Ocean Shipping Utah Shippers Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Utah Development Company, directs all marine transportation activities of Utah International. Coordination and management of shipments of Australian coking coal to European customers and of copper concentrate production from the Island Copper mine to Japan and the management of the construction and operation of two new bulk carriers are under its supervision. Last year 35 chartered vessels lifted 2,190,400 tons of coking coal for Europe, serving nine European customers and calling at eight discharge ports. Of these vessels, eight were single voyage charters and 27 were under contracts of affreightment, and included ships flying Russian, Norwegian, Polish, British, Japanese and Liberian flags. Two 126,000-ton dry bulk carriers for Utah's use have been ordered from Japanese yards for delivery in late 1975 and 1976. Each of these ships is owned by a new corporation in which Utah holds a 50% interest, and under contract to Utah, will carry coking coal from Australia to Europe. Then, under contract to the other owner of the new corporations, they will deliver iron ore from the Atlantic basin to Japan. Utah's initial ocean shipping activities began when its 46%-owned affiliate, Marcona Corporation, undertook the transportation of Peruvian iron ore products to its customers throughout the world. In satisfying this objective and in seeking to fulfill the shipping needs of others, Marcona has brought under its control a sizeable fleet of vessels. In addition to those ships employed under numerous chartering arrangements, Marcona subsidiaries own a total of 12 large carriers with a combined capacity of 1.2 million deadweight tons. Ten of the 12 owned vessels have the capability of transporting oil as well as dry cargoes, and two are outfitted with Marconaflo equipment which allows the use of this unique and efficient method of handling slurried ores. With this cargo flexibility, Marcona's shipping operations have been in an advantageous position to benefit from a continual expansion in the demand for transportation of natural resources. As traditional mineral supplies are depleted, the search for new resources must center increasingly on locations which are more distant from the industrial areas of the world. To bridge the widening gap between points of supply and existing processing facilities, fleets of specialized ships and innovative handling techniques minimize the impact of these greater transportation requirements. San Juan Voyager, one of Marcona's three 130,000-deadweight long ton (132,000-deadweight metric ton) combination ore-oil carriers, is used to haul iron ore to the Far East. Dual-product shipping capabilities enable this vessel to seek an oil cargo for its backhaul voyage. 24