Naviera Chilena Del Pacífico S.A.

Mr. Arturo Fernández Zegers was born on December 16, 1904, the son of Rear Admiral Arturo Fernández Vial (a seaman and hero at the Naval Battle of Iquique) and Ms. Elisa Zegers Fernández.

He was a young medical student when, for economic reasons, was forced to abandon his studies and begin to work, which he did by taking a job with the Morrison firm, in Valparaíso.

Later in his life he became independent and began to supply the Braden Copper Company (El Teniente Mine) with iron scrap metal via railroad. When confronted with a scarcity of this material he acquired an old dredger in order to scrap it. Instead, he realized that he could transform the old dredger into a merchant ship.

The vessel thus built became the "Huelén", whose owner was the newly-incorporated Compañía Fernández Figuetti Ltda. This company marked the beginnings of Mr. Fernández as ship owner.

In 1947 he joined Mr. Ivor Davis and, along with a selected group of investors, they started today's Naviera Chilena del Pacífico S.A.

In 1954 he founded Naviera Peruana del Pacífico S.A., a company dedicated to transport petroleum along the Peruvian coastline. In the early 1970's the company terminated its operations as a result of the Peruvian Government's nationalization of the country's petroleum industry.

Toward the mid 1960's -in a joint venture with Mr. Arturo Larraín- he incorporated INTERMAR Ltda., Chile's first shipping brokerage company.

Mr. Fernández actively participated, through the National Chamber of Shipping (Asociación Nacional de Armadores), in the creation of the Latin American Chamber of Shipping (Asociación Latinoamericana de Armadores - ALAMAR), an entity that was incorporated in July 1963 in Viña del Mar. Some time thereafter, in view of his continuous and sustained effort toward developing our Merchant Marine, on November 27, 1968 such regional trade union decided to recognize Mr. Fernández' outstanding work toward developing that institution. Thus, on October 14, 1995 the Chilean Maritime League (Liga Marítima de Chile) awarded him the Oxidized Silver Medal (Medalla de Plata Oxidada) to the merits of his entrepreneurial track record and spirit of public service toward developing Chile's maritime future.

Mr. Fernández died on February 15, 1999.