’. Both were well received by the participants, which resulted in an interesting question and answer session.
Besides a presentation on ‘Manufacturing and Testing of Fenders’ Mr. Suzuki, director of Shibata Asia in Malaysia gave the participants the possibility to experience and touch rubber compound materials. These props were informative and of great interest to the participants.
The presentation on ‘Fender Type and Applications’ by Mr James Leo, general sales manager at ShibataFenderTeam in Malaysia, provided an insight to the various types of fenders supplied and manufactured by ShibataFenderTeam, including the possible applications and installations worldwide.
Socialising opportunities from the coffee break to lunch and cocktail reception gave the participants an opportunity to mingle with colleagues and like-minded people.
We received very positive feedback at the end of the seminar and even the weeks after. The participants felt that the seminar was well organised, informative and very useful. Many engineers highlighted that Chris’s presentations were very comprehensive and easy to understand, especially for the younger engineers who are new to fender design.
One of the participants thanked us for organising this seminar as it allowed him to ‘reconnect’ with fender system design, and most importantly, he met his ex-university classmate from 30 years ago.
The seminar in Singapore proved again how important it is, to train engineers and end users in designing, manufacturing and testing of Fender systems. We will continue to organise these seminars worldwide.