Today we visited the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute to learn about the greener or rather bluer ocean. CMMI is a non-profit organization that strives to build more eco-friendly oceans in various areas. The first and, for our class, the most critical sector CMMI works with is the shipping industry. On a large scale, CMMI has built ships that are self-sustainable and carbon emission-free, called Project Zest. CMMI’s role in the supply chain process of shipping is to develop and test prototypes such as the one in Project Zest, which they will then send to a manufacturer of ships that shipping companies will use in their businesses. The goal of the product is to reduce Carbon emissions of boats as “by 2050 it is projected the shipping industry will produce 50% of carbon emissions.”

The issue with the projects and other projects CMMI has conducted is that shipping does not support these projects. While the technology is sustainable, it is also costly and will drive up prices for Shipping and thus drive up consumer prices. Additionally, shipping companies will do the bare minimum to pass as sustainable company. So in a vacuum, CMMI’s efforts are crucial to the supply chain as well as the sustainability of the earth. But in reality, the company’s hopes are not feasible for the near future. This being said, the Digitalization part of the company did share a project in which they built software and sensors that would process the data of shipping companies and how make them more efficient. Sadly they did not go into much detail on this project.

The business practice of CMMI seemed very peculiar to me. They had only 44 employees with 31 scientists, yet they had nine separate areas of specialization in the company. In other words, it feels like they are spreading thin on their workforce. This being said, they went over a process where the company’s goals would trickle down into each sector and then into each worker, creating a feeling of unity in CMMI. Additionally, CMMI will be funded for six years by the Cyprus government and European Union, stopping in 2026. The lack shows itself as the company is tackling many projects at once, or at least they are trying to tackle many projects at once. It was hard to understand from the presentation if these efforts were working. All in all, CMMI is a research institute that focuses mainly on the research and development used by other companies to have a more green supply chain.