This morning we had the pleasure of visiting 4 different organizations that operate in the Limassol port. The first was the Cyprus Port Authority, which is responsible overall for the development, management, and operation of ports of country covering ownership and regulation of major ports installations. They provide commercial services, public functions, regulators for port services offered in all port installations. Cyprus Port Authority is the part of the supply chain in the marina that coordinates a complex port ecosystem and to integrate all the electronic information flow generated by international trade. This way they provide efficiency, connectivity, integration, and modernization. This relates to what we learn in class because Cyprus Port Authority had to adjust to environmental uncertainty due to Covid-19, they said. Next, we went to DP World, which is an integrated global logistics solution. Their role in the supply chain is breaking bulk. I would imagine this acts as a distribution center, which is something we learned in class, because they warehouse inventory and sort shipments. They want more women employees in order to align with the UN’s sustainable development goals, which peaked my interest. DP World is horizontally integrated. This directly relates to our supply chain concepts.
The next presentation was from P&O Maritime Cyprus Ltd. They have had 185 years in shipping and are headquartered in Dubai, UAE. They have 400 vessels and 3500 vessel moves. Their goals are health and safety, zero LTI, employee relations, investing in people, equal opporunties employer, innovative approach, local partners, and customer oriented business. One thing that I thought was cool was how they have a requirement to speak Greek, which increases local employment. Next we headed off to a separate building in the Limassol port, home to Eurogate which was established in 2017 in Hamburg, Germany. They have 12 container terminals all around Europe, and the Cyprus port has 12,000 TEU’s (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) on a daily basis. The possibility for container pickup after discharge is 15-20 minutes, and they have connections with Greece, Egypt, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, UK, and Northern Europe. They focus on high reliability of services, electronic data interchange with customer and authorities, minimum waiting time at anchorage, strategic geographical location, stable political situations, electronic release of containers, live and real time connections with port authority, and a transparent tariff structure. That last thing is extremely relevant to our country today. We got to see a crane putting the containers on the ship using the electronic release, and it was actually really cool and must take a lot of skill. Eurogate relates to our supply chain lessons because it acts as a distributor/wholesaler in the way it warehouses and transports a lot of inventory. They also have to demand forecast because sometimes accidents can happen, and a Rolls Royce can be crushed. Overall, all these companies were extremely interesting and seeing the way they have all had to grown and develop together was cool.