After two days of touring and soaking in the sunshine of Cyprus, our group began taking company tours.  We had the privilege of visiting two ship management companies: Bernhard Schulte  Shipmanagement and Columbia Ship Management.  Based on research before the trip and during both companies’ presentations today, I learned that both participate in the management aspect of large cargo and commercial ships, which involves IT support, crew management, and logistics. 

At Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement we were able to learn from a former Chief Engineer, who now is involved with maritime training and operations at the company.  During his presentation he talked about different standards of crew development that the company must meet, such as standards put forward by the IMO and STCW.  He said meeting these standards are important, because BSM is often involved with third party training as well.  Additionally he talked about the growth of BSM, from a British Royal Air Force base to the 5 training sites it operates today.  Their newest facility is opening in Ghana, Africa.  Overall, it was interesting to learn about the growth of the maritime industry from our speaker’s perspective and I feel inspired to look into jobs within the maritime industry. 

Next, we visited Columbia Ship Management.  Their expertise was similar to what we heard at Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, however they seemed to have control over more areas like aircraft, oil and wind power, and healthcare for the passengers on ships.  Unlike BSM, the Columbia Group also owns 50+ of their own vessels. It was interesting to see the concept of vertical integration, which we learned about in our class before coming to Cyprus, in action within Columbia’s business practices. 

Finally, we visited Medochemie, a Cyprus pharmaceutical company.  Medochemie manufactures and stores many different products, however around 60% of their products are “chronic” or long term usage pharmaceuticals.  Because of this, Medochemie needs to keep a close eye on their supply chain, to ensure customers get the drugs that they need.  The director of supply chain management spoke about this need to balance customer responsiveness with efficiency.  Then, we got to tour Medochemie’s warehouse.  It was really cool to see the technology they employ to ensure efficiency and safety, such as robots to move products around and fire safe doors which open and close quickly.  

We had a great day touring three unique companies in Cyprus.  I am definitely feeling inspired to look into both of these fields in the future for my own career.  I am so excited to continue company visits tomorrow!