After another good night of rest due to our late 9:10 leaving time, we were off to the first of two industry visits for the day, Vassiliko Cement Works. Upon pulling up, I immediately took note of the landfill on the premises, I was just thinking the other day about how I’ve never seen one in real life and, surprisingly, there’s not a better method of trash disposal by now. We then turned into the plant and got out of the bus, met with an unpleasant smell that made us excited to get into the building and start the presentation.

The presenter immediately stressed the plant’s focus on sustainability and the reduction of CO2 emissions, this impressed me as most companies have not been so forthcoming with their efforts. During the presentation, I was shocked by the sheer magnitude of this production, which is so massive that it’s impossible to fully comprehend. He explained that 75 billion tons of concrete are produced per year and that Vassiliko is the largest heavy industry in Cyprus. He walked us through the process of cement production, which goes from quarrying to crushing to preblending to grinding, etc. until it reaches the stage where it can be exported or sent to local markets. While they import some materials from Italy, Vassiliko is a largely self-sufficient company with a role in multiple parts of the supply chain. For example, they process material from the landfill into an alternative fuel that is used to help power the plant and have their own port on site which exports cement and clinker in bulk. This exportation is substantial, with cement being the 3rd largest exporting product of Cyprus. After the presentation, we got to tour the plant and were all quite excited to wear the hard hats and safety vests they provided for us.

After our time at Vassiliko, we had a meze-style group lunch at the fish tavern in Zygi (I’m glad I like seafood because that would have been rough for the people that don’t) before heading back to Limassol for our second company visit, MSC Shipmanagement. We learned that MSC is the world leader in shipping, which accounts for 90% of global trade. They gave us an overview of why to pursue a career in shipping, highlighting the diversity and opportunities for women in the field. After this, they pulled up the control center from which they can view details of all of their ships, including the MSC Irina which is the largest ship in the world. We all enjoyed the high-energy environment of this company, especially when the CEO took the time out of his day to come talk to us. It threw us off, however, when they presented us with an MSC cake and six pizzas to end the meeting, especially when they were all mushroom pizzas. Having just come from meze lunch, none of us were too hungry, but we tried some of their offerings to be polite. Overall, it was a very interesting company visit day.