utah's australian subsidiary completed a 0y2-mile tunnel five months ahead of sched ule and broke the world tunneling record when 590 feet was excavated in one shift in a six-day work week under reasonably good conditions the ala meda can dredge and pump enough material in one day to cover a football field to a depth of 25 feet railroad in africa multi-purpose dams in east pakistan and thailand in australia a complete construction organization is en gaged in a ml range of operations including industrial and commercial buildings bridges waterfront facilities tunnels dams and power plants substantially higher earnings were achieved this year compared with last year as gross profits from construction operations reached an all-time high construction volume put in place was the second highest annual mark in our history despite this activity level our construction backlog at year end had in creased by 9 over last year resulting from the receipt of new awards which totaled the third highest in our history all of the major claims pending on completed construction contracts including the st lawrence seaway projects were settled during the year dredging the alameda and franciscan are two of the largest and most modern hydraulic dredges in the world today and they are par ticularly suited for working with hard mate rial that must be excavated and transported great distances in large volumes this year two important agreements have been reached with private interests in japan one agreement provides for the sale of the