Today we went to visit Vassiliko Cement Works. Vassiliko is a public company that was founded in 1963. We learned a lot of interesting things like how cement is the 3rd largest export product of Cyprus. The also produce 16,000 tonnes of clinker (which is an ingredient for cement) and 75,000 tonnes of concrete. The process of making clinker and cement is a long process that produces CO2 emissions which is a sustainability issue that Vassiliko needs to combat. To reduce their CO2 emissions, they increased their usage of alternative fuels. Right now, about 60% – 70% of their usage is alternative fuels and they plan to get it to 100% and have less CO2 emissions in the future. Vassiliko is also trying to produce less clinker to also reduce CO2 emissions. Also, they have silos that they use for storage which can hold stock for 15 years which makes it more sustainable to store instead of constantly producing.

Next we saw Vassiliko Port. This is where they export cement and clinker and get whatever imports that they need. They export about 1.4 million tonnes that serve the local market and then export to the rest. Vassiliko Port does not operate all year because they have an allowance given to them by the European Union that helps control the amount of CO2 emissions that they produce. Also they manage sustainability in the port by managing the supply chain of moving materials in and out in an efficient manner. This efficiency ensures that everything is transported in an quick manner and speeds up the process for importing and exporting at the port.

We also learned about supply chain at VTTV. VTTV owns 100% of their assets. They own 4 berths that is at a jetty that extends off-shore to accommodate big vessels that international oil companies use to import oil to Cyprus. They basically get used oil and clean it in their plant and then store the clean oil for use later or to sell. By cleaning the oil and reusing it, they are being sustainable.

After Vassiliko and VTTV, we had an amazing lunch with amazing seafood (I absolutely love seafood) and it was a new experience. They brought out all of these amazing dishes and I got to try new fish that I haven’t before. Definitely a fun experience to dig my hands into (literally). After lunch, we went down to the beach and I collected pretty rocks to take back with me as souvenirs.

Last but not least, we went to CMMI, Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute which is a non-profit organizatino that was founded in 2019. This was the organization that my group and I did our presentation on and it felt surreal that just a few months ago, we were learning about this organization and wrote all of this information on slides and now we can actually apply that knowledge to the visit and say that we went to see the institute and learn from them. At CMMI, we learned more about the divisions that CMMI does research and development in: the Marine Technology Division, the Marine Sciences Division, and the Marine Social Sciences Division. All of the projects that they have been working on were amazing and fascinating to learn about. Since CMMI is a non-profit, it is government funded and also has to follow the regulations and requirements of the EU. UN requirements are like guidelines that organizations like CMMI follow and base their research and development on for development and production. Many of the projects and ideas are CMMI’s ideas and are founded by them, but things like de-carbonization are globally known and widely needed so many more places need the research as well. Lots of the projects also focus on aiming marine pollution and reducing it. Overall, it was a very fun experience and I learned a lot from visiting CMMI and networking with the individuals there.

In my future career, I hope to work in supply chain and all of these things that I have not learned before and/or have not thought of before will help me in the future. The supply chain uses a lot of transportation and logistics which can have a negative impact on the environment with the amount of emissions that go into the atmosphere and learning techniques and ways to reduce or even eradicate the creation of more emissions will help greatly. Our generation needs to work hard in order to make sure that our planet is healthy for us live on.