3D Printed Parts Installed On Oil Tanker Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. (Image: ABS) Additive manufactured parts have been built, tested and installed on board the U.S.-flagged oil tanker Polar Endeavor Traditionally, parts used in shipbuilding and repair are manufactured via casting or forging techniques. For this project, a consortium consisting of ABS, Sembcorp Marine, 3D Metalforge and ConocoPhillips Polar Tankers Inc. (Polar) aimed to utilize additive manufacturing (AM) to fabricate three types of parts that surpass conventionally manufactured products in terms of quality. These AM parts have passed rigorous approval, reliability and safety tests. Also known as 3D printing, AM is the fabrication of parts by adding material layer by layer. It means products and components can be fabricated locally or potentially on board ships and offshore assets, shrinking the supply chain and lead times for specialized and complex parts, introducing new efficiencies driven by design innovation, reduced manufacturing time, and improvements in parts availability.