GATE report 1
An environmentally friendly and safe mooring syst
em. Floating Hotel Room Pemba Island, Tanzania Mooring floating docks or pontoons has traditionally been done using steel chain, which begins corroding immediately after installation and becomes fully corroded in the next 5-20 years depending on location. SEAFLEX units have a lifespan that extends multiple times beyond that of regular chain and provides both environmental and financial benefits, Seaflex CEO Lars Brandt explains. The company, with the head office in Umeå, Sweden, and a sales office in California, USA, makes flexible, environmentally friendly mooring systems and shock absorbers for pontoons and other floating structures that need to be safely secured. The product was invented by Lars Brandts father, and goes back all the way to the 60’s. The oldest installations in Sweden are more than 35 years old and are fully functional to this day. “Seaflex lifespan extends multiple times beyond that of chain” -My father lived in Cannes. One day, when walking around in the city’s small boat-harbor he started thinking about a way to replace all the chain used in the area. The resulting invention – SEAFLEX – is an reinforced, stretchable rubber cable. The idea is simple: A stretchable rubber cable is secured between the floating application and an anchor on the bottom. With the system in place, the application, usually a pontoon, will be fixated in all directions – no matter waves, winds, depth and seasonal variations. -Another benefit is that the cables doesn’t drag along the seabed. Traditional chain will become slack at some point in the tidal-cycle, and move with the pontoon resulting in damage to the seabed vegetation. This problem is especially noticeable for single-point mooring buoys, where the draging chain creates so called “dead spots”. The environmental aspect and benefits of using SEAFLEX have become more and more important during the last few years, and in some cases, it is no longer allowed to use traditional chain mooring because of this problem. Today the company primarily designs mooring systems for larger marinas and floating houses around the world. Each system is tailor-made depending on the need of the customer. Seaflex engineers use the environmental data from the installation site – wind, waves, currents, depth and water level variations to mention a few – to dimension a mooring system that can withstand their locations specific forces, wetter it be hurricane-strength winds, water level variations of more than 30 meters or just a small residential dock in a unsheltered area with or without tidal variations. -Every location provides a different set of challenges. No matter if we are seilling to distributors or end users; we are always there every step of the way – from the drawing board to completed installation, and beyond, says Lars Brandt. According to Lars Brandt, the Seaflex product can be summarized as “smart design, high quality and sustainable”. So, what about the future for Seaflex? -The coming years we will continue to s ee an increased focus on the renewable energy sector, through Seaflex Energy Systems AB. This market is growing extremely fast, and Seaflex is providing mooring systems for floating solar parks and wave energy converters for example. Besides that we are excited to follow the development in the marina industry, where traditional methods are getting questioned and replaced by more innovative products like ours, it is an exciting market to be active in. Dock/Pontoon Buoy Rope Seaflex Seaflex SEAFLEX AB Webb: www.seaflex.net E-mail: info@seaflex.net Phone: 090-160650 GATE REPORT # 04/2017 69