Expect the unexpected
As I walked around Limassol port last month and watched the port manager calmly overseeing thousands of evacuees using his port as a springboard for other destinations, I have to say I was impressed. This port on the south coast of Cyprus didnt ask to be the channel for evacuees from war-torn Lebanon. Of course it couldnt refuse – what message would that send out – but let us not forget that this is a working port, handling some 3m tonnes of cargo per year, not some idle, backwater port. Yet, in just the first four days of the Lebanon evacuation effort this port had welcomed almost 7,000 displaced people.
This, however, represents just the tip of the iceberg. Another 6,000 were expected to arrive over the weekend following my visit, and conservative estimates still left tens of thousands to move. So with little warning and a full schedule of passengership, bulk carrier and containership calls to manage, our harbour master found himself juggling regular traffic without interruption, while maintaining priority for ships carrying refugees – a tall order.
Expecting the unexpected is an art. Limassol port proved in the first few days of the crisis that it could cope, converting storage sheds into administration hubs to process the evacuees, opening up its passenger terminal to give maximum comfort and providing food and free telephone calls.
Certainly, the smooth running of operations can be attributable to the staff on the ground and the co-operation between all the different factions involved: agents, port police, military, management, pilots, navy, embassies, customs, immigration ? the list goes on. Limassol port manager Captain Christos Matsis had been on shift since 0230 hrs. By the time we met the sun was beginning to set. And the crisis was far from over when PS went to press.
And then there is the question of money, or lack of. The Cyprus Port Authority provided its quays and its staff for free, unquestioningly. But in similar situations would, or perhaps I should ask could, others? Increasingly, ports now in the hands of public companies are answerable to shareholders, and contingency planning for large scale evacuations in the event of war in a country over 100 nautical miles away is rarely tabled as an item on an AGM agenda.
This is an extraordinary situation; officials here say the country, with a population of just under 785,000, has not dealt with a crisis of this magnitude since it was partitioned in 1974, displacing tens of thousands of Cypriots. This time round, the arrivals are every nationality but Cypriot and the numbers could run to more than 70,000, according to the country’s Foreign Minister Georgios Lillikas.
This Mediterranean port has so far proved it can rise to the challenge, through good planning, co-operation and management.
But ask yourself how your port would cope with the unexpected?
Better check that contingency plan, who knows what tomorrow might bring.
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