Today started with a short bus ride to Limassol Port for our first company visit of the day. First, we heard from representatives from the company DP World. After the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus in 1974, and therefore the closing of the largest port in Cyprus, a larger port was built in Limassol.
One of the most interesting things I learned about DP World during our meetings with them was the fact that they have a public-private partnership, meaning that ports were a public authority that got privatized. The ports used to be owned by the Cyprus Port Authority but were handed over to private companies for a set amount of years (25 in DP World’s case) when the Cypriot economy was having serious financial issues. Because they are semi-privatized, DP World must meet certain expectations so they are not kicked out of their agreement with the Republic of Cyprus. These measurements are called KPIs or key performance indicators.
DP World is a global shipping and cargo company based in Dubai. The main operations at the Cyprus port include cargo, oil, and gas. Another thing I found interesting about the company was that they offered cruises as well. Cruises are not very profitable for DP World, but they are good for the community and the city of Limassol. DP World is currently trying to set up an agreement with the Republic of Cyprus to gain some sort of incentive for boosting the local economy via cruise ship passengers.
Right next to DP World’s port is another company: Eurogate. Eurogate specializes in shipping containers and their port holds 500,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) annually with a capacity of 1 million. In order to handle the large amount of containers, Eurogate has invested in STS cranes and straddle carriers. Eurogate also employs the use of AI in its daily operations to further maximize time and efficiency. AI tells drivers where a container should go in the yard and what route to take to get there. AI also enables the electronic release of containers from customs much faster than the previous manual method. Another implementation of AI we asked the Eurogate representative about was self-driving vehicles. Although they are not in use in Limassol, Eurogate is currently testing this in their German port. After seeing the use of AI and investment into new shipping technology, I felt that Eurogate was very productivity focused, making the overall shipping supply chain faster.