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Samsung Heavy Industries has developed an eco-friendly large passenger vessel that uses LNG as fuel, according to Cruise & Ferry Info Magazine.

The company completed its development of the passenger boat in early 2009 following two years of Research and Development (R&D), in order to meet the needs of Northern European passenger shippers for eco-friendly passenger boats due to the tightening of environmental regulations.

The groundbreaking new vessel is said to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxides during operation by more than 90 percent. In addition, it is also claimed that CO2 emissions were reduced by more than 20 percent, in response to new regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.

The vessel is also economically efficient, as it is capable of reducing operating costs by up to 38 percent by recycling the heat generated by the engine.

Samsung Heavy Industries held a tech briefing for Northern European shippers to promote the new vessel, which is 225m long and 31m wide, and can sail at 40km per hour with 300 trailers. The Company announced that shippers are actively making inquiries for order placement.

The company also announced that Maersk Dunkerque, the passenger vessel delivered to Netherlands in 2006, was selected as the Best Passenger Boat for its "invisible smoke" design, which makes emitted gases invisible.

The Company is achieving global recognition for its eco-friendly shipbuilding technology and recently won the eco-friendly ship award for the oil tanker it entered in Nor-Shipping, the world's largest ship fair held in June of 2009, a first for a Korean shipbuilder.

Vice Chairman and CEO of Samsung Heavy Industries Kim Jing-wan said, "We developed the eco-friendly passenger boat to comply with the IMO standards for pollutant emissions that will take effect in 2015. We are working on diverse eco-friendly technologies that will give us an edge with European businesses, as part of our plan to enter the cruise ship market."