Our fifth day on the island brought a few interesting company visits that I learned a lot from. First, we visited Vassiliko Cement. The company is the leader in cement production not only in Cyprus, but in Europe as a whole. Cement, being one of the main ingredients used to make concrete, the second most consumed material in the world only behind water, makes it very important for this company to stick around. They acquire almost all of their raw materials from their limestone and clay quarries, which they have about 10 across the island, so it is mostly a homegrown process to make the cement, and this also plays into the sustainability and eco-friendly process as everything comes from nearby. Along with the quarries and massive cement towers and factories, they have their own port right on the Mediterranean coast, which we got to tour along with a view of the factory inside. This was especially interesting to see, as I did prior research for this company in the pre departure classes, so it was cool to see how my findings came to life as I explored the buildings and listened to the processes that the speaker detailed.
Next, we met with VTTV, a company that works hand in hand with Vassiliko. It is a company that provides storage space for chemicals and fuel, packing extremely large amounts of clinker and other things used to make cement into warehouses. The main point that they got across was that the company is a part of a more global supply chain relating to oil because of its ability to store so much of it. This makes them extremely important because, as the speaker explained, products are at times overproduced without a way to store it. Meeting with these companies gave us a good insight on global supply chains, and single company supply chains. It also provided valuable insight about the sustainability of these processes, as local companies come up with new technology and ways to try to combat the environmental effects of mass oil usage and energy consumption.
After lunch, we visited CMMI, the final company of the day. There, we learned that the company is a non-profit that is relatively new and works on a bunch of different maritime projects that help promote sustainability and a better planet. They develop these projects under social science, technology, and biological sciences, and some of these ideas involved interesting concepts like autonomous jet skis, drones, and other developments using AI to help promote better maritime sustainability. It was great to hear from the variety of speakers who shared their favorite projects and see all the great ideas they had.