Today, we once again began the day at 8 am with a bus ride to Limassol. We arrived at the Limassol Port, the largest port in Cyprus, along the southern coast of the island. From here, we met with Dubai Ports World (DPW), a maritime company that helps run this port. We learned about their business and their various ports around the world, and learned the anatomy of this port. The port is divided into sections specialized for each type of vessel; the northern part is for oil and gas, the eastern part is for commercial vessels like cruise ships, and the southeastern part is for cargo. The building we met in had a futuristic look, so that it can accommodate for the Limassol part in the future. After this meeting, we were given a guided bus tour around this company’s section of the port. We saw many shipping containers, a Ro-Ro, and even a cruise ship docked at the cruise ship section of the port.
After this tour, we moved to the other section of the port to meet with Eurogate, a company that handles specifically shipping containers. We learned some basic information about standards for shipping containers, such as even though they use meters in this country, the standard size for a container is one TEU: twenty-foot equivalent unit. Shipping containers can either be 20 ft or 40 ft. After the meeting, we had a short break where they provided us with drinks and pastries. We then toured this part of the port, and got to observe moving cranes in action as they moved the shipping containers. I was not very familiar with the maritime industry beforehand, so it was very interesting to learn about it and the different aspects of a port.
After the business part of our day had concluded, we had lunch as a group at a restaurant by the sea. We ate American food here– burgers, wraps, and fries. After lunch, we had free time to explore the Limassol castle, and roam around afterwards. The castle was filled with small rooms with artifacts in them, many of them showcasing tombstones from the past. We were able to go to the very top of the castle and overlook the city of Limassol. After, we roamed around the area, visiting a few souvenir shops, walking along the pier, and looking at the marina. The sea was beautiful and refreshing to see, and I can’t wait to explore the island even more.
