Today’s company visits were all centered around the port of Limassol. Of the three ports in Cyprus, the other two being in Larnaca and Paphos, this is the largest port in Cyprus and sees a lot of traffic relative to the size of Cyprus. Before 2017, it was completely owned by the Ports Authority of Cyprus. In 2017, the port was commercialized and split into three different companies each with their own set of tasks. They work very closely with each other to make sure everything in the port runs smoothly.

The first group we visited was DP World Limassol. Their job is to regulate the flow of people and cargo in and out of the port of Limassol. As per the cargo, they specifically deal with “general cargo”. As opposed to “container cargo”, general cargo relates to things that are not placed in individual units. This can be things like cars, bulk goods, tankers, etc. They rent out their docking space and their terminals for boats to set anchor at so they can be repaired and their cargo can be stored. They also deal with the people that come in and out of Limassol by way of boat. They are estimated to see 100,000+ people enter through the port this year!

The second company that works out of the port of Limassol is P&O. Their job is to use pilot boats and tug boats to guide the boats going in and out of the port. They have 2 pilot boats and 3 tug boats at their disposal. These boats are used to guide or gently move boats into place so they can berth at whatever dock they need to.

The last group in the port is Eurogate. They deal only with container cargo. There are 500,000 TEUs of storage, which means that there are 500,000 spaces where the 20 foot shipping containers can be placed. On the seafront they have enough space and enough equipment to work with 4 vessels at the same time. An estimated 600-700 containers are transported every day through Eurogate. They also offer transshipment services. This means that they act as a place for exchanges to happen between shipping companies. Sometimes this happens because if certain ships are not authorized to enter certain countries they will leave it in this port and someone who is authorized to transport it will finish the journey.

All of these organizations are on the way to digitizing and automating their processes. Minor advancements have been made and they are already seeing improvements. Also, these companies all abide by ISO 9001, 14001, and 45001. These are guidelines that assure the quality of their services, the safety of the environment, and the safety of their workers respectively. Learning about everything that goes on in this port was fascinating and I cannot wait to see how some companies do their work differently.