The History

In late 1955, the world's very first inflatable, all-plastic buoy was produced in Aalesund, Norway.

Historically fishermen had been using equipment made from wood, barrels, canvas, tar, glass balls, cork or hemp to float and mark their nets. All poor solutions resulting in the loss of a lot of equipment.

So after years of developing the two gründers of Polyform cast the first all-plastic buoy in a series of buoys that was to become the Polyform A-series. These were soon to be found in most corners of the world, and they established the standard for buoy design and quality.

Still today the though, rib-reinforced rope hold and the seamless construction of the Polyform buoys and fenders are part of the reasons why professional users all over the world prefer the Polyform The Original - and why these buoys have become synonymous with "the best buoy money can buy".

Made in Norway since 1955

Polyform AS was established in Aalesund, Norway in 1955 and was the first company in the world to produce inflatable, all-plastic net buoys and fenders.

The product was an instant success and was immediately accepted in the domestic Norwegian as well as overseas markets. And from the factory in Norway the buoys were soon exported worldwide - alreday in 1957 the first export was shipped to UK and The Faroe Islands, and later, following the rising crab fishing, the North American market.

It also didn’t take long before the fishermen discover that the net buoys were so strong that they could also withstand being used as fenders, and the range soon expanded.

The buoys and fenders became a sought-after product.  In December 1978 the company Polyform U.S. LTD was founded by Polyform AS, and a new factory was “up and running” in Seattle mid 1979 to cover the increased demand in that region. Shortly after strategic decisions, in 1982 the US factory was split from Polyform AS into its own company.

Buoys, fenders, and floats

Today, Polyform AS can offer unique production capacities and the widest range of buoys, fenders and floats that can be supplied.

Net buoys, boat fenders and mooring buoys made from PVC, purse seine floats and marina fenders made from Bacell/EVA foam, and large scale mooring buoys and heavy duty fenders made from hard shell PE are all main products for Polyform AS, supplying Leisure, Fishery, Aquaculture and Offshore Energy markets.

Unique automated production

Ever since the start in 1955, Polyform has been committed to further expanding the range and to further develop, customize and improve the individual products.

Products and machinery have been gradually developed and improved from the first major leap forward in production technology happened in the 1970’s and early 1980’s when specially designed, in-house constructed machinery for roto molding of buoys and fenders was developed and put into use. Such type of machinery at that time was truly unique in the world of molding buoys and fenders.

More recent and even more revolutionary developments took place in the new millennium, by our designing and constructing of the first ever fully automated and robot assisted production machinery, built for molding inflatable fenders.

This patented POLYMATIQ technology ensures supreme control over the fusion process and warrants for the most consistent quality available anywhere for such molded, soft vinyl fenders.

At the end of 2023, Polyform expanded its factory facilities with a new additional building, making the total production size 11,000 sq m. In this development the largest rotomolding machinery with carousel/individual arms in Northern Europe where installed, enabling the production of larger elements - and making the production of PE hard shell products much more efficient.

Polyform AS - the Original

People associate Polyform’s inflatable buoys and fenders with the easily recognizable blue rib reinforced rope holds of the A- and F-series. No wonder, this has been Polyform’s hallmark for over 60 years.

The company is registered in Norway and situated in the outskirts of Aalesund, on the north-western part of Norway. An area known for having one of the world’s most innovative environments within the maritime industry and one of the largest fishing harbours in Norway. Our coastal shoreline is one of the harshest in the northern hemisphere, and it is here that Polyform products are produced and distributed to all parts of the globe.

Through a well-established net of distributors, the products are sold all over the world under the trademark Polyform®.