Today we spent the day touring and interviewing with companies at the new port of Limassol. To start we met with Dubai Ports World (DWP). They are the company that is in charge of all general cargo ships and commercial ships that come into the port. They also help do maintenance on the ships and can stores things on land for the shipping companies. DWP can hole around four or five boats at a time in their area of the port and they have about 25 boats come through their docks a week. Next, we met with P&O. They are the company that helps dock the boats in the port. They taught us how tugboats are used to navigate the larger boats into their spots. Lasty, we met with Eurogate. They are the company in the port that is in charge of all the shipping container cargo ships that come through the port. This includes normal bulk carrier items, as well as refrigerator carriers. Eurogate explained that they can overturn around 600-700 ships a day through their docks. They also explained that over the past few years they have been able to lower the time it takes ships to go through their port. From the time the ships entered the port to the time they exited used to be 48 hours but now they can take care of the ship in about 18 minutes. These are extremely impressive numbers, and it shows just how efficient the company is. Eurogate also showed us how they moved the shipping containers using straddle carriers. It was amazing to see how effortlessly the straddle carriers lifted such heavy, bulky containers.

Throughout the day the companies stressed the importance of efficiency. Being the most efficient port around is what attracts more shipping companies to the Limassol port and overall benefits Cyprus’s economy. I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to see firsthand what all goes into making a shipping port run so effectively.