The first part of today, our second-to-last day in Cyprus, was spent at Vassiliko Cement Works. What stood out immediately upon entering the plant was the sheer size of the operation, both in terms of physical size and the sheer amount of concrete produced. After entering the plant, we were quickly ushered into the main administrative part of the company, which was located right at the product site. The fact that the administrative part of the company was located right at the production site spoke to me about the character of those who set up the plant. Concrete plants are very loud and dirty, so it’s tempting to set up offices away from the plants. However, it’s important for bosses to actually interact with the people and equipment they are in charge of, so I was very happy to see that Vassiliko recognized the importance of that. After entering the office space, we were given a presentation that focused on both the process of creating concrete and what the company or industry is like. Creating concrete involved a much longer process than I was aware of, which made it all the more impressive to me that they were able to create it so cheaply. What also stood out to me about the company was how vertically integrated it was. Vassiliko literally controls its entire supply chain, with them doing everything from mining the materials themselves to supplying the product to customers. It’s very rare to see such complete vertical integration, but it did make sense in this context as having complete vertical integration lowers cost significantly, which is extremely important for a product like concrete due to the fact that price is really all consumers care about for it. What I also found curious about their port was how relatively cheap a lot of their equipment was. The machines that they use for loading clinker and cement will last for years and only cost a few hundred thousand euros, which is extremely cheap for a company that makes over $100 million a year. It was fascinating walking around Vassiliko Cement Works, and it definitely rekindled my childhood interest in heavy equipment.

After a truly amazing seafood feast in Zygi, we proceeded to visit MSC Shipping Management. This company visit stood out to me more than any other company visit simply due to the sheer hospitality that we were shown. They made cakes and pizza for us and let us talk to their CEO and other high-ranking officials of a multibillion-dollar company. I was simply blown away by the kindness that we were shown. The presentation that they gave us was also fascinating. They went into depth about how the shipping industry operates, how they track their vessels, and the advantages of their largest ship. I also loved the fact that we got a Q&A session with their CEO. He actually cleared up a pretty big misconception I had, which was that most larger ships could not traverse the Suez Canal. Instead, he explained to me that because of enlarging efforts in the canal, almost every ship can traverse it, which makes large ships even more economically viable. Another thing that stood out to me from this visit was the importance of networking. I talked to our presenter afterwards about potential internship opportunities, and she told me both what kind of internships they offer and gave me contact information for who I should email. Because I was willing to talk to her afterwards, I now have a new option for my future that I would never have thought of otherwise. Today was a standout day of the trip, though I’m sad it will be our last night in the country!