Samsung Heavy Industries said Monday it has become the first shipbuilder to seek approval for its 3D model-based ships from American Bureau of Shipping.

ABS sets standards for safety and excellence as one of the world‘s leading ship classification organizations.

The South Korean shipbuilder said it began using the design techniques since 2016 but has taken an extra step for approval from ABS.

“Shipbuilders must obtain approval from a classification society for the design of ships. Despite the introduction of 3D design techniques (earlier), creating 2D drawings for approval was one of the difficulties in terms of the firm’s digital transformation strategy,” Samsung Heavy said.

It has now joined hands with ABS to establish a new process that enables design verification and approval based on digital-type 3D models without existing 2D paper drawings. The new process will be applied to liquefied natural gas carriers that will start construction this year.

“The certified digitized design information can be easily connected to artificial intelligence, augmented reality and virtual reality technologies without any additional data processing,” the firm said.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)