The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., will launch the GLOBUOY series of surface and underwater buoys for offshore oil fields and ships in May. The new models are lighter than conventional counterparts and simplify maintenance, key advantages for the many companies exploring new offshore oil resources. The company will exhibit the series at the 2005 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas, which opens on May 2.

GLOBUOY buoys are pneumatic and made of rubber, making them far lighter than conventional steel models. The Type-D subsea GLOBUOY effectively weighs around seven metric tons at a depth of 20 meters, considerably less than the 20 metric tons or so of a steel buoy. This makes buoy deployment and pick-up much quicker and easier. Other important advantages are that GLOBUOY buoys will not scrape ship hulls and do not rust, simplifying maintenance.

GLOBUOY employs pneumatic fender material technologies renowned for high-pressure performance and durability. Like fender materials, the inside wall of the GLOBUOY is covered with the rubber cord (with a thin rubber sheet sandwiching nylon and other fabric) found in tires. To boost pressure resistance, Yokohama increased the number of cord sheets to 2.5 times the thickness of the fender material. GLOBUOY was designed to deliver the same durability as fenders, with an expected service life that is two or three times longer than steel buoys.