Today’s activities were the most open ended that we have had so far. We started the day with a visit to a training facility for Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM). I found BSM’s role in the supply chain to be the easiest to understand of all the companies we have visited thus far, as they are an intermediary between the seller and the customer. We learned that over 95% of what is being sold at superstores like Walmart have been shipped globally by companies like BSM. The training facility however occupies a unique area of the supply chain that is perhaps less obvious; it acts as a secondary source of resources, as the training provides the shipping company with prepared employees to perform the necessary tasks of living and working on board their ships. The training facility uses both practical and virtual simulations of operational, navigational, and emergency circumstances that prepare every crewmember to perform any of the roles aboard the ships.
After our company visit, we switched gears and visited the Omodos Village in the mountains for lunch. The scenery of the plaster walls and red tiled rooves of a typical Mediterranean town provided some of the most picturesque moments of the trip so far. After lunch and some free time to walk around and explore the town, we continued up the mountains to Troodos Square, where we shopped in souvenir shops, took a short nature walk, and got more pictures of the beautiful view. What I found most interesting about the towns in the mountains was that they were definitely marketed toward tourists, with an abundance of places to shop and eat in the stone streets and alleys. I do not believe we generally have any equivalent to this in the United States. Small towns do not receive many visitors and most tourist places are either on the coast, in a city, or a mountain resort of some kind. I understand the market for such a town though, as I thought the Omodos Village was beautiful and the tourist-trap nature of the shops did not detract at all from my experience.
I am looking forward to another day spent at the coast tomorrow!
