After a great day of visiting some more ports, we were able to get to visit Vassiliko Cement Works at their factory. Vassiliko was founded in 1963, but their first production line started in 1967. They are the largest heavy works in Cyprus and the largest production unit in Europe. Vassiliko makes around 75 billion tons of cement per year. We were able to hear about the process of how cement and clinker was made and shipped out which was very interesting. We also go to hear about the privately owned port that Vassiliko runs and uses for imports and exports. It serves around 300 ships per year. Some of Vassiliko’s exports are their cement and clinker. Cement is actually the third most exported product in Cyprus. A big import for Vassiliko is their raw materials. I was able to ask more about the port, and if they rent it out to any other companies. While they do, Vassiliko has about 80% of the port operations for themselves only, and only giving the other 20% to customers of there’s. While the production of these materials is very structured and effective, the environmental use of fossil fuels could be terrible for the country. Vassiliko and Vassiliko’s port are actually able to convert trash imported from other countries, making alternative fuel to run the factory and port which I thought was a genius and environmentally friendly idea to help reduce fossil fuel usage and pollution.
We got to learn about Vassiliko’s affiliate, VTTV, as well. VTTV is a logistics and storage company. They have about 3.4 million barrels of storage of oil such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene and diesel fuel. They also have a privately owned Jetty, which is a walkway out to a port that they can dock up to 4 ships at. We learned that VTTV takes wasted oil to clean and store it until someone wants to purchase the reused oil. This saves the environment from potential oil dumping into lakes, rivers, or oceans saving countless gallons of drinkable water and animals that could have suffered. This is a great way for reusing a product that might have been a big damage to the environment.
We next went to CMMI, or Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute. CMMI was founded in 2019 an they are a non profit that does researching and is always trying to find new ways to help the environment and care for it. They are actually funded by the European Union which helps them continue to research and understand how to better the environment. CMMI has three departments for research, Marine Technology, Marine Sciences, and Marine Social Sciences. This lets them work split up and work on these three key components of their project. They also have many other projects such as ZEST, which uses artificial intelligence for zero emission sea transporters. Another project that I thought was very interesting and environmentally friendly was Smart Float, which can be used for marine monitoring and collision avoidance. The whole non profit is very environmentally friendly and making strides for all of Europe!
As someone who is considering a future in Supply Chain Management, I am getting the ability to see first hand how some of these companies are able to make adjustments to create a more eco friendly workplace. It really intrigues me on how I can also change the supply chain industry further! I am very excited for the tours tommorow!