Today we visited a handful of companies at the Limassol New Port to see how Cyprus’ shipping industry fits in with the global supply chain. At the new port, we visited Dubai Ports World (DPW) and Eurogate, as they are the main companies that run the port. Both companies work with P&O on this port, as they provide towing services with their tugboats throughout the port.

Dubai Ports World focuses on passenger transport in and out of Cyprus. Most of their clientele is cruise ships that have a small layover in Cyprus to refuel and maintain the ship. They, however, do also deal with originating and terminating traffic. They have the section of the port with a brand new passenger terminal, which seemed like a much nicer version of a lot of airport terminals that I have seen.

Eurogate focuses on container cargo. Their side of the port has large machines that move back and forth delivering cargo from container ships to small intermediary storage to trucks. To get the containers off the ship, they have five 200-foot cranes that pick up and move the containers onto the port. When they are moved off, smaller, but still large, intermediary vehicles that are essentially small claw machines on stilts pick up the containers and then move them where they need to be. It’s not likely that this destination will be trucks, so it will most likely end up in storage first. After storage, it is then brought over to a loading bay and the containers are dropped onto the trucks. Having seen the process, it is well done logistically because it looks terrifying but is entirely safe. According to Eurogate as well, because Cyprus is an import-heavy country and has little exports, most of what they ship out of Cyprus as originating traffic is empty containers, which is not as efficient as if they were shipping out full containers.

Overall, I thought visiting this port and seeing how these facets of the supply chain worked was fascinating. It was also interesting to see the complex logistics that went into shipping.