Today was the 3rd day of company visits. The first stop was the cement company Vassiliko. They were established in 1963 but started cement production in 1967, and they are the biggest heavy industry company in Cyprus and their plant is the largest production unit in Europe. Vassiliko is a vertically integrated company because they own their own mines, production plant, and distribution. In the process of production, there is a step called pre-heating which uses fuel to work. Vassiliko chooses to use waste in order to reduce their fossil fuel consumption. The employee there said they reduced their consumption around 70% which is a great help to the environment.
Vassiliko controls their distribution by owning their own port. Currently they only ship out clinker, which is an ingredient in cement, and sell their cement domestically while importing raw materials they can’t acquire in Cyprus. They have approximately 300 ships go through the port a year. They lease heavy machinery in their port which allows them to fill up the ships with clinker without spreading dust because that can cause harm to the environment and cause them to lose profits.
VTTV is a logistics and service company for oil which was a jetty in the Vassiliko port. They also do their own trucking everyday a year for 24 hours. For the global supply chain, VTTV stores oil and distributes it when the market needs it.
The next company we visited, was not a company but a research and development non-profit that focuses on maritime and marine development called Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institution (CMMI). They receive their funding from the EU and the RIF. There are 9 research centers there: 3 in technology, 3 for marine sciences, and 3 for marine social sciences. CMMI has many international partnerships that they participate in research with. I have always been passionate about the environment, so I already had plans on working at a sustainable company. Listening to the presentation today, I was inspired because many companies are working to move to more sustainable practices with the help of places like CMMI.
