This morning I had to rush to to the laundromat to grab some clothing. I went yesterday morning to drop my clothes off for cleaning, which surprised me because typical laundromats in the US are “do it yourself”. Here in Cyprus, most of the laundromats are small family owned business where you can drop off your clothing and have the workers clean your clothes and come back a day later to pick it up. Regardless, I was able to get my clothing just in time to get ready and we were off to our first company visit of the day: Vassiliko Cement Works.

At Vassiliko, we learned all about how cement is made, from the raw materials, to being processed to clinker, and finally into cement. I found it very surprising that the government contracts they sign are for 50 years because that is the time it takes for the cement companies to see value in setting up mining and shipping operations in an area! It’s clear that this industry requires a lot of patience and great long-term forecasting. 

Our second company visit if the day was MSC Ship-management Limassol. This company was very similar to Columbia Ship Management from yesterday, but it seemed like their fleet was much larger. They actually have the largest cargo carrier, the MSC Irina, which can hold over 24000 TEU’s! I was confused as to why you hey would need a ship this big, but one of the big reasons is to reduce the carbon footprint by being able to transport more goods in one trip, which I thought was very environmentally conscience. All the operations of MSC have a large impact on the supply chain because they plan the courses for hundreds of cargo ships, and the efficiency and safety of getting the boats from one part of the world to another controls the global market of goods. I am glad we were able to experience these some of the daily operations of these companies and learn more about how they impact the global economy.